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| C11: | Sea Ice Processes and Properties |
| Sponsor: |
Cryosphere
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| Convener: |
Daniel Lee Feltham Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling and British Antarctic Survey University College London, Gower Street London, GBR +44(0)2076793017 dlf@cpom.ucl.ac.uk Jennifer Hutchings International Arctic Research Centre University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757320 Fairbanks, AK, USA jenny@iarc.uaf.edu |
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0750 0752 0754 0766 0774 .
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| Description: | Recent years have seen a dramatic reduction in the extent and thickness of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Southern Ocean, with diverse and important implications at regional and global scales. The inability of the IPCC AR4 climate models to accurately predict these changes suggests the need for more accurate representation in models of processes affecting sea ice. This session turns attention to sea ice (including its snow cover), and its close interactions and feedbacks with the atmosphere and ocean. Developing new understanding and improved models of sea ice processes requires input from submarine, field, aerial, and satellite observations, laboratory experiments, numerical modelling and sensitivity studies, and fundamental theory. In particular, we welcome studies of the processes (physical, chemical, and biological) that affect the properties of sea ice (e.g. optical properties, permeability, strength) and its mass balance (thickness, extent, concentration). Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, microbial communities, gas exchange, sea ice thermodynamics (including melt ponds and under ice ponds), brine transport, radiative transfer and albedo, snow distribution, interaction with the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers, redistribution of ice in mechanical deformation, mechanical failure and rheological behaviour, and the role of tides. We particularly welcome studies that show how observations can lead to improved models of sea ice processes. |