Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
even the information collected during the last century is
not readily available to the rest of the world. However,
Russia (actually the Soviet Union) played an important
role in increasing the awareness of the Arctic outside
Russia. Scientific interest in Arctic sea ice grew fast dur-
ing the Cold War era as nuclear submarines of the United
States and Soviet Union used the Arctic Ocean basin as a
prime area to launch ballistic missiles. Funds were made
available by the United States for scientists to launch field
studies in the Arctic for the first time in the 1950s. In fact,
many U.S.‐based scientists together with their Canadian
counterparts carried out their investigations on sea ice
using facilities available in Canada. It is appropriate to
mention here that the first English‐language topic on the
physics of ice that covers significant sections on sea ice
was written in Montreal, Canada, by
Pounder
[1965] and,
incidentally, the first comprehensive English‐language
topic on the physics of glaciers, the source of icebergs,
was also written in Ottawa, Canada, by
Paterson
[1969].
The number and scientific scope of the field studies
dedicated to sea ice measurements, relevant to space‐
borne remote sensing and ground validation of remotely
sensed images, peaked in the 1980s and 1990s. That was
driven by the need for on‐sight field observations and
measurements of sea ice characteristics to validate inter-
pretations of images obtained from satellites. Canadian
participation was visible in the Arctic during that time.
The field campaigns continued after that, though with
less frequency and resources allocated to study ice phys-
ics. The focus of the work switched to monitor the decline
of Arctic ice and its impact on biological and primarily
economical aspects of life in the Arctic region.
The first major field program was the Arctic Ice
Dynamics Experiment (AIDJEX), which was a collabora-
tion between the United States, Canada, and Japan con-
ducted in 1975-1976 [
Campbell et al.
, 1978;
Coon et al.
,
2007]. Other major experiments included the Marginal Ice
Zone Experiment (MIZEX), conducted in 1983, 1984,
and 1987 in the Greenland Sea [
Cavalieri et al.
, 1983;
Wadhams
, 1985]. This was followed by the Labrador Ice
Margin Experiment (LIMEX), conducted twice in the
winters of 1987 and 1989, in the Labrador Sea [
Drinkwater
and Digby‐Argus
, 1989; and a few papers in the special
issue of
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing
, vol. 27 no. 5, September 1989]. A series of annual
field experiments, called Sea Ice Monitoring and Modeling
Site (SIMMS), were conducted in Resolute Bay and sur-
rounding areas of the Canadian Arctic, between 1990 and
1997 [
LeDrew and Barber
, 1994]. The North Water
Polynya (NOW'98) was conducted during April-June
1998 to characterize the sea ice coverage in the polynya
[
Barber et al.
, 2001]. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG)
ice breaker
Pierre Radisson
was used as the working plat-
form for this project (Figure 1.1). The Surface Heat
Figure 1.1
Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) ice breaking ship
Pierre Radisson
in the North Water Polynya in May 1998 (photo
by M. Shokr).
Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment, a col-
laboration project between the United States and Canada,
was carried out during the winter season of 1997-1998.
During this period, the CCG icebreaker
Des Groseilliers
was frozen in the pack ice for one year and functioned as
the base for scientific observations [
Perovich et al.
, 1999].
A wealth of sea ice information was obtained from these
field experiments as well as many others. The long dura-
tion of the SHEBA experiment allowed the collection of
a significant temporal record of ice conditions in relation
to seasonal variation. The annual trips of the SIMMS
program allowed for the study of interannual variability
of ice cover at the same location and time of the year.
However, there are limitations to the field measurements,
such as the unavoidable point sampling approach to
generate measurements that might be representative of
the observations from the footprints of satellite data.
Moreover, it is not easy to sample thin ice when it is not
safe to walk on it. The photograph in Figure 1.2 shows the
procedure of cutting a sample of thin ice (about 50 mm
thick) using a gangway descending from an icebreaker
while the operator is attached to a harness.
Interest in Arctic sea ice by the mid‐1990s (after the end
of the Cold War) shifted from being military‐, security‐
or offshore‐industry‐driven to being environmentally
driven. New concerns for the region is comprised of
issues such as environmental conservation, including
nuclear waste and other pollution issues, protecting the
livelihood of the Arctic's inhabitants and species, and
most importantly identifying sea ice as an indicator and
result of climate change. As a result of sea ice being a
strong indicator of climate change, sea ice monitoring in
the polar regions has triggered an increase in funds to
conduct more research at high latitudes in many coun-
tries, as well as those who operate in the Antarctica.
