Observational estimation of heat budgets on drifting ice and open water over the Arctic Ocean

It is of major scientific interests to determine the parameters of momentum, heat and vapor exchange in the planetary boundary layer in order to study the effects of ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions and their feedback mechanisms on global climate[1]. Lin…     

Assessment of potential transport of pollutants into the Barents Sea via sea ice--an observational approach

The present estimates of ice drift in the Arctic include utilization of satellite imagery data (special sensor microwave/imager) and a reconstruction of air pressure for the period 1899-1998. A significant part of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has its origin in the Kara Sea and melts in the Greenland and the Barents Sea (BS). Consequently there may be a particular risk of pollutants in the Kara Sea entering the food webs of the Greenland and BS. The ice export from the Kara Sea between 1988 and 1994 was about 208,000 km2 (154 km3) per year. The import of ice into the BS was during the same period 161,000 km2 (183 km3) per year while the ice drift through the Fram Strait into the Greenland Sea was 583,000 km2 (1859 km3) per year. Ice which formed adjacent to the Ob and Yenisey rivers in early January, drifted into the BS within two years (with a probability of about 50%.     

楚科奇海的水螅水母类及其分布

本文报道 1 999年 7月至 8月我国首次北极科学考察期间“雪龙”号破冰船在楚科奇海采集的浮游水螅水母类及其分布。分析鉴定了 8种水螅水母 ,其中 4种属于花水母目 ,2种属于软水母目 ,1种属于硬水母目 ,1种属于筐水母目。短新塔水母在楚科奇海是首次记录。简要记述了这些种类的形态特征并附图。楚科奇海这 8种水螅水母都是冷水种 ,其中 6种为近岸性的 ,2种是大洋性的。根据其地理分布可分为北极种、北极 -北方种和北方寒温带种等 3个类型 ,从动物地理观点看 ,楚科奇海的水螅水母类应属于北极区系。楚科奇海水螅水母类的丰度一般较低 ,其平均丰度为 1 0 8个 /1 0 0 m3,水平分布状况主要由优势种所左右 ,八斑腕唇水母和指腺华丽水母为优势种。垂直分层采样结果表明 ,指腺华丽水母分布于 0～ 30 0 m,其中以 50～ 1 0 0 m居多     

Incipient weathering rind development on introduced machine‐polished granite discs in an Arctic alpine environment,northern Scandinavia

Weathering rinds, zones of alteration on the exterior surfaces of rock outcrops and coarse unconsolidated surficial debris are widely used by geomorphologists and Quaternary geologists as indicators of the relative age of landforms and landscapes. Additionally they provide unique insights into the earliest stages of rock and mineral weathering, yet the origin of these alteration zones is relatively poorly understood. This lack of understanding applies especially to the initial stages of rind formation. The study reported in this paper has two principal objectives. The first is to use lightly polished granite discs inserted in soil profiles under several different plant communities in an Arctic alpine environment for a period of four or five years to investigate the nature of incipient weathering rind development. The second is to investigate the factors responsible for spatial variability in the nature and rates of rind formation. Incipient weathering rind development on the outer edges of the granite discs is observable and measurable over a period of time as short as four years in the mild Arctic alpine environment of Swedish Lapland. The earliest stages of rind development involve the development of a porous structure consisting of a combination of pits and fractures which have been solutionally enlarged and modified. Solution appears to be preferentially concentrated on the surfaces of feldspars and, to a lesser extent, quartz. In addition, iron oxides are present along grain boundaries and in grain interiors and are interpreted to have been derived from the oxidation of ferromagnesian minerals. Spatial variability in weathering rind development appears to be particularly driven by differences in moisture but is not related to soil pH. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

利用三维GPR探测北极夏季海冰厚度及下表面形态特征分析

海冰在全球气候系统中扮演着重要角色。在中国第二次北极科学考察中，使用3D雷达探测结合冰钻进行海冰测量。雷达剖面上可清楚识别冰-水界面，与冰钻测量结果较好地吻合。雷达3D图像清晰显示了冰底界面在3D方向的起伏变化以及冰内构造的空间展布情况。对三维探测区域内海冰厚度统计显示，所测冰盘的平均厚度为4．15m，较厚的区域位于左下角，最大厚度约为6．4m，较薄的区域是在中央和左上角区域，最小的厚度小于3．0m。经过进一步计算可提供如海冰上下表面面积、海冰体积等参数，为遥感和数值模拟提供地面校核数据，也为海冰形成机制和动力作用过程研究提供佐证和依据。     

400年来北极巴罗角的温度变化特征

近４００年湖泊岩芯温度记录揭示,巴罗地区总的变化趋势是升温,平均升温速率为每百年０．４℃,但近２００年呈降温趋势。熵谱分析表明,近代巴罗地区温度波动存在３３年、４０年、２９年周期和９０年左右的世纪周期;１９２１～１９９４年巴罗气象台逐月温度资料统计分析和熵谱分析表明,现代巴罗温度变化有４个月、半年、１４个月、１６个月、３年、４年、７年和１０年周期。     

