Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis
Air temperature and winter precipitation changes over the last five decades have impacted the timing, duration, and thickness of the ice cover on Arctic lakes as shown by recent studies. In the case of shallow tundra lakes, many of which are less than 3 m deep, warmer climate conditions could result...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2014
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/167/2014/tc-8-167-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c3477e01ab441eba89f0ad9f99b7297 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:3c3477e01ab441eba89f0ad9f99b7297 2023-05-15T15:19:06+02:00 Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis C. M. Surdu C. R. Duguay L. C. Brown D. Fernández Prieto 2014-01-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/167/2014/tc-8-167-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c3477e01ab441eba89f0ad9f99b7297 en eng Copernicus Publications 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/167/2014/tc-8-167-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c3477e01ab441eba89f0ad9f99b7297 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 167-180 (2014) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2014 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 2023-01-22T17:53:24Z Air temperature and winter precipitation changes over the last five decades have impacted the timing, duration, and thickness of the ice cover on Arctic lakes as shown by recent studies. In the case of shallow tundra lakes, many of which are less than 3 m deep, warmer climate conditions could result in thinner ice covers and consequently, in a smaller fraction of lakes freezing to their bed in winter. However, these changes have not yet been comprehensively documented. The analysis of a 20 yr time series of European remote sensing satellite ERS-1/2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and a numerical lake ice model were employed to determine the response of ice cover (thickness, freezing to the bed, and phenology) on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) to climate conditions over the last six decades. Given the large area covered by these lakes, changes in the regional climate and weather are related to regime shifts in the ice cover of the lakes. Analysis of available SAR data from 1991 to 2011, from a sub-region of the NSA near Barrow, shows a reduction in the fraction of lakes that freeze to the bed in late winter. This finding is in good agreement with the decrease in ice thickness simulated with the Canadian Lake Ice Model (CLIMo), a lower fraction of lakes frozen to the bed corresponding to a thinner ice cover. Observed changes of the ice cover show a trend toward increasing floating ice fractions from 1991 to 2011, with the greatest change occurring in April, when the grounded ice fraction declined by 22% (α = 0.01). Model results indicate a trend toward thinner ice covers by 18–22 cm (no-snow and 53% snow depth scenarios, α = 0.01) during the 1991–2011 period and by 21–38 cm (α = 0.001) from 1950 to 2011. The longer trend analysis (1950–2011) also shows a decrease in the ice cover duration by ~24 days consequent to later freeze-up dates by 5.9 days (α = 0.1) and earlier break-up dates by 17.7–18.6 days (α = 0.001). Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Barrow north slope The Cryosphere Tundra Alaska Unknown Arctic The Cryosphere 8 1 167 180 |
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fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir C. M. Surdu C. R. Duguay L. C. Brown D. Fernández Prieto Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Air temperature and winter precipitation changes over the last five decades have impacted the timing, duration, and thickness of the ice cover on Arctic lakes as shown by recent studies. In the case of shallow tundra lakes, many of which are less than 3 m deep, warmer climate conditions could result in thinner ice covers and consequently, in a smaller fraction of lakes freezing to their bed in winter. However, these changes have not yet been comprehensively documented. The analysis of a 20 yr time series of European remote sensing satellite ERS-1/2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and a numerical lake ice model were employed to determine the response of ice cover (thickness, freezing to the bed, and phenology) on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) to climate conditions over the last six decades. Given the large area covered by these lakes, changes in the regional climate and weather are related to regime shifts in the ice cover of the lakes. Analysis of available SAR data from 1991 to 2011, from a sub-region of the NSA near Barrow, shows a reduction in the fraction of lakes that freeze to the bed in late winter. This finding is in good agreement with the decrease in ice thickness simulated with the Canadian Lake Ice Model (CLIMo), a lower fraction of lakes frozen to the bed corresponding to a thinner ice cover. Observed changes of the ice cover show a trend toward increasing floating ice fractions from 1991 to 2011, with the greatest change occurring in April, when the grounded ice fraction declined by 22% (α = 0.01). Model results indicate a trend toward thinner ice covers by 18–22 cm (no-snow and 53% snow depth scenarios, α = 0.01) during the 1991–2011 period and by 21–38 cm (α = 0.001) from 1950 to 2011. The longer trend analysis (1950–2011) also shows a decrease in the ice cover duration by ~24 days consequent to later freeze-up dates by 5.9 days (α = 0.1) and earlier break-up dates by 17.7–18.6 days (α = 0.001). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. M. Surdu C. R. Duguay L. C. Brown D. Fernández Prieto |
author_facet |
C. M. Surdu C. R. Duguay L. C. Brown D. Fernández Prieto |
author_sort |
C. M. Surdu |
title |
Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
title_short |
Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
title_full |
Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
title_fullStr |
Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
title_sort |
response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the north slope of alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/167/2014/tc-8-167-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c3477e01ab441eba89f0ad9f99b7297 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Barrow north slope The Cryosphere Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barrow north slope The Cryosphere Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 167-180 (2014) |
op_relation |
1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/167/2014/tc-8-167-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c3477e01ab441eba89f0ad9f99b7297 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
167 |
op_container_end_page |
180 |
_version_ |
1766349280263536640 |