LEADEX
type: Concept
in scheme: projects
definition: The Lead Experiment (LeadEx) was a experiment sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to study the crack-like openings called leads that are created by the deformation of Arctic pack ice. The study was conducted by a group of scientists from various institutions and disciplines to clarify the effect of open leads on the polar ocean and atmosphere and to further understanding of the role of polar regions on climate and global change. The LeadEx was conducted during March and April 1992 in the Beaufort Sea approximately 300 km north of Deadhorse, Alaska. Leads range from a few meters to thousands of meters wide and have long been considered important to the thermodynamics of the polar regions. Leads can account for nearly half of the total heat flux from the ocean (Badgley, 1966) because the lead exposed relatively warm water to the cold atmosphere. Leads have a major effect on the salinity of the ocean mixed layer. The LeadEx program began in 1990 with funding from the ONR Accelerated Research Initiative. Initial studies were made at the University of Arizona and the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington. The main experiment began on March 16, 1992 with the establishment of a base camp that drifted generally westward until the program ended on April 25, 1992. Weather forecasts and remote sensing data were provided by the LeadEx weather center at the National Weather Service (NWS) in Anchorage, Alaska. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) at Monterey, CA transmitted mesoscale meteorological model forecasts of wind, temperature, moisture, and cloud height to the LeadEx weather center twice daily. Near-real-time high-resolution satellite data from NOAA satellites and DMSP satellites were also made available. Huts and equipment were deployed from the main base camp to four sites called Lead 1 - Lead 4. Most of the data were gathered at Lead 3 and 4 since Leads 1 and 2 were closed soon after the sites were occupied. Helicopter and research airc…

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type: Concept