Quantifying Sea-ice Volume Flux Using Moored Instrumentation in the Bering Strait PDF Download

Author: Cynthia S. Travers
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ocean circulation
Languages : en
Pages : 77

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Book Description
The Bering Strait is the sole pathway linking the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and carries one-third of the freshwater entering the Arctic. Although the strait's throughflow dominates the hydrography of the highly productive Chukchi Sea and affects the freshwater budget and thermal structure of the Arctic Ocean, the contribution of sea ice to the freshwater flux has never been satisfactorily quantified. We use data from an array of subsurface moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) and other instruments deployed in the Bering Strait from 2007-2008 to calculate the sea ice and corresponding freshwater volume fluxes through the strait. Data from remote-sensing systems such as the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) and modeled sea level pressure data provide a check of ADCP-derived measurements. We correct the ADCP sea-ice thickness records for instrument-based errors (instrument pitch and roll, ridge shadowing, beam footprint, beam averaging, range outliers) and environment-based errors (sound speed variation, instrument depth, sea-ice freeboard and snow loading), and determine the uncertainty in our volume flux calculations. We estimate the total error in ADCP ice thickness measurements to be of order 0.5 m, with ~ 46% of this error resulting from beam footprint effects that would remain even if a more precise sonar instrument had been used in our study. We compare our estimates of sea-ice volume flux (190 ± 50 km3 yr −1) and corresponding freshwater transport (140 ± 40 km3 yr −1) through the strait to values from previous surveys, commenting on differences in methodology between the studies. Our findings allow us to assess the utility of subsurface moored ADCPs in quantifying sea-ice presence, thickness, and velocity; the ADCP signal correlation parameter appears to provide a particularly good indication of sea-ice presence. In addition, we consider the use of similar methods to evaluate historical ADCP records and develop a more complete understanding of interannual sea-ice flux variability through the Bering Strait.

Author: Mohammed Shokr
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111982821X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 628

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Book Description
SEA ICE The latest edition of the gold standard in sea ice references In the newly revised second edition of Sea Ice: Physics and Remote Sensing, a team of distinguished researchers delivers an in-depth review of the features and structural properties of ice, as well as the latest advances in geophysical sensors, ice parameter retrieval techniques, and remote sensing data. The book has been updated to reflect the latest scientific developments in macro- and micro-scale sea ice research. For this edition, the authors have included high-quality photographs of thin sections from cores of various ice types, as well as a comprehensive account of all major field expeditions that have systematically surveyed sea ice and its properties. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to ice physics and physical processes, including ice morphology and age-based structural features Practical discussions of radiometric and radar-scattering observations from sea ice, including radar backscatter and microwave emission The latest techniques for the retrieval of sea ice parameters from space-borne and airborne sensor data New chapters on sea ice thermal microwave emissions and on the impact of climate change on polar sea ice Perfect for academic researchers working on sea ice, the cryosphere, and climatology, Sea Ice: Physics and Remote Sensing will also benefit meteorologists, marine operators, and high-latitude construction engineers.

Author: Gunnar Spreen
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640129288
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2008 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Physical Geography, Geomorphology, Environmental Studies, grade: 1,0, University of Hamburg (Institut für Meereskunde), 170 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The sea ice export out of the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait into the Greenland Sea is the single largest source of freshwater in the Nordic Seas and therefore of spezial importance for the hydrological cycle of the North Atlantic. On its way south, the exported sea ice melts and thereby modifies the stratification of the ocean surface mixed layer, which in turn influences oceanic deep convection and water mass transformation processes in the Nordic Seas and thus impact global ocean thermohaline circulation. The lack of spatial sea ice thickness information has been one of the weaknesses for previous existing methods to determine the sea ice export. In this study a new method to obtain the sea ice volume flux exclusively from satellite measurements is presented. Previous estimates of the sea ice volume flux relayed on ice draft measurements of a single Upward Looking Sonar (ULS) in the Greenland Sea. The GLAS laser altimeter onboard the ICESat satellite launched in 2003 offers for the first time the opportunity to obtain the spatial sea ice thickness distribution up to 86°N latitude. In this study a method to determine the sea ice freeboard from ICESat altimeter data is developed and applied to nine ICESat measurement periods between 2003 and 2007. Assuming hydrostatic balance and by utilization of further satellite, in situ and climatological data these sea ice freeboard measurements are converted to sea ice thickness maps of the Fram Strait region. The satellite-based ice thickness estimates are combined with sea ice area and sea ice drift, as retrieved from AMSR-E microwave radiometer measurements at 89GHz, to obtain the sea ice volume flux. The errors of the input quantities and the final sea ice volume flux are assessed. Using this method the spatial sea ice volume flux distribution is obtained from satellite observations for the first time. The Fram Strait sea ice volume flux is further investigated by calculating a monthly sea ice volume flux time series between January 2003 and April 2007. Summer months have to be disregarded due to missing sea ice drift data. The sea ice volume flux shows large interannual and -seasonal variability. A mean monthly Fram Strait sea ice volume flux of (248±90) km3/month with respective minimum and maximum values of 112 km3/month (May 2003) and 484 km3/month (December 2004) was found...

