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About OAII |
Ronald W. Lindsay
Harry Stern
Axel Schweiger
Michael Steele
University of Washington
Start Date: May 15, 1997
Expire: April 30, 2000 (Estimated)
Expected Total Amt.: $275,034 (Estimated)
Fld Science: Polar Programs-Related, Climate Related Activities
Abstract:
This research project is a key component of a large, coordinated, multi-investigator program, Surdace Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) Ocean. The research program will be conducted for 14 months from a ship frozen into the ice pack. This investigator will use upward looking sonar to determine the thickness variations of the permanent ice pack through a full annual cycle. This research will be important for the determination of the effects of the flux of incoming heat radiating onto the ice floe as a function of changing atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Their results will help determine how atmospheric heating is coupled to adsorption of heat by the sea ice. These measurements are critical to understanding how heat is reflected or absorbed by the ice as it melts in the summer and thickens in the winter in response to seasonal variations in climate. The sea ice thickness measurement program makes an essential contribution to the SHEBA team of researchers who will measure atmospheric variables with a large array of instruments on the ice floe and aircraft flying above as well as ice and ocean property measurements made on and below the ice floe. The combined set of measurements in SHEBA will allow refinement of climate models for the Arctic region. Those improved models will lead to better predictions of the climate and the permanence of the Arctic ice cap under a proposed global warming that could occur if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are increased above present levels.