Satellite-based Estimates of Sea Ice Volume Flux: Applications to the Fram Strait Region

Satellite-based Estimates of Sea Ice Volume Flux: Applications to the Fram Strait Region
Author: Gunnar Spreen
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2008-08-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3640129288

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...

Satellite-based Estimates of Sea Ice Volume Flux

Satellite-based Estimates of Sea Ice Volume Flux
Author: Gunnar Spreen
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2008
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3640130642

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), 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.

Sea ice

Sea ice
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 30
Release: 1993
Genre:
ISBN:

Sea Ice Analysis and Forecasting

Sea Ice Analysis and Forecasting
Author: Tom Carrieres
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-10-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108417426

A comprehensive overview of the science involved in automated prediction of sea ice, for sea ice analysts, researchers, and professionals.

Polar Remote Sensing

Polar Remote Sensing
Author: Dan Lubin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 868
Release: 2006-08-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3540307850

The polar regions, perhaps more than any other places on Earth, give the geophysical scientist a sense of exploration. This sensibility is genuine, for not only is high-latitude ?eldwork arduous with many locations seldom or never visited, but there remains much fundamental knowledge yet to be discovered about how the polar regions interact with the global climate system. The range of opportunities for new discovery becomes strikingly clear when we realize that the high latitudes are not one region but are really two vastly di?erent worlds. The high Arctic is a frozen ocean surrounded by land, and is home to fragile ecosystems and unique modes of human habitation. The Antarctic is a frozen continent without regular human habitation, covered by ice sheets taller than many mountain ranges and surrounded by the Earth’s most forbidding ocean. When we consider global change as applied to the Arctic, we discuss impacts to a region whose surface and lower atmospheric temperatures are near the triple point of water throughout much of the year. The most consistent signatures of climate warming have occurred at northern high latitudes (IPCC, 2001), and the potential impacts of a few degrees increase in surface temperature include a reduction in sea ice extent, a positive feedback to climate warming due to lowering of surface albedo, and changes to surface runo? that might a?ect the Arctic Ocean’s salinity and circulation.

The Nordic Seas

The Nordic Seas
Author: Burton G. Hurdle
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 788
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461580358

" ... as soon as one has traversed the greater part of the wild sea, one comes upon such a huge quantity of ice that nowhere in the whole world has the like been known." "This ice is of a wonderful nature. It lies at times quite still, as one would expect, with openings or large fjords in it; but sometimes its movement is so strong and rapid as to equal that of a ship running before the wind, and it drifts against the wind as often as with it." Kongespeilet - 1250 A.D. ("The Mirror of Kings") Modern societies require increasing amounts influence on the water mass and on the resulting of scientific information about the environment total environment of the region; therefore, cer tain of its characteristics will necessarily be in whieh they live and work. For the seas this information must describe the air above the sea, included.

Antarctic Sea Ice Variability in the Southern Ocean-Climate System

Antarctic Sea Ice Variability in the Southern Ocean-Climate System
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2017-04-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309456002

The sea ice surrounding Antarctica has increased in extent and concentration from the late 1970s, when satellite-based measurements began, until 2015. Although this increasing trend is modest, it is surprising given the overall warming of the global climate and the region. Indeed, climate models, which incorporate our best understanding of the processes affecting the region, generally simulate a decrease in sea ice. Moreover, sea ice in the Arctic has exhibited pronounced declines over the same period, consistent with global climate model simulations. For these reasons, the behavior of Antarctic sea ice has presented a conundrum for global climate change science. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in January 2016, to bring together scientists with different sets of expertise and perspectives to further explore potential mechanisms driving the evolution of recent Antarctic sea ice variability and to discuss ways to advance understanding of Antarctic sea ice and its relationship to the broader ocean-climate system. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Fiducial Reference Measurements for Altimetry

Fiducial Reference Measurements for Altimetry
Author: Stelios P. Mertikas
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2020-02-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030394387

These proceedings include selected papers from the International Review Workshop on Satellite Altimetry Cal/Val Activities and Applications, held in Chania, Crete, Greece, on 23-26 April 2018. Organised in the context of the European Space Agency Project “Fiducial Reference Measurements for Altimetry” the workshop was cosponsored by the International Association of Geodesy (in particular by the IAG Commission 2, Gravity Field), the European Space Agency, the European Union (the Copernicus Programme), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Space Geomatica P.C., and the Municipality of Chania. The workshop presented the latest research in the field of satellite altimetry calibration and altimetry applications for monitoring ocean changes and improving Earth observation in an objective, continuous, homogeneous and reliable manner, free of errors and biases. Further, it supported long-term monitoring of climate change by providing a better understanding of environmental changes in the world's oceans, terrestrial surface waters, and Arctic and Antarctic Regions. The outcome was the creation of a scientific roadmap with procedures, protocols, guidelines, and best practices to help international groups working on satellite altimetry to establish SI (Système International d'Unités) traceability of their measurements, results and data products.