Climatic signal of ice melt features in southern Greenland

Nature ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 293 (5831) ◽  
pp. 389-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael M. Herron ◽  
Susan L. Herron ◽  
Chester C. Langway
Keyword(s):  
Ice Melt ◽  
Climatic Signal

Hydrological Response of a Patchy High Arctic Wetland

2000 ◽  
Vol 31 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 317-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy L. Young ◽  
Ming-ko Woo
Keyword(s):  
Weather Conditions ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Snow Storage ◽  
Streamflow Response ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Surface And Subsurface Flow ◽  
Present Understanding

High Arctic patchy wetlands are ecological oases in a polar desert environment and are vulnerable to climatic warming. At present, understanding of their responses to external factors (climate and terrain) is limited. This study examines a wetland located in a topographic depression maintained by seasonal snowmelt, ground ice melt and lateral inflows. The wetland is located on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, Canada. Hydrological, climatological and soil observations were made over several summers with different weather conditions. The summers of 1996 and 1997 were cool and wet but the summer of 1998 was warm and dry. The melt in 1996 was rapid due to rain on snow events and only lasted six days. Deeper snow in 1997 prolonged the melt season to 18 days. A shallow snow-cover in 1998 and early melt depleted the snow by early June. Surface, groundwater and storage fluctuations in the wetland were dictated by snowmelt, rainfall, evaporation loss from the wetland and lateral inputs which in turn were controlled by the melting of the late-lying snow storage in the catchment. Soil factors influence the spatial variations in ground thaw which affects the surface and subsurface flow. Streamflow response of the wetland reflects a nival regime and augmentation of streamflow thoughout the summer season in all three years is supported by multiple water sources: ground ice melt and suprapermafrost water from a large late-lying snowpack. Overall, this study suggests that the survival of some patchy wetlands depends on their interaction with the surrounding basin, with a dependency probably being more important during warm and dry seasons.

scholarly journals A warm jet in a cold ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. MacKinnon ◽  
Harper L. Simmons ◽  
John Hargrove ◽  
Jim Thomson ◽  
Thomas Peacock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Arctic ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Beaufort Gyre ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
Initial Evolution ◽  
Forecast Models

AbstractUnprecedented quantities of heat are entering the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait, particularly during summer months. Though some heat is lost to the atmosphere during autumn cooling, a significant fraction of the incoming warm, salty water subducts (dives beneath) below a cooler fresher layer of near-surface water, subsequently extending hundreds of kilometers into the Beaufort Gyre. Upward turbulent mixing of these sub-surface pockets of heat is likely accelerating sea ice melt in the region. This Pacific-origin water brings both heat and unique biogeochemical properties, contributing to a changing Arctic ecosystem. However, our ability to understand or forecast the role of this incoming water mass has been hampered by lack of understanding of the physical processes controlling subduction and evolution of this this warm water. Crucially, the processes seen here occur at small horizontal scales not resolved by regional forecast models or climate simulations; new parameterizations must be developed that accurately represent the physics. Here we present novel high resolution observations showing the detailed process of subduction and initial evolution of warm Pacific-origin water in the southern Beaufort Gyre.

scholarly journals Effects of atmospheric conditions on ice nucleation activity of <i>Pseudomonas</i>

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 10667-10677 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Attard ◽  
H. Yang ◽  
A.-M. Delort ◽  
P. Amato ◽  
U. Pöschl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Pseudomonas Syringae ◽  
Ice Nucleation ◽  
Acidic Ph ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Ice Nucleation Protein ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Nucleation Activity ◽  
Ice Nucleation Activity

Abstract. Although ice nuclei from bacterial origin are known to be efficient at the highest temperatures known for ice catalysts, quantitative data are still needed to assess their role in cloud processes. Here we studied the effects of three typical cloud conditions (i) acidic pH (ii) NO2 and O3 exposure and (iii) UV-A exposure on the ice nucleation activity (INA) of four Pseudomonas strains. Three of the Pseudomonas syringae strains were isolated from cloud water and the phyllosphere and Pseudomonas fluorescens strain CGina-01 was isolated from Antarctic glacier ice melt. Among the three conditions tested, acidic pH caused the most significant effects on INA likely due to denaturation of the ice nucleation protein complex. Exposure to NO2 and O3 gases had no significant or only weak effects on the INA of two P. syringae strains whereas the INA of P. fluorescens CGina-01 was significantly affected. The INA of the third P. syringae strain showed variable responses to NO2 and O3 exposure. These differences in the INA of different Pseudomonas suggest that the response to atmospheric conditions could be strain-specific. After UV-A exposure, a substantial loss of viability of all four strains was observed whereas their INA decreased only slightly. This corroborates the notion that under certain conditions dead bacterial cells can maintain their INA. Overall, the negative effects of the three environmental factors on INA were more significant at the warmer temperatures. Our results suggest that in clouds where temperatures are near 0 °C, the importance of bacterial ice nucleation in precipitation processes could be reduced by some environmental factors.

