The Changing Met-Ocean and Ice Conditions in the Beaufort Sea: Implications for Offshore Oil and Gas

In recent years, changes in the Arctic Ocean weather and ice regime have received widespread attention in terms of the possible link to Green House Gas (GHG) induced effects on the polar climate, and the implications of these changes on Arctic regional and oceanographic conditions. In this paper, we...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: D. B. Fissel, J. R. Marko, M. Martínez, Saavedra Álvarez
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
KEY WORDS
Metocean
sea ice
meteorology
Beaufort Sea
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Sea ice
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.159.1586
http://www.aslenv.com/reports/IPS-ISOPE2009.pdf
Description
Summary:In recent years, changes in the Arctic Ocean weather and ice regime have received widespread attention in terms of the possible link to Green House Gas (GHG) induced effects on the polar climate, and the implications of these changes on Arctic regional and oceanographic conditions. In this paper, we examine trends in summer meteorological and sea-ice conditions on the continental shelf and slope regions of the Canadian Beaufort Sea. The trend analysis was conducted using data collected over the past 30-50 years for selected measurement quantities. The interannual variability for many of these quantities is very large, which leads to statistical uncertainties in the statistical significance on the derived trend results. Air temperatures have clearly risen by 2-4 °C according to the measurement location and month of the year. The trends in the monthly surface winds are relatively small in relation to the large degree of interannual variability. Computed trends in sea ice concentrations vary considerably with location. The trends in the fast ice concentrations (early summer and fall) are larger than those in the outer shelf and slope regions. In the latter areas, the regional winds are a major determinant in advection of sea ice, especially from the main Arctic pack ice to the north. The implications of the long-term trends on the regional oceanography are discussed.

Similar Items