Snow, Wind, and Time Project: Terrestrial Lidar Scanner Snow Accumulation Maps, Utqiagvik, AK, November 2016 - June 2017

• Main Authors: Chris Polashenski, Nicholas Wright, Glen Liston
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2019
• Subjects: snow; sea ice; thermal conductivity; accumultion; Arctic; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/urn:uuid:2784d0e1-5d92-4275-8ed9-3a0e3cff8ce2

The insulating and reflective properties of snow substantially influence Arctic sea ice growth and decay. The overwhelming consensus within the scientific community is that the details of snow and sea ice interactions must be better incorporated in Earth System models, yet basic information on snow processes remains poorly quantified. The limited treatment of snow in Earth System models is largely based on datasets from field experiments on multi-year ice and does not capture changing snow properties and processes. Increasingly pervasive younger, thinner ice carries a different snowpack and is likely much more sensitive to snow conditions than the multi-year ice of the past. Predicting Arctic climate requires that we understand snow on sea ice and its interactions and feedbacks among the rest of the climate system components. A particularly important aspect of snow on sea ice is its fine-scale spatial redistribution. Wind-driven snow redistribution into dunes and drifts controls thermal fluxes and melt pond formation, exerting considerable control over ice mass balance.