Estimating Summer Ocean Heating in the Arctic Ice Pack Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery

Recent observations have shown that the sea ice coverage and thickness in the Arctic Ocean is significantly decreasing. Areas of the Arctic that have traditionally been covered year-round with thick multiyear ice are being replaced by thinner first-year ice and open water. This results in increased...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Heiles, Ander S
Other Authors: NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
Thermodynamics
*ARCTIC OCEAN
*HEAT FLUX
*HIGH RESOLUTION
*SATELLITE IMAGERY
*SEA ICE
BOUNDARY LAYER
BUOYS
CLIMATE CHANGE
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CORRELATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
GEODYNAMICS
ICE FORMATION
IMAGE PROCESSING
MATHEMATICAL PREDICTION
MULTISENSORS
OCEAN MODELS
OPEN WATER
PACK ICE
SELF OPERATION
SOLAR RADIATION
SUMMER
THESES
TIME SERIES ANALYSIS
VALIDATION
AOFBS(AUTONOMOUS OCEAN FLUX BUOYS)
BEAUFORT SEA
DEPARTURE FROM FREEZING
HEAT CONTENT
HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY
ICE CONCENTRATION
IOBL(ICE-OCEAN BOUNDARY LAYER)
ICE TETHERED PROFILER MELTPOND
MELTPOND FRACTION
OPEN WATER FRACTION
UUV(UNMANNED UNDERSEA VEHICLES)
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Beaufort Sea
Climate change
Ice
ice pack
permafrost
Sea ice
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA619468
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA619468
Description
Summary:Recent observations have shown that the sea ice coverage and thickness in the Arctic Ocean is significantly decreasing. Areas of the Arctic that have traditionally been covered year-round with thick multiyear ice are being replaced by thinner first-year ice and open water. This results in increased amounts of solar radiation being absorbed and stored as heat in the upper ocean, where it is available for enhanced basal melting of sea ice. Measurements from Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoys (AOFBs) and Ice-Tethered Profilers (ITPs) were correlated to determine the ocean properties of the ice-ocean boundary layer (IOBL). High-resolution satellite imagery was processed to determine sensor positions within the image. Heat content of the IOBL was calculated by vertically integrating the departure from freezing for the time series along the AOFB drift track. This study represents one of the first attempts to quantify local open water fraction and upper ocean heat content using 1-meter pixel resolution imagery. Results indicate that the use of high-resolution satellite imagery can be used to accurately quantify local open water fraction. Approach was evaluated and validated against open water fraction, heat content, and heat flux measurements with promising results. The original document contains color images.

Similar Items