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

项目摘要标题：白色北极：陆地北极的雪影响综合体学术价值：北极的一个定义特征是持久的积雪覆盖。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：通过增加反照率，通过隔离地面，通过影响动物的活动和觅食以及人类交通和商业，以及通过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，并出现在数十个模型中(从过程级到GCM)，但全面的、以雪为中心的合成从未进行过。目前与雪有关的信息和知识往往是按学科划分的，分散在整个文献中，很少包含在内。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对降雪采取了全面的方法，这将使人们更好地了解不断变化的降雪条件将如何影响北极系统。拟议的陆地雪工作完成了在SASS计划第一阶段进行的关于北极系统的一系列综合研究，结合了现有的关于海冰上的雪的研究，从而对雪的影响进行了全面的全系统评估。拟议的综合报告分为五项任务，旨在为几个紧迫的与雪有关的问题提供答案：1)收集泛北极数据集，2)合并工具和模型以模拟北极与雪有关的特征，3)产生陆地泛北极系统雪性质和特征的空间分布和时间演变分布，4)根据这些分布制定一套综合指数及衍生产品，捕捉与雪有关的基本影响，以及5)利用影响指数更好地了解北极系统。这种综合产生的数据集和面向过程的模拟将在推进大规模气候模型、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，我们将提供可直接用于检查广泛跨学科研究中的问题的数据集。为了促进研究结果的转移，国际和平研究所将发表一篇学术文章，描述如何最好地在系统层面处理积雪，并将在该综合项目的第三年主办一个开放的教程讲习班。会议的目标将是介绍合成结果并讨论关键的合成问题。他们还期望这项工作为规划今后的实地研究工作提供直接指导，例如在国际极地年及以后。集团内的综合活动将通过密切合作和年度团队会议来促进。PI还将参与其他SASS项目之间计划的综合活动，并将通过直接参与和为从事其他北极研究项目的学生提供参与我们的项目的机会，将研究生和本科生纳入研究。这种互动将允许学生访问不同的研究小组并与其合作，以获得对整个问题的不同观点。还计划了针对小学生的教育和外联活动，他们将创造关于雪在北极系统中的作用的科学谜题。

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.