Eastern Arctic Area 15- and 30-Day Ice Forecasting Guide.

• Main Author: Mitchell,P A
• Other Authors: NAVAL OCEANOGRAPHIC OFFICE NSTL STATION MS
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *ICE FORMATION; *SEA ICE; *ARCTIC REGIONS; *ICE REPORTING; OCEAN CURRENTS; MELTING; AIR WATER INTERACTIONS; COLD WEATHER TESTS; GREENLAND; PACK ICE; Ice forecasting; Arctic; Baffin Bay; Greenland; Baffin; Davis Strait; East Greenland; Ice; Labrador Sea; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA072930; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA072930

Procedures for preparing 15- and 30-day forecasts of ice conditions in the eastern North American Arctic which relate current and historical ice data to environmental parameters are given. Background data on the environmental factors which influence the growth, movement, and decay of sea ice in the eastern Arctic region are detailed and include primary and secondary storm tracks, sea level pressure, surface air temperature, and surface currents. Analyses of historical sea ice distribution data which have been observed over the 18-year period from 1954 through 1971 are presented and include the mean, median, mean maximum, mean minimum, absolute minimum, and absolute maximum eastern and western positions of the pack ice edges at half-monthly intervals. Advancement and recession rates of ice edge movement computed for the entire year and analyses of mean ice concentrations and percentage of large floe sizes for the western Labrador Sea, Baffin Bay/Davis Strait region, and the east Greenland coastal regions are included. Data also include frost degree-day, related ice-growth, and estimated ice disintegration curves for 17 eastern Arctic coastal stations. Statistical methods for forecasting ice growth, movement, distribution, and decay are presented since these methods have proven most successful. (Author)