Conference retranscription “Living in Northern Quebec,” 1 special session “Arctic Housing and Community Planning”2 organized by Mylène Riva and Geneviève Vachon. Arctic Change 2017 Conference, Quebec City, Convention Centre, December 14th, 2017.
In light of recent Arctic change, there is a need to better understand sea ice dynamic processes at the floe scale to evaluate sea ice stability, deformation, and fracturing. This work investigates the use of the Gamma portable radar interferometer (GPRI) to characterize sea ice displacement and surface topography. We find that the GPRI is best suited to derive lateral surface deformation due to mm-scale horizontal accuracy. We model interferometric phase signatures from sea ice displacement and evaluate possible errors related to noise and antenna motion. We compare the analysis with observations acquired during a drifting ice camp in the Beaufort Sea. We used repeat-scan and stare-mode interferometry to identify two-dimensional shear and to track continuous uni-directional convergence. This paper demonstrates the capacity of the GPRI to derive surface strain on the order of 10−7 and identify different dynamic regions based on sub-mm changes in displacement. The GPRI is thus a promising tool for sea ice applications due to its high accuracy that can potentially resolve pre- and post-fracture deformation relevant to sea ice stability and modeling.
New satellite instruments and data, plus a more comprehensive observing network, are key to increasing our understanding of past and future change in the Arctic Boreal Zone.
Speaking Out: Housing Issues of Youth in Nunavik