Chemical ozone loss in the Arctic vortex in the winter 1995–96: HALOE measurements in conjunction with other observations

Severe chemical ozone loss has been detected in the Arctic in the winter and spring of 1995–96 by a variety of methods. Extreme reductions in column ozone due to halogen catalysed chemistry were derived from measurements of the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) on board the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite in the Arctic vortex. Here, we discuss further aspects of the HALOE observations in the Arctic over this period. Potential problems, both in the data themselves and in the methodology of the data analysis are considered and the reason for the differences between the Arctic ozone losses deduced from HALOE data version 17 and 18 is analysed. Moreover, it is shown that HALOE measurements in the Arctic in winter and spring 1995–96 compare well with observations by other ground-based and satellite instruments.     

A dynamically consistent analysis of circulation and transports in the southwestern Weddell Sea

An inverse model is applied for the analysis of hydrographic and current meter data collected on the repeat WOCE section SR4 in the Weddell Sea in 1989–1992. The section crosses the Weddell Sea cyclonic gyre from Kapp Norvegia to the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. The concepts of geostrophy, conservation of planetary vorticity and hydrostatics are combined with advective balances of active and passive properties to provide a dynamically consistent circulation pattern. Our variational assimilation scheme allows the calculation of three-dimensional velocities in the section plane. Current speeds are small except along the coasts where they reach up to 12 cm/s. We diagnose a gyre transport of 34 Sverdrup which is associated with a poleward heat transport of 28 × 10¹² W corresponding to an average heat flux of 15 Wm^–2 in the Weddell Sea south of the transect. This exceeds the estimated local flux on the transect of 2 Wm^–2. As the transect is located mostly in the open ocean, we conclude that the shelf areas contribute significantly to the ocean-atmosphere exchange and are consequently key areas for the contribution of the Weddell Sea to global ocean ventilation. Conversion of water masses occuring south of the section transform 6.6 ± 1.1 Sv of the inflowing warm deep water into approximately equal amounts of Weddell Sea deep water and Weddell Sea bottom water. The volume transport of surface water equals in the in-and outflow. This means that almost all newly formed surface water is involved in the deep and bottom water formation. Comparison with the results obtained by pure velocity interpolation combined with a hydrographic data subset indicates major differences in the derived salt transports and the water mass conversion of the surface water. The differences can be explained by deviations in the structure of the upper ocean currents to which shelf areas contribute significantly. Additionally a rigorous variance analysis is performed. When only hydrographic data are used for the inversion both the gyre transport and the poleward heat transport are substantially lower. They amount to less than 40% of our best estimate while the standard deviations of both quantities are 6.5 Sv and 37 × 10¹² W, respectively. With the help of long-term current meter measurements these errors can be reduced to 2 Sv and 8 × 10¹² W. Our result underlines the importance of velocity data or equivalent information that helps to estimate the absolute velocities.     

A sub-surface eddy at inertial current layer in the Canada Basin,Arctic Ocean

An Arctic Ocean eddy in sub-surface layer is analyzed in this paper by use of temperature,salinity and current profiles data obtained at an ice camp in the Canada Basin during the second Chinese Arctic Expedition in summer of 2003.In the vertical temperature section,the eddy shows itself as an isolated cold water block at depth of 60 m with a minimum temperature of-1.5℃,about 0.5℃ colder than the ambient water.Isopycnals in the eddy form a pattern of convex,which indicates the eddy is anticyclonic.Although maximum velocity near 0.4 m s-1 occurs in the current records observed synchronously,the current pattern is far away from a typical eddy.By further analysis,inertial frequency oscillations with amplitudes comparable with the eddy velocity are found in the sub-surface layer currents.After filter the inertial current and mean current,an axisymmetric current pattern of an eddy with maximum velocity radius of 5 km is obtained.The analysis of the T-S characteristics of the eddy core water and its ambient waters supports the conclusion that the eddy was formed on the Chukchi Shelf and migrated northeastward into the northern Canada Basin.     

Detecting Arctic snow and ice cover with FY-1D global data

Chinese meteorological satellite FY-1D can obtain global data from four spectral channels which include visible channel(0.58-0.68 μm) and infrared channels(0.84-0.89 μm,10.3-11.3 μm,11.5-12.5 μm).2366 snow and ice samples,2024 cloud samples,1602 land samples and 1648 water samples were selected randomly from Arctic imageries.Land and water can be detected by spectral features.Snow-ice and cloud can be classified by textural features.The classifier is Bayes classifier.By synthesizing five d ays classifying result of Arctic snow and ice cover area,complete Arctic snow and ice cover area can be obtained.The result agrees with NOAA/NESDIS IMS products up to 70%.