scholarly journals Sea Ice Monitoring in the European Arctic Seas Using a Multi-Sensor Approach

Author(s):  
S. Sandven
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berill Blair ◽  
Malte Muller ◽  
Cyril Palerme ◽  
Rayne Blair ◽  
David Crookall ◽  
...  

<p>A group of scientists in a multi-national consortium have worked together to improve climate services for maritime actors in Arctic waters. The consortium under the project Enhancing the Saliency of climate services for marine mobility Sectors in European Arctic Seas (SALIENSEAS) running 2017-2020, has aimed to coproduce improved (sub)seasonal sea ice forecast and iceberg detection services. The project involved metservice experts and end users to collaboratively explore ways in which forecast services can reduce uncertainties for stakeholders.</p><p>However, direct questioning about perceived risks and uncertainties during operations do not always lend themselves well to traditional inquiries such as self-report surveys. Stakeholders can and do experience difficulty accurately recalling and rating past perceptions and connecting them to varying environmental conditions. As an alternative, experiential approaches such as participatory simulation are able to furnish a reliable environment that facilitates replication, experimenting and learning.</p><p>We present a novel approach with which to explore effects from the reliability of sub-seasonal sea ice forecasts on the user’s perception of uncertainties. Our methods combine anticipatory methods through the use of scenarios with participatory simulation in a computerized simulation/game called ICEWISE. In our paper we will:</p><ul><li>introduce the game and the newly developed seasonal sea ice forecast</li> <li>present results from a gaming workshop conducted with experts in Arctic marine operations</li> <li>discuss the role of full and structured debriefing in maximizing the learning that takes place during gaming sessions</li> </ul><p>To conclude, we reflect on the upcoming stages of data collection, which will culminate in an exploratory model. The model will serve to inform sea ice service providers about the potential mediating effects deriving from the reliability of sea ice forecasts on the user’s own perceived confidence in successful voyage planning.   </p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 8109-8128 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Land ◽  
J. D. Shutler ◽  
R. D. Cowling ◽  
D. K. Woolf ◽  
P. Walker ◽  
...  

Abstract. We applied coincident Earth observation data collected during 2008 and 2009 from multiple sensors (RA2, AATSR and MERIS, mounted on the European Space Agency satellite Envisat) to characterise environmental conditions and integrated sea–air fluxes of CO2 in three Arctic seas (Greenland, Barents, Kara). We assessed net CO2 sink sensitivity due to changes in temperature, salinity and sea ice duration arising from future climate scenarios. During the study period the Greenland and Barents seas were net sinks for atmospheric CO2, with integrated sea–air fluxes of −36 ± 14 and −11 ± 5 Tg C yr−1, respectively, and the Kara Sea was a weak net CO2 source with an integrated sea–air flux of +2.2 ± 1.4 Tg C yr−1. The combined integrated CO2 sea–air flux from all three was −45 ± 18 Tg C yr−1. In a sensitivity analysis we varied temperature, salinity and sea ice duration. Variations in temperature and salinity led to modification of the transfer velocity, solubility and partial pressure of CO2 taking into account the resultant variations in alkalinity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Our results showed that warming had a strong positive effect on the annual integrated sea–air flux of CO2 (i.e. reducing the sink), freshening had a strong negative effect and reduced sea ice duration had a small but measurable positive effect. In the climate change scenario examined, the effects of warming in just over a decade of climate change up to 2020 outweighed the combined effects of freshening and reduced sea ice duration. Collectively these effects gave an integrated sea–air flux change of +4.0 Tg C in the Greenland Sea, +6.0 Tg C in the Barents Sea and +1.7 Tg C in the Kara Sea, reducing the Greenland and Barents sinks by 11% and 53%, respectively, and increasing the weak Kara Sea source by 81%. Overall, the regional integrated flux changed by +11.7 Tg C, which is a 26% reduction in the regional sink. In terms of CO2 sink strength, we conclude that the Barents Sea is the most susceptible of the three regions to the climate changes examined. Our results imply that the region will cease to be a net CO2 sink in the 2050s.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 12377-12432 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Land ◽  
J. D. Shutler ◽  
R. D. Cowling ◽  
D. K. Woolf ◽  
P. Walker ◽  
...  

