Satellite observations show significant declines in Arctic sea ice cover in recent decades as the climate has warmed,
[1] with impacts on fish and wildlife habitats that are important for subsistence, recreation, and tourist activities in the region. Retreating sea ice also contributes to increased storm surge, coastal flooding, and coastal erosion.
[2] Arctic sea ice plays a key role in moderating climate within and beyond the region, and understanding sea ice change is critical to projections of future climate change. Complementary ground and remote sensing observations provide measurements of critical components of the Arctic sea ice system at the necessary range of spatial and temporal scales.
DoD’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) established a network of sensors installed in floating sea ice that provides near real-time access to data on ice thickness, temperature, and drift, as well as measurements from the surrounding ocean and atmosphere. The continuing 20-year record of quality-controlled observations offers valuable insight into the relationships among the air, ice, and sea, and can help attribute ice loss to specific causes.
The results of this NOAA-funded effort are delivered to
publicly accessible archives at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and NSF’s Arctic Data Center. These data provide a resource for understanding change in the Arctic and for validating remote measurements of sea ice cover, including satellite-based observations of ice thickness, depth of snow cover, and timing of ice melt and freeze-up. They also help improve understanding of the role of Arctic sea ice cover in the global climate system and contribute to improved projections of future ice conditions.
The use of observations from space, aircraft, and ground-based sensors allows scientists to monitor the Arctic system at different spatial and temporal scales. Efforts that make use of these complementary data enable improvements in understanding of sea ice processes and how they vary across scales, in remote sensing algorithms that detect change, and subsequently, in how models represent sea ice processes and future projections of how climate change will impact Arctic ice cover.
1 Taylor, P.C., W. Maslowski, J. Perlwitz, and D.J. Wuebbles, 2017: Arctic changes and their effects on Alaska and the rest of the United States. In: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 303-332. doi: 10.7930/J00863GK
2 Markon, C., S. Gray, M. Berman, L. Eerkes-Medrano, T. Hennessy, H. Huntington, J. Littell, M. McCammon, R. Thoman, and S. Trainor, 2018: Alaska. In: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 1185–1241. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH26