The Significance of Geology for Understanding Permafrost Processes
Using legacy seismic data to map the submarine permafrost in the Beaufort Sea
Collins, Spencer [University of Texas at Austin]↗
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Remote sensing in marine geology: Arctic to Caribbean
The applications of remote sensing to coastal dynamics of both nearshore and offshore waters are discussed. Results of aerial photographic analysis of four areas are presented. The study areas include the Arctic (Beaufort Sea), the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco Bay, and St. John, Virgin Islands (Project Tektite).
Carlson, P. R.↗
LANDSAT survey of near-shore ice conditions along the Arctic coast of Alaska
The author has identified the following significant results. Winter and spring near-shore ice conditions were analyzed for the Beaufort Sea 1973-77, and the Chukchi Sea 1973-76. LANDSAT imagery was utilized to map major ice features related to regional ice morphology. Significant features from individual LANDSAT image maps were combined to yield regional maps of major ice ridge systems for each year of study and maps of flaw lead systems for representative seasons during each year. These regional maps were, in turn, used to prepare seasonal ice morphology maps. These maps showed, in terms of a zonal analysis, regions of statistically uniform ice behavior. The behavioral characteristics of each zone were described in terms of coastal processes and bathymetric configuration.
Stringer, W. J.↗
Computer processing of SAR L-band imagery
The described work in the areas of hydrology and polar ice defines possible uses of automatic picture processing of uncalibrated radar images. The data used in the study were collected with the aid of an L-band synthetic aperture radar mounted in the NASA CV-990 aircraft. The radar was operated at approximately 30,000 feet altitude. One study area used was located in the Beaufort Sea and contained sea ice. The other study area contained lakes on the Alaskan North Slope. The reported investigations demonstrate that certain types of features can be efficiently studied by using simple automatic picture processing techniques applied to uncalibrated radar data.
Bryan, M. L.↗
Applications of Seasat to the offshore oil, gas and mining industries
The NASA satellite Seasat-A (to be launched in 1978) has applications to the offshore oil, gas, and mining industries including: (1) improvements in weather and wave forecasting, (2) studies of past wind and wave statistics for planning design requirements, and (3) monitoring ice formation, breakup, and movement in arctic regions. The primary geographic areas which will be monitored by Seasat-A include: the Beaufort Sea, the Labrador Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. east coast, West Africa, Equatorial East Pacific, the Gulf of Alaska, and the North Sea. Seasat-A instrumentation used in ocean monitoring consists of a radar altimeter, a radar scatterometer, a synthetic aperture radar, a microwave radiometer, and a visible and infrared radiometer. The future outlook of the Seasat program is planned in three phases: measurement feasibility demonstration (1978-1980), data accessibility/utility demonstration (1980-1983), and operational system demonstration (1983-1985).
Mourad, A. G.↗
SEASAT demonstration experiments with the offshore oil, gas and mining industries
Despite its failure, SEASAT-1 acquired a reasonable volume of data that can be used by industrial participants on a non-real-time basis to prove the concept of microwave sensing of the world's oceans from a satellite platform. The amended version of 8 experimental plans are presented, along with a description of the satellite, its instruments, and the data available. Case studies are summarized for the following experiments: (1) Beaufort Sea oil, gas, and Arctic operations; (2) Labrador Sea oil, gas, and sea ice; (3) Gulf of Mexico pipelines; (4) U.S. East Coast offshore oil and gas; (5) worldwide offshore drilling and production operations; (6) Equatorial East Pacific Ocean mining; (7) Bering Sea ice project; and (8) North Sea oil and gas.
Mourad, A. G.↗
Availability of Seasat synthetic aperture radar imagery
One of the sensors of the Seasat satellite was a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which was operated over both oceanic and land areas. The Seasat SAR was an active imaging microwave system which transmitted and received horizontally polarized radiation at L-band frequency (1.275 GHz, 23-cm wavelength). Extensive coverage was obtained over North America, Europe, the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Western and Northern Atlantic Ocean, and the Beaufort Sea. Surface coverage was also acquired over limited portions of Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The majority of the data has been optically processed in a so-called survey mode. Each optically processed Seasat pass has a swath width of 100 km at a scale of 1:500,000. A subset of the SAR data has been digitally processed in a so-called high-resolution mode. Digital processing has been performed upon selected scenes with dimensions of 100 x 100 km. Digitally processed imagery has a nominal ground resolution of 25 m.
Holt, B.↗
Method to estimate drag coefficient at the air/ice interface over drifting open pack ice from remotely sensed data
A knowledge in near real time, of the surface drag coefficient for drifting pack ice is vital for predicting its motions. And since this is not routinely available from measurements it must be replaced by estimates. Hence, a method for estimating this variable, as well as the drag coefficient at the water/ice interface and the ice thickness, for drifting open pack ice was developed. These estimates were derived from three-day sequences of LANDSAT-1 MSS images and surface weather charts and from the observed minima and maxima of these variables. The method was tested with four data sets in the southeastern Beaufort sea. Acceptable results were obtained for three data sets. Routine application of the method depends on the availability of data from an all-weather air or spaceborne remote sensing system, producing images with high geometric fidelity and high resolution.
