A model study of differences of snow thinning on Arctic and Antarctic first-year sea ice during spring and summer

Nicolaus, Marcel; Haas, Christian; Bareiss, Jörg; Willmes, Sascha

doi:10.3189/172756406781811312

Cited by 47 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…7 and 8; Nicolaus et al, 2006). According to our measurements over the five-week observation period, thinning amounted only to between 0 and 0.4 m, including up to 0.2 m snow thickness decrease.…”

Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 (see also Nicolaus et al, 2006). The figure presents the mean snow thicknesses of all measurements performed along 50 m profiles at irregular temporal sampling intervals.…”

Section: Ice and Snow Thickness Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…During summer, the properties of sea-ice and snow change considerably as a result of increased heat fluxes both from atmosphere and ocean, causing a marked warming of the ice and snow and a reversal of vertical temperature gradients with higher temperatures at the surface than at the bottom. As a consequence, increased snow metamorphism and thinning, internal and bottom melting, and high rates of algal primary productivity are observed (e.g., Thomas et al, 1998;Haas et al, 2001;Nicolaus et al, 2006). Little is known about the atmospheric and oceanic boundary conditions of these processes in late spring and early summer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, drillhole measurements and ground-based and helicopter-borne thickness estimates agreed well within the stated accuracy of 70.1 m over level ice. Repeated ruler-stick snow thickness surveys were performed along 50-m-long profiles with a point spacing of 1 m on level-ice of the different sampling sites to observe their mean snow thickness and temporal change (Table 1; Nicolaus et al, 2006). On December 17, a 1070-m-long snow thickness profile was surveyed with a point spacing of 10 m along the main ground-based EM profile to characterize the overall snow thickness distribution of the ISPOL floe, including regions that were not chosen for dedicated temporal studies.…”

Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sea ice and snow thickness and physical properties of an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea and their changes during spring warming

Haas

Nicolaus

Willmes

et al. 2008

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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Helicopter-borne and ground-based electromagnetic (EM) ice thickness and ruler-stick snow thickness measurements as well as icecore analyses of ice temperature, salinity and texture were performed over a 5-week observation period between November 27, 2004, and January 2, 2005, on an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea at approximately 671S, 551W. The study was part of the Ice Station Polarstern (ISPOL) expedition of German research icebreaker R.V. Polarstern, investigating changes of physical, biological, and biogeochemical properties during the spring warming as a function of atmospheric and oceanic boundary conditions. The ice floe was composed of fragments of thin and thick first-year ice and thick second-year ice, with modal total thicknesses of 1.2-1.3, 2.1, and 2.4-2.9 m, respectively. This included modal snow thicknesses of 0.2-0.5 m on first-year ice and 0.75 m on second-year ice. During the observation period, snow thickness decreased by less than 0.2 m. There was hardly any ice thinning. Warming of snow and ice between 0.1 and 1.9 1C resulted in decreased ice salinity and increased brine volume. Direct current (DC) geoelectric and electromagnetic (EM) induction depth sounding were performed to study changes of electrical ice conductivity as a result of the observed ice warming. Bulk ice conductivity increased from to 37 to 97 mS/m. Analysis of conductivity anisotropy showed that the horizontal ice conductivity changed from 9 to 70 mS/m. These conductivity changes have only negligible effects on the thickness retrieval from EM measurements. Crown

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Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 (see also Nicolaus et al, 2006). The figure presents the mean snow thicknesses of all measurements performed along 50 m profiles at irregular temporal sampling intervals.…”

Section: Ice and Snow Thickness Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sea ice and snow thickness and physical properties of an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea and their changes during spring warming

Haas

Nicolaus

Willmes

et al. 2008

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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“…Snow reduces the availability of light within or underneath sea ice and therefore influences biogeochemical processes requiring solar radiation. In contrast to snow on Arctic sea ice, snow on Antarctic sea ice usually survives the summer melt season [1,2]; often the seasonal sea ice has melted from below before snow has melted. Environmental conditions in the Arctic Ocean, surrounded by landmasses, and the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica are different.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite Remote Sensing of Snow Depth on Antarctic Sea Ice: An Inter-Comparison of Two Empirical Approaches

Kern

Özsoy

2016

Remote Sensing

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Snow on Antarctic sea ice plays a key role for sea ice physical processes and complicates retrieval of sea ice thickness using altimetry. Current methods of snow depth retrieval are based on satellite microwave radiometry, which perform best for dry, homogeneous snow packs on level sea ice. We introduce an alternative approach based on in-situ measurements of total (sea ice plus snow) freeboard and snow depth, which we use to compute snow depth on sea ice from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) total freeboard observations. We compare ICESat snow depth for early winter and spring of the years 2004 through 2006 with the Advanced Scanning Microwave Radiometer aboard EOS (AMSR-E) snow depth product. We find ICESat snow depths agree more closely with ship-based visual and air-borne snow radar observations than AMSR-E snow depths. We obtain average modal and mean ICESat snow depths, which exceed AMSR-E snow depths by 5-10 cm in winter and 10-15 cm in spring. We observe an increase in ICESat snow depth from winter to spring for most Antarctic regions in accordance with ground-based observations, in contrast to AMSR-E snow depths, which we find to stay constant or to decrease. We suggest satellite laser altimetry as an alternative method to derive snow depth on Antarctic sea ice, which is independent of snow physical properties.

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Annual primary production in Antarctic sea ice during 2005–2006 from a sea ice state estimate

Saenz

Arrigo

2014

JGR Oceans

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Using the data-bounded Sea Ice Ecosystem State (SIESTA) model, we estimate total Antarctic sea ice algal primary production to be 23.7 Tg C a 21 for the period July 2005-June 2006, of which 80% occurred in the bottom 0.2 m of ice. Simulated sea ice primary production would constitute 12% of total annual primary production in the Antarctic sea ice zone, and 1% of annual Southern Ocean primary production. Model sea ice algal growth was net nutrient limited, rather than light limited, for the vast majority of the sunlit season. The seasonal distribution of integrated ice algal biomass matches available observations. The vertical algal distribution was weighted toward the ice bottom compared to observations, indicating that interior ice algal communities may be under-predicted in the model, and that nutrient delivery via gravity-induced convection is not sufficient to sustain summertime algal biomass. Bottom ice algae were most productive in ice of 0.36 m thickness, whereas interior algal communities were most productive in ice of 1.10 m thickness. Sensitivity analyses that tested different atmospheric forcing inputs, sea ice parameterizations, and nutrient availability caused mean and regional shifts in sea ice state and ice algal production even when sea extent and motion was specified. The spatial heterogeneity of both ice state and algal production highlight the sensitivity of the sea ice ecosystem to physical perturbation, and demonstrate the importance of quality input data and appropriate parameterizations to models of sea ice and associated biology.

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A model study of differences of snow thinning on Arctic and Antarctic first-year sea ice during spring and summer

Cited by 47 publications

References 18 publications

Sea ice and snow thickness and physical properties of an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea and their changes during spring warming

Sea ice and snow thickness and physical properties of an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea and their changes during spring warming

Satellite Remote Sensing of Snow Depth on Antarctic Sea Ice: An Inter-Comparison of Two Empirical Approaches

Annual primary production in Antarctic sea ice during 2005–2006 from a sea ice state estimate

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