HR: 0800h
AN: C51B-0302    [Abstracts]
TI: Climate Records of Snow, Glaciers and Sea Ice
AU: * Ballagh, L
EM: vtlisa@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309
AU: Dye, D
EM: dye@jamstec.go.jp
AF: JAMSTEC Frontier Research Center for Global Change, 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236-0001
AU: Howard, A
EM: alhoward@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309
AU: Fetterer, F
EM: fetterer@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309
AB: Cryospheric data can be used to study global climate change. For example, various environmental factors contribute to changes in annual and interannual snow cover, glacier terminus movement and anomalies of sea ice extent. Archiving and making the data easily accessible is important. At the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), three data sets in particular exhibit characteristics that allow for understanding global climate change. Users can analyze glacier retreat from historical glacier photographs, study changes in sea ice by reviewing historical ice charts, and review changes in the annual autumn snow cover onset and last day of snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere. By including a temporal component, the Timing and Statistics of Autumn and Spring Annual Snow Cover for the Northern Hemisphere data set is useful for analyzing statistics of snow cover timing and their relation to other environmental phenomena, for example, vegetation growth dynamics. The Online Glacier Photograph Database, which contains approximately 3,000 images, provides online search and order options for photographs that were previously in risk of deterioration. The Arctic Sea Ice Charts, 1953-1986: W. Dehn Collection data set includes ice charts of the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic Ocean that can be browsed by region and date range. Previously, these ice charts were archived in analog format and in need of long-term preservation. The NOAA Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP) supported the digitization of both the historical photographs and the sea ice charts. By evaluating these data sets, users will have the opportunity to better interpret climatic change related to snow cover, sea ice and glacier retreat.
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 0736 Snow (1827, 1863)
DE: 0750 Sea ice (4540)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005