Oceanography The Official Magazine of
The Oceanography Society
Volume 30 Issue 02

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Volume 30, No. 2
Pages 56 - 68

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An Autonomous Approach to Observing the Seasonal Ice Zone in the Western Arctic

By Craig M. Lee , Jim Thomson, The Marginal Ice Zone Team, and The Arctic Sea State Team  
  • Published Online: September 2, 2017
  • https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2017.222
  • Full Article: PDF Download PDF

  • The Marginal Ice Zone Team: Kyoung-Ho Cho, Sylvia Cole, Martin Doble, Lee Freitag, Hans Graber, Phil Hwang, Steve Jayne, Sung-Ho Kang, Joo-Hong Kim, Rick Krishfield, Craig Lee, Ted Maksym, Wieslaw Maslowski, Breck Owens, Mary Jane Perry, Pam Posey, Luc Rainville, Jackie Richter-Menge, Andrew Roberts, Axel Schweiger, Bill Shaw, Tim Stanton, Mike Steele, Jim Thomson, Mary-Louise Timmermans, John Toole, Peter Wadhams, Jeremy Wilkinson, Eun Jin Yang, and Jinlun Zhang

    The Arctic Sea State Team: Stephen Ackley, Fabrice Ardhuin, Fanny Girard Ardhuin, Alexander Babanin, Tripp Collins, Martin Doble, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Gemmrich, Hans Graber, Peter Guest, Benjamin Holt, Susanne Lehner, Ted Maksym, Michael Meylan, Fabien Montiel, William Perrie, Ola Persson, Erick Rogers, Hayley Shen, Hui Shen, Vernon Squire, Sharon Stammerjohn, Justin Stopa, Peter Sutherland, Jim Thomson, Peter Wadhams, and Timothy Williams

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Article Abstract

The Marginal Ice Zone and Arctic Sea State programs examined the processes that govern evolution of the rapidly changing seasonal ice zone in the Beaufort Sea. Autonomous platforms operating from the ice and within the water column collected measurements across the atmosphere-ice-ocean system and provided the persistence to sample continuously through the springtime retreat and autumn advance of sea ice. Autonomous platforms also allowed operational modalities that reduced the field programs’ logistical requirements. Observations indicate that thermodynamics, especially the radiative balances of the ice-albedo feedback, govern the seasonal cycle of sea ice, with the role of surface waves confined to specific events. Continuous sampling from winter into autumn also reveals the imprint of winter ice conditions and fracturing on summertime floe size distribution. These programs demonstrate effective use of integrated systems of autonomous platforms for persistent, multiscale Arctic observing. Networks of autonomous systems are well suited to capturing the vast scales of variability inherent in the Arctic system.

Citation

Lee, C.M., J. Thomson, and the Marginal Ice Zone and Arctic Sea State Teams. 2017. An autonomous approach to observing the seasonal ice zone in the western Arctic. Oceanography 30(2):56–68, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2017.222.

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