IPY: Collaborative Research on the State of the Arctic Sea Ice Cover: An Integrated Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONET)

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This interdisciplinary project implements an integrated program of observing seasonal ice in the context of environmental, geo-political and socio-economic change in the North. In addition to sampling of sea-ice state variables, the observation-system design is guided by the concept of sea-ice system services (SISS). By assessing the nature and extent of SISS, an integrated observation network can be built that will lead to prediction of key trends in a changing Arctic in a way that provides maximum benefit for the broadest range of affected interests. The first iteration of this observation program will help to address these major scientific questions: 1) To what extent are changes in the SIZ at the local level throughout the Arctic correlated with large-scale change in summer minimum ice extent?, 2) How does the SIZ respond to amplified ice-albedo feedback in seasonal ice as opposed to the buffering effects of enhanced snow-ice interaction and ice deformation?, 3) How strongly does coastal sea ice impact change in terrestrial environments?, 4) What does the sub-Arctic Okhotsk Sea teach about impending Arctic environmental and socio-economic change? While the focus of this project is on the Western Arctic, which has seen some of the most dramatic sea-ice reductions in past decades, an international team has been assembled from six nations that maximizes synergies and allows these questions to be addressed in a circum-Arctic context along a latitudinal gradient spanning the entire extent of the seasonal ice zone, well into the perennial ice. Observations in the western Arctic sector include shore-based and drift-ice measurements of ice motion, key mass-balance variables and critical snow and ice properties such as albedo, as well as airborne electromagnetic ice thickness measurements. Pan-Arctic data of seasonal ice evolution and ice-type distribution will be extracted from satellite microwave remote-sensing observations. All data will be ingested into an archival and dissemination system that is linked to the Alaska Ocean Observing System and administered by the Geographic Information Network of Alaska. Education at the K-12 and university levels and public outreach are integral parts of the project, with an international field course, web-based engagement of students and the general public, public lectures in local communities, and other modes of presentation taking a prominent role in the project. Stakeholders at various levels will be engaged through the SISS approach, and scientists will work with community-based observers to calibrate and validate the methodology.