Author: M. R. Drinkwater
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ice
Languages : en
Pages : 13

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Book Description
Satellite passive microwave sea ice concentration data of 20 or more years in extent have become an important proxy for climate variability. More recently, in the 1990's these data have been exploited in conjunction with fine resolution satellite image datasets originating from ERS-1/2, and RADARSAT Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and new medium resolution ERS-1/2 and NSCAT radar scatterometer instrument data. New technologies in image data processing and sea-ice tracking developed from these efforts are generating fresh insight into the dynamics and evolution of the Arctic and Southern Ocean ice covers. These approaches have matured to the point where estimates of salt and freshwater exports can be made, as well as assessments of the impact that these have upon the thermohaline circulation.

Author: Austin Kovacs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Remote sensing
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Author: Hans Jakob Belter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The Arctic sea ice cover is strongly connected to the global climate system and therefore not only subject to internal variability but also in a phase of significant change related to the ongoing increase in global mean surface temperatures. The most important parameters to monitor and describe sea ice are its areal extent, thickness, and motion. While reliable, long-term satellite measurements of sea ice concentration, which is used to derive the area covered by sea ice, exist since the late 1970s, sea ice thickness and motion data sets of comparable quality and length are currently not available. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the improvement of sea ice thickness observations and to understand and quantify the impact of ongoing sea ice thickness changes and variability in the most important regions of sea ice formation on the overall Arctic sea ice budget. To achieve that, the first study presented in this dissertation focuses on extending the knowledge about sea ice thickness variability in the Laptev Sea by developing a new method to derive sea ice thickness time series from moored sonars. It is shown that daily mean sea ice thickness time series can be inferred from basic, moored upward-looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers. This adaptive approach allows to revisit data sets from past mooring deployments in the Laptev Sea and exploit them to extend the available sea ice thickness records and close observational gaps in a region that, due to its limited accessibility, is vastly under-sampled. These new data sets are the basis for the validation of multiple satellite sea ice thickness products, including the longest available one introduced by the European Space Agency, which provides Arctic-wide sea ice thickness since 2002. It is shown that in the first-year ice dominated Laptev Sea the investigated satellite products provide the most frequently occurring (modal) rather than the mean sea ice thickness. This important discovery allows for a better interpretation of the available satellite records, especially for the investigation of sea ice volume transports, and underlines their deficiencies in representing dynamically deformed sea ice. Based on the knowledge gained in the Laptev Sea, the final study presented in this dissertation follows the Arctic sea ice life cycle from the regions of ice formation along the Transpolar Drift towards Fram Strait and analyses whether sea ice thickness anomalies induced in the source regions of Arctic sea ice propagate to the central Arctic Ocean and beyond. More specifically, it is investigated which particular processes are potentially responsible for the induced anomalies in the source regions and whether their signals persist until the end of the Transpolar Drift. In the absence of a single-source Arctic-wide, high temporal and spatial resolution sea ice thickness data product, this final part promotes the combination of different techniques and tools for the investigation of this complex Arctic climate parameter. At the center of the investigation is an extended long-term electromagnetic induction sounding-based sea ice thickness time series, which shows a general thinning and decreasing age of sea ice at the end of the Transpolar Drift between 2001 and 2020. Due to its length, this unique time series also permits to put ice thickness measurements conducted during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition into the historical context. Lagrangian ice tracking and modelling of thermodynamic sea ice growth along the pathways of Arctic sea ice reveal a potential preconditioning effect of observed increases in upward ocean heat fluxes in the eastern Arctic, termed Atlantification, that decelerates sea ice growth. The presented efforts are an important contribution to the better understanding of Arctic sea ice thickness variability and change and can be seen as starting points for more targeted analyses of the driving mechanisms behind them. In addition, the acquisition, validation, and extension of sea ice thickness observations provide the basis for more detailed sea ice modelling, which will improve not only the monitoring but also the prediction of Arctic sea ice thickness changes in the future.

