Collaborative Research: The Impacts of Arctic Storms on Landfast Ice Variations

0712673大学提供了阿拉斯加-费尔班克斯基金会，以检查30多年来的陆地冰记录、气旋路径和强度，以及沿海强风条件、近岸积冰漂移的频率和时间，以及两个具有代表性的北极沿海地区的沿海天气观测。该项目的重点是审查推动陆地冰对风暴造成的沿海环境变化作出反应的相关过程。为了了解驱动陆地冰动态和热力学过程的物理机制，现有的海岸观测和数值模拟将包括在详细的过程分析中。主要研究人员将合并他们的各种数据集和知识，以解决以下问题：(1)风暴气候的变化如何影响沿海气温和风条件？(2)陆地冰如何，包括其稳定性和接地模式，对沿海风和风暴活动以及近岸冰运动和沿岸流有什么反应？(3)决定快速冰范围和持续时间长期变化的因素之间有什么物理联系？(4)在风暴活动增加的情况下，陆地冰可能对陆地冰产生什么影响？陆地冰只占北冰洋总冰盖的一小部分，但它对土著人口的生活方式极其重要。它在很长一段时间内保护海滩不受侵蚀；它提供了一个乘坐雪地摩托和雪橇在村庄之间旅行的表面；许多自给自足的狩猎(海豹、海象、鲸鱼)都是从这个表面进行的。了解它将如何变化，对于日常安全和战略管理都很重要。

Eicken 0712673Univ. of Alaska - FairbanksFunds are provided to examine over 30 years of landfast ice records,cyclone tracks and intensity along with frequency and timing of coastal high windconditions, nearshore pack ice drift, and coastal weather observations in tworepresentative arctic coastal regions. The focus of the project is to examine the relevant processes driving landfast ice responses to storm-produced coastal environmental change. To understand the physics that drive the dynamic and thermodynamic processes of landfast ice, existing coastal observations and numerical modeling will be included in a detailed process analysis.The principal investigators will merge their various data sets and knowledge to address the following questions: (1) How do changes in the storm climate affect the coastal air temperatures and wind conditions? (2) How does landfast ice, including its stability and grounding patterns, respond to coastal winds and storm activity as well as nearshore ice motion and coastal currents? (3) What are the physical connections among those factors determining long-term variations of fast ice extent and duration? (4) What impacts on landfast ice are likely under a scenario of increased storm activity?Landfast ice is a small fraction of the total ice cover of the Arctic Ocean, yet it is of extreme importance to the indigenous polpulation's way of life. It protects the beach from erosion during extended periods of time; it provides a surface over which to travel between villages by snowmobile and sled; it is the surface from which much subsistence hunting (seal, walrus, whale) takes place. Understanding how it is and will change has importance for day-to-day safety, as well as strategic management.