Abstract
The Marginal Ice Zone and Arctic Sea State programs examined the processes that govern evolution of the rapidly changing seasonal ice zone in the Beaufort Sea. Autonomous platforms operating from the ice and within the water column collected measurements across the atmosphere-ice-ocean system and provided the persistence to sample continuously through the springtime retreat and autumn advance of sea ice. Autonomous platforms also allowed operational modalities that reduced the field programs’ logistical requirements. Observations indicate that thermodynamics, especially the radiative balances of the ice-albedo feedback, govern the seasonal cycle of sea ice, with the role of surface waves confined to specific events. Continuous sampling from winter into autumn also reveals the imprint of winter ice conditions and fracturing on summertime floe size distribution. These programs demonstrate effective use of integrated systems of autonomous platforms for persistent, multiscale Arctic observing. Networks of autonomous systems are well suited to capturing the vast scales of variability inherent in the Arctic system.
Highlights
Dramatic changes in summertime Arctic sea ice motivated two process studies that relied on recent advances in autonomous observing to collect atmosphere, ice, and ocean measurements across the necessary span of temporal and spatial scales
Observations indicate that thermodynamics, especially the radiative balances of the ice-albedo feedback, govern the seasonal cycle of sea ice, with the role of surface waves confined to specific events
Arctic Ocean sea ice follows a seasonal cycle dictated by incoming solar radiation, with sea ice advancing southward in autumn, as insolation drops with the approaching Arctic night, and retreating northward in spring as insolation increases
Summary
INTRODUCTION Dramatic changes in summertime Arctic sea ice motivated two process studies that relied on recent advances in autonomous observing to collect atmosphere, ice, and ocean measurements across the necessary span of temporal and spatial scales. Recent advances in autonomous platforms are providing new perspectives on the processes that govern Arctic sea ice evolution because they capture spatial and temporal scales that previously had been challenging to sample.
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