C039-04
Life cycle and properties of snow and sea ice in the Arctic transpolar drift during MOSAiC
Friday, 11 December 2020: 05:42
Virtual
Marcel Nicolaus1, Donald K Perovich2, Stefanie Arndt1, Gerit Birnbaum1, Mats A Granskog3, Jari Juhani Haapala4, Christian Haas1, Stefan Hendricks1, Knut V. Høyland5, Jennifer Hutchings6, Polona Itkin7,8, Thomas Krumpen1, Bonnie Light9, Christopher Mark Polashenski10, Martin Schneebeli11, Gunnar Spreen3, Melinda Webster12 and Natascha Oppelt13, (1)Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Center for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany, (2)Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, NH, United States, (3)Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway, (4)Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland, (5)Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, (6)Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States, (7)UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, (8)Colorado State University, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), Fort Collins, CO, United States, (9)University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States, (10)US Army Cold Regions, Hanover, NH, United States, (11)WSL Inst. Snow & Avalanche Research SLF, Davos Dorf, Switzerland, (12)University of Alaska Fairbanks, International Arctic Research Center, Fairbanks, AK, United States, (13)Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
Abstract:
The MOSAiC field experiment was initiated based on the need for a better understanding of the global climate system and, in particular, to get a comprehensive and much more detailed understanding of the Arctic coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean system. As sea ice and its snow cover are central and unique components of this system, a key element of the MOSAiC field experiment was year-round observations of the properties and processes that govern the ice pack and its interaction with the atmosphere and the ocean, including biological and geochemical effects.
One aim of MOSAiC was to completely characterize the properties of the snow and ice cover across different spatial scales and all seasons. This was done by monitoring snow and ice mass balance, observing the evolving energy budget and the partitioning of solar radiation, and by documenting snow and ice dynamics over nested spatial scales. We conducted in-situ observations at multiple scales through autonomous instruments installed over scales of tens of kilometers, which will be integrated in numerical models and remote sensing methods. Overall, we performed the most comprehensive snow and sea ice program to date, involving more than 70 ICE team scientists directly in the field, plus many more on land.
Here, we present highlights of the spatial variability and seasonal evolution of sea ice and its snow cover during the MOSAiC drift from October 2019 to September 2020. The results are based on time-series that were obtained from numerous sea-ice programs of the MOSAiC ICE team. First results show the considerable ice dynamics that were observed during winter, the contrasts and similarities in the mass balance between different ice types and their seasonal evolution, and the role of snow and its distribution across different seasons. We show exemplary results from the various activities in order to discuss the life cycle of the MOSAiC floe, as one example of possible ice conditions along the transpolar drift.