Seasonal evolution and salt/freshwater fluxes of first-year sea ice: Comparison between pack ice and landfast sea ice 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Oggier ◽  
Hajo Eicken ◽  
Robert Rember ◽  
Allison Fong ◽  
Dmitry V. Divine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Upper Ocean ◽  
First Year ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Freshwater Fluxes ◽  
Exchange Processes ◽  
Bulk Salinity ◽  
Landfast Sea Ice

&lt;p&gt;Sea ice affects the exchange of energy and matter between the atmosphere and the ocean from local to hemispheric scales. Salt fluxes across the ice-ocean interface that drive thermohaline mixing beneath growing sea ice are important elements of upper ocean nutrient and carbon exchange. Sea-ice melt releases freshwater into the upper ocean and results in formation of melt ponds that affect gas and energy transfer across the atmosphere-ice interface. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) provided an opportunity to follow sea-ice evolution and exchange processes over a full seasonal cycle in a rapidly changing ice cover. To this end, approximately 25 sea-ice cores were collected at 2 distinct sites, representing first-year and multi-year ice, to monitor physical, biological and geochemical processes relevant to atmosphere-ice-ocean exchange processes. Here we compare the growth and decay of first-year ice in the Central Arctic during the winter 2019-2020 to that of landfast first-year ice at Utqia&amp;#289;vik, Alaska, from 1998 to 2016. Ice stratigraphy was similar at both sites with about 15 cm of granular ice on top of columnar ice, with a comparable growth history with a similar maximum ice thickness of 1.6-1.7 m. We aggregated the sea-ice bulk salinity and temperature profiles using a degree-day approach, and examined brine and freshwater fluxes at lower and upper interfaces of the ice, respectively. Preliminary results show lower sea-ice bulk salinity during the growth season and greater desalination at the ice surface during the melt season at the MOSAiC floe in comparison to Utqia&amp;#289;vik.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Signature of Arctic first-year ice melt pond fraction in X-band SAR imagery

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 755-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ane S. Fors ◽  
Dmitry V. Divine ◽  
Anthony P. Doulgeris ◽  
Angelika H. H. Renner ◽  
Sebastian Gerland
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
First Year ◽  
Backscatter Signal ◽  
Noise Floor ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Melt Pond ◽  
Melt Ponds ◽  
X Band

Abstract. In this paper we investigate the potential of melt pond fraction retrieval from X-band polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on drifting first-year sea ice. Melt pond fractions retrieved from a helicopter-borne camera system were compared to polarimetric features extracted from four dual-polarimetric X-band SAR scenes, revealing significant relationships. The correlations were strongly dependent on wind speed and SAR incidence angle. Co-polarisation ratio was found to be the most promising SAR feature for melt pond fraction estimation at intermediate wind speeds (6. 2 m s−1), with a Spearman's correlation coefficient of 0. 46. At low wind speeds (0. 6 m s−1), this relation disappeared due to low backscatter from the melt ponds, and backscatter VV-polarisation intensity had the strongest relationship to melt pond fraction with a correlation coefficient of −0. 53. To further investigate these relations, regression fits were made both for the intermediate (R2fit = 0. 21) and low (R2fit = 0. 26) wind case, and the fits were tested on the satellite scenes in the study. The regression fits gave good estimates of mean melt pond fraction for the full satellite scenes, with less than 4 % from a similar statistics derived from analysis of low-altitude imagery captured during helicopter ice-survey flights in the study area. A smoothing window of 51 × 51 pixels gave the best reproduction of the width of the melt pond fraction distribution. A considerable part of the backscatter signal was below the noise floor at SAR incidence angles above  ∼  40°, restricting the information gain from polarimetric features above this threshold. Compared to previous studies in C-band, limitations concerning wind speed and noise floor set stricter constraints on melt pond fraction retrieval in X-band. Despite this, our findings suggest new possibilities in melt pond fraction estimation from X-band SAR, opening for expanded monitoring of melt ponds during melt season in the future.

