Canadian arctic buoy program

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The Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) is expected to become navigable in the near future. Current estimates are based on simulation results from General Circulation Models (GCMs). The spatial resolution of GCMs, however, only allows for a coarse representation of the CAA. Higher resolution models are needed to better predict the future evolution of the sea ice in the CAA. Until now, sea-ice dynamic models have been calibrated against buoy drift data in the Arctic Ocean from the International Arctic Buoy Program (IABP), but no data is present for the CAA in IABP. Whether the calibration of these models (and the continuum assumption upon which they are based), are still valid at high resolution remain an open question. To address this, we make in-situ measurements within the narrow passages of the CAA. In particular, we monitor the temporal evolution of sea-ice deformations, internal stresses and thicknesses in the CAA. These measurements are used to calibrate/validate a high resolution sea-ice model that was recently developed in our group. The dynamical part of this model is solved using the Generalized Minimum Residual method (GMRES), with a line Successive Over-Relaxation preconditioner to allow for efficient long term integrations. This new implementation constitutes a significant improvement in numerical efficiency and allows for the integration of the model at high resolution over a domain including both the CAA and the Arctic Ocean. The first deployment took place successfully last October (2007) north of the M'Clintock Channel using ArcticNet logistics aboard the Amundsen ice breaker.