A - C
ARCTIC SEA ICE PROPERTIES AND P
The Arctic sea ice cover is undergoing significant climate-induced changes, resulting in a reduction in ice extent and a net thinning of the sea ice cover. The sea ice cover plays an important role in the global climate system, both as an indicator and an amplifier of environmental change. It is important to continue and expand long-term observations of these changes to improve the fundamental understanding of the role of the sea ice cover in the global climate system and its utility as a climate change indicator. This formidable task spans an extensive range of temporal and spatial scales. An integrated, coordinated, and interdisciplinary approach will be used to monitor the state of the Arctic sea ice cover and investigate its governing processes. There are numerous tools that will be brought to bear on this task, including satellite remote sensing, autonomous rovers, buoys, ocean moorings, field campaigns and numerical models. Satellite remote sensing provides large-scale descriptions of such basic parameters as ice distribution, melt zone, ice motion, and cloud fraction at intervals of half a day to a week. Buoys and moorings will contribute high temporal resolution and can measure parameters currently unavailable from space such as atmospheric fluxes, ice thickness, internal ice temperature, photographs of surface conditions, and ocean temperature and salinity. The fixed observing systems will be complemented by autonomous mobile platforms including aerial vehicles, underwater vehicles, and land vehicles. A coordinated array of such vehicles, with integrated sensor systems, will provide spatial and temporal coverage that has previously been unavailable. Field campaigns will be used to explore, in detail, the state of the ice cover and the processes that govern the ice cover. The campaigns will be pan-Arctic including areas that have been largely unexamined, such as the region north of Greenland. Process studies will examine the interactions of the lower atmosphere, ice surface, and upper ocean that are crucial for understanding and modeling the the pack ice mass balance. Special attention will be paid to the impact of the hetereogeneity of the snow and ice on thermodynamic and dynamic processes. New techniques will be employed, such as isotope analysis of sea ice samples for information on surface water mass changes. Numerical models will be used to assess the character of the changes in the ice cover and predict their impacts on the rest of the climate system. Models will also assist in planning the observation program. The synthesis of the observations and models will provide a comprehensive picture of Arctic change. The seasonal ice zone (SIZ), which is predicted to extend over most of the Arctic Ocean by mid-century, is of particular interest. Given the challenges of operating in the SIZ environment, data for this component of the cryosphere are lacking, making it impossible to effectively predict the consequences of this dramatic change. We plan to obtain a comprehensive data set of key biophysical variables describing the evolution and state of the seasonal ice zone. The activities will examine the role of the snow cover in atmosphere-ice-ocean interaction, shifting patterns of spatio-temporal variability in sub-Arctic and Arctic seas, the important role of ice-associated biological communities in Arctic ecosystems, and latitudinal and bi-polar contrasts in atmosphere-ice-ocean interaction and biodiversity. Recent sea ice ecosystem changes will be assessed and potential future changes and their consequent impacts on higher trophic levels will be estimated. The International Polar Year will be an extraordinary opportunity to capture the imagination of students and the public. We will use this opportunity to convey not only information about the Arctic sea ice cover and its role in global climate, but also an understanding and an appreciation of science in general. We propose an extensive educational outreach component that will include media contacts, web sites, public lectures, and K-12 classroom programs. Undergraduate and graduate students will be entrained in all aspects of the our work from the planning stage to the field observations and modeling. A two week long International Summer School on Sea Ice will be held at the University Centre in Svalbard to increase the knowledge of sea ice related geophysics among both students and scientists, faciliate interdisciplinary research, and stimulate international cooperation. Summary provided by http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=95