scholarly journals Physical controls on the storage of methane in landfast sea ice

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zhou ◽  
J.-L. Tison ◽  
G. Carnat ◽  
N.-X. Geilfus ◽  
B. Delille
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Bubble Formation ◽  
Gas Bubble ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Physical Controls ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Landfast Sea Ice ◽  
Ice Water ◽  
Brine Concentration

Abstract. We report on methane (CH4) dynamics in landfast sea ice, brine and under-ice seawater at Barrow in 2009. The CH4 concentrations in under-ice water ranged from 25.9 to 116.4 nmol L−1sw, indicating a supersaturation of 700 to 3100% relative to the atmosphere. In comparison, the CH4 concentrations in sea ice ranged from 3.4 to 17.2 nmol L−1ice and the deduced CH4 concentrations in brine from 13.2 to 677.7 nmol L−1brine. We investigated the processes underlying the difference in CH4 concentrations between sea ice, brine and under-ice water and suggest that biological controls on the storage of CH4 in ice were minor in comparison to the physical controls. Two physical processes regulated the storage of CH4 in our landfast ice samples: bubble formation within the ice and sea ice permeability. Gas bubble formation due to brine concentration and solubility decrease favoured the accumulation of CH4 in the ice at the beginning of ice growth. CH4 retention in sea ice was then twice as efficient as that of salt; this also explains the overall higher CH4 concentrations in brine than in the under-ice water. As sea ice thickened, gas bubble formation became less efficient, CH4 was then mainly trapped in the dissolved state. The increase of sea ice permeability during ice melt marked the end of CH4 storage.

scholarly journals Diversity of Arctic pelagic <i>Bacteria</i> with an emphasis on photoheterotrophs: a review

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3309-3322 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Boeuf ◽  
F. Humily ◽  
C. Jeanthon
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Heterotrophic Bacteria ◽  
Euphotic Zone ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Continental Shelves ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

Abstract. The Arctic Ocean is a unique marine environment with respect to seasonality of light, temperature, perennial ice cover, and strong stratification. Other important distinctive features are the influence of extensive continental shelves and its interactions with Atlantic and Pacific water masses and freshwater from sea ice melt and rivers. These characteristics have major influence on the biological and biogeochemical processes occurring in this complex natural system. Heterotrophic bacteria are crucial components of marine food webs and have key roles in controlling carbon fluxes in the oceans. Although it was previously thought that these organisms relied on the organic carbon in seawater for all of their energy needs, several recent discoveries now suggest that pelagic bacteria can depart from a strictly heterotrophic lifestyle by obtaining energy through unconventional mechanisms that are linked to the penetration of sunlight into surface waters. These photoheterotrophic mechanisms may play a significant role in the energy budget in the euphotic zone of marine environments. Modifications of light and carbon availability triggered by climate change may favor the photoheterotrophic lifestyle. Here we review advances in our knowledge of the diversity of marine photoheterotrophic bacteria and discuss their significance in the Arctic Ocean gained in the framework of the Malina cruise.

scholarly journals Theoretical study of ice cover phenology at large freshwater lakes based on SMOS MIRAS data

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2727-2740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliy Tikhonov ◽  
Ilya Khvostov ◽  
Andrey Romanov ◽  
Evgeniy Sharkov
Keyword(s):  
Brightness Temperature ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Ice Cover ◽  
Freshwater Lakes ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Bear Lake ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Satellite Microwave ◽  
Transportation Routes ◽  
Temperature Time

Abstract. The paper presents a theoretical analysis of seasonal brightness temperature variations at a number of large freshwater lakes: Baikal, Ladoga, Great Bear Lake (GBL), Great Slave Lake (GSL), and Huron, retrieved from Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS) data (1.4 GHz) of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite. The analysis was performed using the model of microwave radiation of plane layered heterogeneous nonisothermal medium. The input parameters for the model were real regional climatological characteristics and glaciological parameters of ice cover of the study lakes. Three distinct seasonal brightness temperature time regions corresponding to different phenological phases of the lake surfaces: complete ice cover, ice melt and deterioration, and open water were revealed. The paper demonstrates the possibility to determine the beginning of ice cover deterioration from satellite microwave radiometry data. The obtained results can be useful for setting the operating terms of winter crossings and roads on ice, as with the beginning of ice deterioration, these transportation routes across water bodies (rivers, lakes, water reservoirs) become insecure and cannot be used any more.

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