Estimating summer ocean heating in the arctic ice pack using high-resolution satellite imagery

• Main Author: Heiles, Ander S.
• Other Authors: Stanton, Timothy P., Oceanography, Shaw, William J.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2014
• Subjects: Arctic Ocean; Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoy; Beaufort Sea; Departure From Freezing; Heat Content; Heat Flux; High Resolution Satellite Imagery; Ice Concentration; Ice-Ocean Boundary Layer; Ice Tethered Profiler Meltpond; Meltpond Fraction; Open Water Fraction; Arctic; ice pack; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10945/43924

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. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Lieutenant, United States Navy http://archive.org/details/estimatingsummer1094543924