Monitoring land-fast sea ice in the Weddell Sea – A contribution to the Antarctic Fast Ice Network

• Main Authors: Hoppmann, Mario, Nicolaus, Marcel, Hunkeler, Priska, Paul, Stephan, Heil, Petra
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Antarctic; Atka; Ekström Ice Shelf; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; IPY; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35368/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35368/1/AFIN_IGS_2014_final_small.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43360; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43360.d001

Continuous observations of sea-ice and its snow cover are crucial to understand key processes and predict changes in the polar regions. In the pack-ice zone of the Southern Ocean, gathering these data is most challenging due to logistical constraints. In contrast, immobile sea ice fastened to the coast and ice shelves around Antarctica is relatively easy to probe from nearby coastal stations. During IPY 2007/08, several international partners grouped together in the Antarctic Fast Ice Network (AFIN) to provide the scientific community with continuous observations of fast-ice areas around the Antarctic coastline. Since 2010/11, we contribute to AFIN with a suite of measurements on the seasonal fast ice of Atka Bay, in the eastern Weddell Sea. Through its geographical location near the Ekström Ice Shelf, the fast ice is influenced by ocean-ice shelf interaction and is generally covered with a thick and highly variable snow cover. Here we present the concept and selected results of our ongoing monitoring program, where we combine traditional sea-ice measurements (drillings, coring, snow pits) with automated stations/buoys and remote sensing by satellites (MODIS, SAR).