A Study of the Sea Ice Regimes of the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9316633 Ledley This project is the application of an existing generalized sea ice model to the particular regional setting of the Ross Sea. A smaller-scale version of the same model will be nested within the regional model to represent McMurdo Sound. The simulated sea ice fields will be validated through a comparison with available observations, and used to assess the impact of sea ice on ocean-atmosphere energy exchange processes. After the model is adapted for the Ross Sea setting, and the simulated seasonal sea ice variations have been validated, a series of sensitivity studies will be carried out. These will be designed to examine the response of the sea ice to changes that may occur in the regional climate system on both short and long time scales. Finally, the model will be extended by nesting a finer grid submodel in the Ross Sea model in order to examine the effects of katabatic winds and synoptic weather variations on the sea ice distribution. ***