SEA ICE MASS BALANCE OBSERVATIONS FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH AND FOR FUTURE SHIPPING AND OFFSHORE OPERATIONS IN THE ARCTIC

北极环境的变化比世界上大多数其他地区都要快，其海冰正在强劲地消退。这会加速气候变暖，并对北极和世界各地的生态和人类系统产生重大影响。计划中的研究旨在获得了解海冰覆盖率、厚度和漂移正在发生的变化所需的关键测量数据。这项研究是与气候模型界密切合作，利用现场和航空测量以及卫星遥感进行的。它包括冰芯的采样和分析以及海冰漂流浮标和自动相机的操作，以提供补充航空调查的连续数据，并为卫星产品和模型结果提供关键的验证信息。计划中的工作将尽可能与同时进行的海洋、大气和生物研究联系起来，以支持对整个北极系统的研究。将开发改进的机载冰厚度传感器和用于雪厚度和融化池观测的仪器，并在比以前可能的区域更大的区域内应用，以更好地研究区域差异和冰平流对冰量变化的影响。这项研究意义重大，因为北冰洋海冰的面积正在迅速减少，速度远远快于任何气候模型预测的速度。这表明我们对北极气候过程和反馈的了解有限，这与普遍缺乏系统的冰层厚度观测有关。将特别获得加拿大和北极之间的冰层厚度数据。然而，它们还将包括加拿大北极群岛和波弗特海的广大地区。这些测量将为石油和天然气勘探以及西北航道的航运准备提供重要的基线数据。他们还将支持北方人的冰上旅行。这是加拿大大学唯一一项通过强烈依赖航空观测来研究北极海冰长期变化的研究，在区域和时间覆盖方面具有优势。它将增强加拿大进行空中研究的能力。

The Arctic environment is changing more rapidly than most other regions of the world, and its sea ice cover is strongly retreating. This has significant consequences of accelerating climate warming, and impacting ecological and human systems in the Arctic and worldwide. The planned research aims to obtain the key measurements required for understanding the ongoing changes in sea ice coverage, thickness, and drift. The research is carried out using in-situ and airborne measurements and satellite remote sensing, in close collaboration with the climate modeling community. It includes sampling and analysis of ice cores as well as the operation of sea ice drifting buoys and automatic cameras to provide continuous data complementary to the airborne surveys, and to provide critical validation information for satellite products and model results. The planned work will be linked to concurrent oceanographic, atmospheric, and biological research as much as possible to support studies of the whole Arctic system. Improved airborne ice thickness sensors and instrumentation for snow thickness and melt pond observations will be developed and applied over larger regions than previously possible, to better study regional differences and the impacts of ice advection on changes of ice volume. The research is significant as the areal coverage of Arctic sea ice is rapidly decreasing, at much faster than predicted by any climate model. This demonstrates our limited understanding of climate processes and feedbacks in the Arctic, and is related to a general lack of systematic ice thickness observations. Ice thickness data will particularly be obtained between Canada and the North Pole. However, they will also include the vast reaches of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Beaufort Sea. These measurements will provide important baseline data in preparation for oil and gas exploration, and for shipping in the Northwest Passage. They will also support over-ice travel by Northerners. This is the only Canadian university research studying long-term Arctic sea ice change by strongly relying on airborne observations, with advantages in regional and temporal coverage. It will enhance Canada's capabilities to perform airborne research.