Great Lakes Ice Cover: Enriching Database and Improving Forecast ...

• Main Authors: Cohn, Danielle, Davedu, Santhi, Liu, Lian, Nakashima, Miye, Peng, Inigo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: My University 2021
• Subjects: Great Lakes; forecasting; lake ice; prediction of ice cover; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/1050; http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/167375

Great Lakes ice cover has been regularly documented and reported only since the 1970s, while inconsistent records of ice cover began in the 1960s. These ice charts from the 1960s and early 1970s had yet to be digitized from physical prints and preliminary scans into a computer- and web-friendly format. Aerial surveys and satellite imagery of the ice cover started in the 1960s; there were very few records of Great Lakes ice cover before these surveys and ice charts began. Collection of weather data (temperature, wind, precipitation, etc.) began in the 1800s in the region, but ice cover reports were sparse and difficult to estimate. Using the surface air temperature data from 1897 to 1983, ice cover can be estimated and hindcasted back to the start of the weather record for the Great Lakes. Another atmospheric component that influences ice cover on the lakes is that of atmospheric teleconnections, such as the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation), NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation), and newer ABNA ...