Sea Ice Variability in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas: Processes and Prediction

该项目将分析楚科奇和波弗特海的海冰分布。在过去的十年里，在阿拉斯加附近发现的北极浮冰的夏季边缘已经大幅向北撤退，原因尚不清楚。为了更好地理解这一趋势，将评估与最近海冰面积急剧减少相关的气候条件。此外，这项研究还将检查近年来的趋势是否与大范围的气候变化有关。这项工作将包括对海冰观测的分析，以及对北极冰盖的运动以及形成和融化的模拟。这一分析结果将提高对极端海冰事件的预测能力。

This project will analyze the sea-ice distributions in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Over the last decade, the summer-time edge of the Arctic pack ice found off of Alaska has retreated dramatically northward for reasons that are not clear. To better understand this trend, the climatic conditions associated with recent dramatic reductions in sea-ice extent will be evaluated. In addition, the research will examine whether the recent years' trend relates to a broad-scale climatic change. This work will involve both the analysis of sea-ice observations as well as modeling the movement as well as the formation and melting of the Arctic ice pack. The results of this analysis will improve the predictive capability for extreme sea-ice events.