| Summary: | Progress Code: completed Statement: Dates provided in temporal coverage are approximate only. All field work for this project was unfortunately cancelled due to difficulties on board the ship. As a result this project became purely a modeling project. Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2504 See the link below for public details on this project. In this project a sea-ice model for application in Southern Ocean climate and forecasting studies will be developed to amend identified deficiencies in numerical models (i.e. unaccounted short-term dynamics; or non-suitable ice rheology). In-situ deformation and ice-stress data will be used to derive parameterisations suitable for the Southern Ocean pack. Antarctic sea ice is an important component of the Southern Hemisphere climate. It provides a habitat for algae, plankton and for larger species such as mammals or penguins. It is a transport medium for freshwater and biological matter. On the other hand it acts like a barrier between ocean and atmosphere in regard to the exchange of thermal energy, water vapour and gases. Sea ice affects the polar climate in many ways: E.g., by effectively insulating the ocean from the colder atmosphere the sea ice enables an advection of relatively warm water onto the shallow Antarctic continental shelf. This warmer water is then available to interact with other components of the climate system, such as by basal melting of the continental ice shelves [Jenkins and Holland, 2002]. Also, due to its high albedo, the sea ice has a large-scale effect on the net incoming solar radiation [Ebert et al., 1995] and reduces the absorption of solar energy into the upper ocean. The thermodynamic growth of seaice and the consequent desalination of the ice gives rise to a transport of salt from the ice into the ocean, which increases the water density over the shelf, thereby driving the deep vertical overturning cell in the global ocean circulation. High ice-growth rates (e.g., in regions of polynyas) are generally concentrated in small ...
|
|---|