Energy and Mass Balance Observations of the land-ice-

• Main Authors: Thomas C. Grenfell, Donald K. Perovich, Hajo Eicken, Jeremy Harbeck, Thomas H. George, Andrew Mahoney
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: Arctic; albedo; Barrow; Sea ice; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.534.819; http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/snowice/sea-lake-ice/papers/06GPEL.pdf

We present results from a comprehensive field study carried out near Barrow, Alaska designed to characterize local- to intermediate-scale sea-ice processes in the arctic coastal zone of central importance to the annual cycle and evolution of the coastal sea ice. Included in this are the behavior of the snow cover of the ice and adjacent tundra and lake system; concurrent studies of mass balance of the sea ice and lake ice; interaction of shortwave radiation with the shore-fast ice and the adjacent land surfaces; evolution of the area coverage and distribution of the various surface types; and the resulting regional albedo values. Maximum snow depths decreased during 2000-2002 from 0.38 to 0.26 m. Ice melt rates in 2001 were 0.05 and 0.028 m per day at the top and bottom of the sea ice respectively, 2-3 times larger than observations from the central Arctic. Detailed surface results combined with aircraft photography were used to calculate regional albedos for the late spring and early summer of 2001. Values ranged from 0.8 for all cold snow-covered surfaces to approximately 0.4 for melting sea ice and lake ice versus 0.18 for bare tundra. Regional and surface-based values of cumulative shortwave radiation entering the ice were consistent, indicating that albedo sampling on a scale of 200 m can provide a useful representation for regional sea ice albedo. 44A101 Grenfell and others Page 1 of 23 6/27/2007