Author: Robert R. Dickson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402067747
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 728

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Book Description
We are only now beginning to understand the climatic impact of the remarkable events that are now occurring in subarctic waters. Researchers, however, have yet to agree upon a predictive model that links change in our northern seas to climate. This volume brings together the body of evidence needed to develop climate models that quantify the ocean exchanges through subarctic seas, measure their variability, and gauge their impact on climate.

Author: Maxwell John Dunbar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arctic Ocean
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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"The idea that it might be feasible and advantageous to build a dam across Bering Strait was first suggested in the last decade of the last century, in the belief that this would stop ice-laden Arctic water from passing through the Strait into the Bering Sea and thus ameliorate the climate of the North Pacific. In point of fact, very little, if any, Arctic water passes southward into the Bering Sea, but this was not known at the time."--Introduction.

Author: E. Peter Jones
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792364399
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
Two dozen studies from an April-May 1998 conference in Tallinn, Estonia that were carefully commissioned to provide a snapshot of the state of knowledge about the flow of fresh water from Arctic Ocean as of that weekend, one paper even being written afterward to cover for a presentation that was not ready for publication. Meteorologists, hydrologists, oceanographers, and sea-ice specialists explore such aspects as oceanic freshwater fluxes in the climate system, atmospheric components of the Arctic Ocean freshwater balance and their interannual variability, atmospheric components of the hydrologic budget assessed from Rawinsonde data, moisture transport to the drainage basins relating to significant precipitation events and cyclogenesis, the dynamics of river water inflow, a positive-negative estuarine couple, tracer studies, exchanges of freshwater through the shallow straits of the North American Arctic, modeling the variability of exchanges between the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic seas, and the cycle of fresh water freezing and melting. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author: Ling Han Li
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781303626265
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
This study primarily focuses on sea ice variability in the Bering Sea, and its thermodynamic and dynamic controls. First, the seasonal cycle of sea ice variability in the Bering Sea is studied using a global fine-resolution (1/10-degree) fully-coupled ocean and sea ice model forced with reanalysis atmospheric forcing for 1980-1989. The ocean/sea-ice model consists of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Parallel Ocean Program (POP) and the Los Alamos Sea Ice Model (CICE). The modeled seasonal mean sea ice concentration strongly resembles satellite-derived observations. During winter, which dominates the annual mean, model sea ice is mainly formed in the northern Bering Sea, with the maximum ice growth rate occurring along the coast, due to cold air from northerly winds and ice motion away from the coast. South of St. Lawrence Island, winds drive sea ice to drift southwestward from the north to the southwestern ice covered region. Along the ice edge in the western Bering, ice is melted by warm ocean water, which is carried by the Bering Slope Current flowing to the northwest, resulting in the S-shaped asymmetric pattern seen in the ice edge. Second, the year-to-year variability of sea ice in the Bering Sea for 1980-1989 is addressed. While thermodynamic processes dominate the variations in ice volume change in the Bering Sea on the large scale, dynamic processes are important locally near ice margins (both oceanic and land), where local dynamic and thermodynamic ice volume changes have opposite signs with large and similar amplitudes. The thermodynamic ice volume change is dominated by ice-air surface heat flux, which in turn is dominated by sensible heat flux, except near the southern ice edge where it is largely controlled by ocean-ice heat flux. This indicates that surface air temperature, which is specified from observations, strongly controls the ice volume tendency. Ice motion is generally consistent with winds driving the flow, except near certain straits in the north where ice motion largely follows ocean currents. This study also addresses Greenland supraglacial lakes on top of ice and ice-dammed lakes adjacent to glaciers. Those surface lakes have been observed to fill and drain periodically, affecting the ice motion over land. This study provides observational constraints on the volume of water contained in and drained from the lakes, based on the repeat laser altimetry.