Feldman, U.↗
Ice-type classifications from airborne pulse-limited radar altimeter return waveform characteristics
During mid-March 1978, the NASA C-130 aircraft was deployed to Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska, to make a series of flights over ice in the Beaufort Sea. The radar altimeter data analyzed were obtained northeast of Mackenzie Bay on March 14th in the vicinity of 69.9 deg N, 134.2 deg W. The data were obtained with a 13.9 GHz radar altimeter developed under the NASA Advanced Applications Flight Experiments (AAFE) Program. This airborne radar was built as a forerunner of the Seasat radar altimeter, and utilized the same pulse compression technique. Pulse-limited radar data taken with the altimeter from 1500-m altitude over sea ice are registered to high-quality photography. The backscattered power is statistically related the surface conductivity and to the number of facets whose surface normal is directed towards the radar. The variations of the radar return waveform shape and signal level are correlated with the variation of the ice type determined from photography. The AAFE altimeter has demonstrated that the return waveform shape and signal level of an airborne pulse-limited altimeter at 13.9 GHz respond to sea ice type. The signal level responded dramatically to even a very small fracture in the ice, as long as it occurred directly at the altimeter nadir point. Shear zones and regions of significant compression ridging consistently produced low signal levels. The return waveforms frequently evidenced the characteristics of both specular and diffuse scattering, and there was an indication that the power backscattered at 3 deg off-nadir in a shear zone was actually somewhat higher than that from nadir.
Fedor, L. S.↗
Cloud classification in polar regions using AVHRR textural and spectral signatures
Arctic clouds and ice-covered surfaces are classified on the basis of textural and spectral features obtained with AVHRR 1.1-km spatial resolution imagery over the Beaufort Sea during May-October, 1989. Scenes were acquired about every 5 days, for a total of 38 cases. A list comprising 20 arctic-surface and cloud classes is compiled using spectral measures defined by Garand (1988).
Welch, R. M.↗
Ice-atmosphere interactions in the central Arctic: Remotely-sensed and simulated ice concentration and motion
The response of the Beaufort Sea ice pack to the passage of strong low pressure systems is studied using SAR (synthetic aperture radar), AVHRR (advanced very high resolution radiometer), and SSM/I (special sensor microwave/imager) data combined with model simulations. The SAR, AVHRR, and modeled concentrations concur generally in showing a 1 to 5 percent decrease in ice fraction during the passage of the lows. SSM/I derived concentrations appear to underestimate overall concentration and overestimate the opening of the pack relative to the other data sets. Ice motion derived from SAR and AVHRR and model simulations using two ice rheologies agree reasonably well in direction and magnitude, although the cavitating fluid approximation tends to overestimate ice motion compared to a viscous plastic rheology. Ice motions from SAR, AVHRR, and buoy observations can be merged to yield uniform grids particularly well suited to synoptic scale studies and model validation.
Maslanik, J. A.↗
Satellite Observed Variability in Antarctic and Arctic Surface Temperatures and Their Correlation to Open Water Areas
Recent studies using meterological station data have indicated that global surface air temperature has been increasing at a rate of 0.05 K/decade. Using the same set of data but for stations in the Antarctic and Arctic regions (>50 N) only, the increases in temperature were 0.08, and 0.22 K/decade, when record lengths of 100 and 50 years, respectively, were used. To gain insights into the increasing rate of warming, satellite infrared and passive microwave observations over the Arctic region during the last 20 years were processed and analyzed. The results show that during this period, the ice extent in the Antarctic has been increasing at the rate of 1.2% per decade while the surface temperature has been decreasing at about 0.08 K per decade. Conversely, in the Northern Hemisphere, the ice extent has been decreasing at a rate of 2.8% per decade, while the surface temperatures have been increasing at the rate of 0.38 K per decade. In the Antarctic, it is surprising that there is a short term trend of cooling during a global period of warming. Very large anomalies in open water areas in the Arctic were observed especially in the western region, that includes the Beaufort Sea, where the observed open water area was about 1x10(exp 6) sq km, about twice the average for the region, during the summer of 1998. In the eastern region, that includes the Laptev Sea, the area of open water was also abnormally large in the summer of 1995. Note that globally, the warmest and second warmest years in this century, were 1998 and 1995, respectively. The data, however, show large spatial variability with the open water area distribution showing a cyclic periodicity of about ten years, which is akin to the North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations. This was observed in both western and eastern regions but with the phase of one lagging the other by about two years. This makes it difficult to interpret what the trends really mean. But although the record length of satellite data is still relatively short and the climate trend difficult to establish, the immediate impact of a continued warming trend may be very profound.
