Collaborative Research: The White Arctic: A Snow-Impacts Synthesis for the Terrestrial Arctic

项目名称：白色北极：陆地北极的雪影响综合 智力优势：北极的一个显著特征是长期的积雪覆盖。它一年持续7到10个月，使白色成为北极海洋和陆地系统的主要表面颜色。在陆地上，雪以四种基本方式影响北极系统：增加积雪，隔离地面，影响动物的移动和觅食以及人类的运输和商业，并在淡水循环中发挥关键作用。虽然雪已经在数百篇论文中讨论过，并出现在数十种模型中（从过程级到GCM），但从未进行过全面的，以雪为中心的综合。目前与雪有关的信息和知识往往是按学科划分的，分散在文献中，很少具有包容性。现在比以往任何时候都更需要这样的综合，因为北极积雪的持续时间和性质都在发生变化。在拟议的工作中，PI对雪采取了全面的方法，这将更好地了解雪况变化将如何影响北极系统。拟议的地面积雪工作与现有的海冰积雪研究相结合，完成了SASS方案第一阶段进行的北极系统综合研究，从而对积雪影响进行了全系统的评估。建议的综合分为五个任务，旨在为几个与雪有关的紧迫问题提供答案：1）收集泛北极数据集，2）合并工具和模型以模拟北极雪相关特征，3）产生陆地泛北极系统的雪属性和特征的空间分布时间演变分布，4）从这些分布中开发一套综合指数和衍生产品，以捕捉与雪有关的基本影响，5）使用影响指数更好地了解北极系统。拟议的合成将大大推进我们对北极系统中雪的复杂作用的理解。通过这种合成产生的数据集和面向过程的建模将在推进大尺度气候模型，陆地生态学和大气化学方面具有特别的价值。通过与这些社区的互动，我们将提供数据集，可以直接用于检查广泛的跨学科研究中的问题。为了促进研究结果的传播，PI将发表一篇学术文章，描述如何在系统层面上最好地处理雪，并将在本综合项目的第三年举办一个开放式辅导研讨会。会议的目标是提出综合结论并讨论关键的综合问题。他们还期望这项工作为规划未来的实地研究工作提供直接指导，例如在国际极地年期间及以后。将通过密切协作和年度小组会议促进小组内的综合活动。PI还将参与其他SASS项目之间计划的综合活动，并将研究生和本科生融入研究，无论是通过直接参与还是通过为其他北极研究项目的学生提供参与我们项目的机会。这种互动将允许学生访问并与不同的研究小组合作，以获得对整体问题的不同观点。 还计划开展针对小学生的教育和宣传活动，他们将就北极系统中雪的作用提出科学难题。

PROJECT ABSTRACTTitle: The White Arctic: A Snow-Impacts Synthesis for the Terrestrial Arctic Intellectual merit: A defining feature of the Arctic is a long-lasting snow cover. It persists 7 to 10 months of the year, making white the dominant surface color of both Arctic marine and terrestrial systems. On land, snow impacts the Arctic System in four essential ways: by increasing albedo, by insulating the ground, by affecting mobility and foraging of animals and human transportation and commerce, and by playing a key role in the freshwater cycle. While snow has been discussed in literally hundreds of papers and appears in dozens of models (from process-level to GCM), a comprehensive, snow-centric synthesis has never been undertaken. Current information and knowledge related to snow tends to be compartmentalized by discipline, dispersed throughout the literature, and rarely inclusive. Such a synthesis is needed now more than ever because both the duration and the nature of the arctic snowpack are changing. In the proposed work, the PI's take a comprehensive approach to snow that will produce a better understanding of how changing snow conditions will affect the Arctic System. The proposed terrestrial snow work completes the suite of synthesis studies on the Arctic System undertaken in the first phase of the SASS Program by combining with an existing study of snow on sea ice, thereby producing a full system-wide assessment of snow impacts. The proposed synthesis is organized into five tasks designed to provide answers to several pressing snow-related questions: 1) collect pan-Arctic datasets, 2) merge tools and models to simulate Arctic snow-related features, 3) produce spatially distributed time evolving distributions of snow properties and characteristics for the terrestrial pan-Arctic System, 4) from these distributions develop a set of integrated indices and derived products that capture the essential snow-related impacts, and 5) use the impact indices to better understand the Arctic System.Broader impacts: The proposed synthesis will substantially advance our understanding of the complex role of snow in the Arctic System. The datasets and process-oriented modeling produced by this synthesis will be of particular value in advancing large-scale climate models, terrestrial ecology, and atmospheric chemistry. Through interaction with these communities we will provide datasets that can be directly employed to examine problems in a wide range of interdisciplinary studies. To facilitate the transfer of the findings, the PI's will publish a scholarly article describing how best to deal with snow at the system level, and will host an open tutorial workshop in year-3 of this synthesis project. The meeting objectives will be to present synthesis findings and discuss key synthesis questions. They also expect this work to provide direct guidance for the planning of future field research efforts, such as during the International Polar Year and beyond. Synthesis activities within the group will be fostered by close collaboration and an annual team meeting. The PI's will also participate in synthesis activities planned between other SASS projects and will integrate graduate and undergraduate students into the research, both through direct involvement and by providing opportunities for students working on other Arctic research projects to become involved in our project. This interaction will allow students to visit and work with the different research groups to gain different perspectives on the overall problem. Education and outreach activities aimed at elementary school students are also planned and they will create scientific puzzles regarding the role of snow in the Arctic System.