Instrumentation for sea ice mass balance measurements int the Artic Ocean

需要资金购买气象浮标和一个天气、辐射和冰块平衡站，部署在海冰上，以跟踪冰的运动，观测气象条件，并研究热力学冰的生长和积雪。所要求的仪器对于支持北冰洋海冰物质平衡的长期现场观测和卫星观测至关重要。这些观测是阿尔伯塔大学自2004年以来开展的一项综合研究方案的关键组成部分，该方案旨在通过现场、航空、卫星遥感和建模工作，研究北极海冰的变化，特别是与其他气候参数变化有关的海冰厚度的变化。主要研究区域是位于加拿大海岸和北极之间的北冰洋多年厚冰区域。然而，我们将越来越多地将波弗特海和西北航道的海峡和声音纳入我们的航空调查。这项研究意义重大，因为北冰洋海冰的面积正在以比任何气候模型预测的速度都快得多的速度急剧减少。这表明我们对北极的气候过程和反馈缺乏了解。这种分歧可以部分解释为这些模型对海冰质量平衡的错误表述，这在很大程度上是因为北冰洋普遍缺乏系统的冰层厚度观测。人们也越来越需要冰层厚度信息，以便为有关冰盖水域的航运和近海资源勘探的决策和法规提供信息。这项启动的工作在世界范围内是独一无二的，将有助于系统地观测冰厚度和冰动力学的变化，并有助于由加拿大主要大学和政府机构建立未来合作的加拿大北冰洋冰质量平衡观测站(CASIMBO)。

Funds are requested to purchase meteorological buoys and one weather, radiation, and ice mass balance station to be deployed on sea ice floes to track ice motion, to observe meteorological conditions, and to study thermodynamic ice growth and snow accumulation. The requested instrumentation is essential to support long-term in-situ and satellite observations of the sea ice mass balance in the Arctic Ocean. These observations are the key component of a comprehensive research program carried out at the University of Alberta since 2004 to study changes of Arctic sea ice, in particular changes of ice thickness, in relation to variations of other climate parameters, by means of in-situ, airborne, satellite remote sensing and modeling work. The main study area is the region of thick multi-year ice of the Arctic Ocean between the coast of Canada and the North Pole. However, we will increasingly include the Beaufort Sea and the straits and sounds of the Northwest Passage in our airborne surveys. The research is significant as the areal coverage of Arctic sea ice is strongly decreasing, at a pace much faster than predicted by any climate model. This demonstrates our poor understanding of climate processes and feedbacks in the Arctic. The disagreement can partially be explained by a misrepresentation of the sea ice mass balance in those models, which is largely due to a general lack of systematic ice thickness observations in the Arctic Ocean. Ice thickness information is also increasingly required to inform decisions and regulations about shipping and offshore resource exploration in ice covered waters. The initiated work is unique worldwide, and will contribute to systematic observations of changes of ice thickness and ice dynamics, and to the establishment of a future collaborative Canadian Arctic Sea Ice Mass Balance Observatory (CASIMBO) by leading Canadian universities and government agencies.