Comiso, Josefino C.↗
The Rapidly Shrinking Arctic Multiyear Ice Cover
Among the most dramatic changes in the Arctic in recent years was the precipitous decline in the perennial ice cover. In 2007, the perennial ice area was 37% lower than climatological average and 28% lower than the previous low established in 2005. In 2008, the perennial ice recovered somewhat because of colder global temperatures but by only about 6% of average value. The trend in the ice area covered by perennial ice is now -12.5% per decade using data from 1979 to 2009 which compared to a previous report of -9% per decade derived from 1979 to 2000 data indicates an accelerated decline. To gain insight into the phenomenon, we studied the mUltiyear ice cover as detected by satellite sensor in winter. The multiyear ice as detected in winter represents ice that has generally survived two summers and therefore the thicker component of the perennial ice cover. Analysis of the thicker multiyear ice types indicates an even more rapid decline of 17% per decade. Such decline in the thick component of the Arctic ice cover that normally survives the summer means an even more vulnerable perennial ice cover. Much of the decline occurred in the western region of the Arctic Basin (Le., Chukchi and Beaufort Seas) where the open water area has been increasing by about 35% per decade. Such increase in low albedo ice free region causes the absorption of considerably more solar heat in the Arctic basin. This causes further decline in the ice cover in a process called ice-albedo feedback. A manifestation of such process is the observed trend in SST in the basin of about 0.5 + 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade as derived from satellite data
Comiso, Josefino C.↗
Ikhana MIZOPEX and Alaska Fire Missions
Discussion of the proposed operations of the Ikhana UAS over Alaska and the Beaufort Sea for melting ice studies and fire observation technology development.
Howell, Kathleen M.↗
Backscatter Characteristics of the Winter Sea Ice Cover in the Beaufort
The microwave backscatter statistics of the sea ice cover in the winter Beaufort Sea were characterized using C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data collected by ERS-1. Sea ice backscatter signatures were sampled from SAR image data collected during the winter of 1991/92 and winter of 1992/93. The spatial and temporal variabilities of the backscatter signatures of different ice types are discussed. The results show considerable seasonal stability of the backscatter signature of multi-year ice as well as first-year ice. Small amplitude regional variations of the multi-year ice backscatter can be observed. Consistent contrast between multiyear ice and first-year ice is maintained throughout the season.
Kwok, R.↗
Enhanced Eddy Activity in the Beaufort Gyre in Response to Sea Ice Loss
The Beaufort Gyre freshwater content has increased since the 1990s, potentially stabilizing in recent years. The mechanisms proposed to explain the stabilization involve either mesoscale eddy activity that opposes Ekman pumping or the reduction of Ekman pumping due to reduced sea ice?ocean surface stress. However, the relative importance of these mechanisms is unclear. Here, we present observational estimates of the Beaufort Gyre mechanical energy budget and show that energy dissipation and freshwater content stabilization by eddies increased in the late-2000s. The loss of sea ice and acceleration of ocean currents after 2007 resulted in enhanced mechanical energy input but without corresponding increases in potential energy storage. To balance the energy surplus, eddy dissipation and its role in gyre stabilization must have increased after 2007. Our results imply that declining Arctic sea ice will lead to an increasingly energetic Beaufort Gyre with eddies playing a greater role in its stabilization.
Armitage, Thomas W.K.↗
A comparison of floe size distributions from several summer periods in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas
In this study we obtain the characteristics of sea ice during summer melt from three different summer periods in the Artic: 1992, 1997, and the SHEBA summer of 1998.
floe size distributions polar oceans ice floes↗
Snow Depth and Ice Thickness Measurements From the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas Collected During the AMSR-Ice03 Campaign
In March 2003, a field validation campaign was conducted on the sea ice near Barrow, AK. The goal of this campaign was to produce an extensive dataset of sea ice thickness and snow properties (depth and stratigraphy) against which remote sensing products collected by aircraft and satellite could be compared. Chief among these were products from the Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR) flown aboard a NASA P-3B aircraft and the Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E). The data were collected in four field areas: three on the coastal sea ice near Barrow, AK, and the fourth out on the open ice pack 175 km northeast of Barrow. The snow depth ranged from 9.4-20.8 cm in coastal areas (n = 9881 for three areas) with the thinnest snow on ice that had formed late in the winter. Out in the main pack ice, the snow was 20.6 cm deep (n = 1906). The ice in all four areas ranged from 138-219 cm thick (n = 1952), with the lower value again where the ice had formed late in the winter. Snow layer and grain characteristics observed in 118 snow pits indicated that 44% of observed snow layers were depth hoar; 46% were wind slab. Snow and ice measurements were keyed to photomosaics produced from low-altitude vertical aerial photographs. Using these, and a distinctive three-way relationship between ice roughness, snow surface characteristics, and snow depth, strip maps of snow depth, each about 2 km wide, were produced bracketing the traverse lines. These maps contain an unprecedented level of snow depth detail against which to compare remote sensing products. The maps are used in other papers in this special issue to examine the retrieval of snow properties from the PSR and AMSR-E sensors.
Sturm, M.↗