Abstract. During 2008 and 2009 we applied coincident Earth observation data collected from multiple sensors (RA2, AATSR and MERIS, mounted on the European Space Agency satellite Envisat) to characterise environmental conditions and net sea-air fluxes of CO2 in three Arctic seas (Greenland, Barents, Kara) to assess net CO2 sink sensitivity due to changes in temperature, salinity and sea ice duration arising from future climate scenarios. During the study period the Greenland and Barents Seas were net sinks for atmospheric CO2, with sea-air fluxes of −34±13 and −13±6 Tg C yr−1, respectively and the Kara Sea was a weak net CO2 source with a sea-air flux of +1.5±1.1 Tg C yr−1. The combined net CO2 sea-air flux from all three was −45±18 Tg C yr−1. In a sensitivity analysis we varied temperature, salinity and sea ice duration. Variations in temperature and salinity led to modification of the transfer velocity, solubility and partial pressure of CO2 taking into account the resultant variations in alkalinity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Our results showed that warming had a strong positive effect on the annual net sea-air flux of CO2 (i.e. reducing the sink), freshening had a strong negative effect and reduced sea ice duration had a small but measurable positive effect. In the climate change scenario examined, the effects of warming in just over a decade of climate change up to 2020 outweighed the combined effects of freshening and reduced sea ice duration. Collectively these effects gave a net sea-air flux change of +3.5 Tg C in the Greenland Sea, +5.5 Tg C in the Barents Sea and +1.4 Tg C in the Kara Sea, reducing the Greenland and Barents sinks by 10% and 50% respectively, and increasing the weak Kara Sea source by 64%. Overall, the regional flux changed by +10.4 Tg C, reducing the regional sink by 23%. In terms of CO2 sink strength we conclude that the Barents Sea is the most susceptible of the three regions to the climate changes examined. Our results imply that the region will cease to be a net CO2 sink by 2060.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Stokholm ◽  
Leif Pedersen ◽  
René Forsberg ◽  
Sine Hvidegaard

<p>In recent years the Arctic has seen renewed political and economic interest, increased maritime traffic and desire for improved sea ice navigational tools. Despite a rise in digital technology, maps of sea ice concentration used for Arctic maritime operations are still today created by humans manually interpreting radar images. This process is slow with low map release frequency, uncertainties up to 20 % and discrepancies up to 60 %. Utilizing emerging AI Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) semantic image segmentation techniques to automate this process is drastically changing navigation in the Arctic seas, with better resolution, accuracy, release frequency and coverage. Automatic Arctic sea ice products may contribute to enabling the disruptive Northern Sea Route connecting North East Asia to Europe via the Arctic oceans.</p><p>The AI4Arctic/ASIP V2 data set, that combines 466 Sentinel-1 HH and HV SAR images from Greenland, Passive Microwave Radiometry from the AMSR2 instrument, and an equivalent sea ice concentration chart produced by ice analysts at the Danish Meteorological Institute, have been used to train a CNN U-Net Architecture model. The model shows robust capabilities in producing highly detailed sea ice concentration maps with open water, intermediate sea ice concentrations as well as full sea ice cover, which resemble those created by professional sea ice analysts. Often cited obstacles in automatic sea ice concentration models are wind-roughened sea ambiguities resembling sea ice. Final inference scenes show robustness towards such ambiguities.</p>


Eos ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 84 (34) ◽  
pp. 325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Wang ◽  
Ron Kwok ◽  
Francois J. Saucier ◽  
Jennifer Hutchings ◽  
Moto Ikeda ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Fossile ◽  
Maria Pia Nardelli ◽  
Arbia Jouini ◽  
Bruno Lansard ◽  
Antonio Pusceddu ◽  
...  

Abstract. The rapid response of benthic foraminifera to environmental factors (e.g., organic matter quality and quantity, salinity, pH) and their high fossilisation potential make them promising bio-indicators for the intensity and recurrence of brine formation in Arctic seas. Such approach, however, requires a thorough knowledge of their modern ecology in such extreme settings. To this aim, seven stations along a N–S transect across the Storfjorden (Svalbard archipelago) have been sampled using an interface multicorer. This fjord is an area of intense sea ice formation characterised by the production of Brine-enriched Shelf Waters (BSW) as a result of a recurrent latent-heat polynya. Living (Rose Bengal stained) foraminiferal assemblages were analysed together with geochemical and sedimentological parameters in the top five centimetres of the sediment. Three major biozones were distinguished: (i) the inner fjord dominated by typical glacier proximal calcareous species which opportunistically respond to fresh organic matter inputs; (ii) the deep basins and sill characterised by glacier distal agglutinated faunas. These latter are either dominant because of the mostly refractory nature of organic matter and/or the brine persistence that hampers the growth of calcareous species and/or causes their dissolution. (iii) The outer fjord characterised by typical North Atlantic species due to the intrusion of the North Atlantic water in the Storfjordrenna. The stressful conditions present in the deep basins and sill (i.e. acidic waters and low food quality) result in a high agglutinated/calcareous ratio (A / C). This supports the potential use of the A / C ratio as a proxy for brine persistence and overflow in Storfjorden.


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