HR: 0830h
AN: C41C-0992    [PDF]
TI: The Role of Laboratory-Based Studies of the Physical and Biological Properties of Sea Ice in Supporting the Observation and Modeling of Ice Covered Seas
AU: * Light, B
EM: bonnie@apl.washington.edu
AF: Polar Science Center Applied Physics Laboratory, 1013 NE 40th St, Seattle, WA 98105 United States
AU: Krembs, C
EM: ckrembs@apl.washington.edu
AF: Polar Science Center Applied Physics Laboratory, 1013 NE 40th St, Seattle, WA 98105 United States
AB: Laboratory-based studies of the physical and biological properties of sea ice are an essential link between high latitude field observations and existing numerical models. Such studies promote improved understanding of climatic variability and its impact on sea ice and the structure of ice-dependent marine ecosystems. Controlled laboratory experiments can help identify feedback mechanisms between physical and biological processes and their response to climate fluctuations. Climatically sensitive processes occurring between sea ice and the atmosphere and sea ice and the ocean determine surface radiative energy fluxes and the transfer of nutrients and mass across these boundaries. High temporally and spatially resolved analyses of sea ice under controlled environmental conditions lend insight to the physics that drive these transfer processes. Techniques such as optical probing, thin section photography, and microscopy can be used to conduct experiments on natural sea ice core samples and laboratory-grown ice. Such experiments yield insight on small scale processes from the microscopic to the meter scale and can be powerful interdisciplinary tools for education and model parameterization development. Examples of laboratory investigations by the authors include observation of the response of sea ice microstructure to changes in temperature, assessment of the relationships between ice structure and the partitioning of solar radiation by first-year sea ice covers, observation of pore evolution and interfacial structure, and quantification of the production and impact of microbial metabolic products on the mechanical, optical, and textural characteristics of sea ice.
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography
DE: 4271 Physical and chemical properties of seawater
DE: 4803 Bacteria
DE: 4847 Optics
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting