Seasonal Sea Ice Thickness Variability between Canada and the North Pole

• Author / Creator

  Lange, Benjamin A.

• This study presents large scale sea ice melt estimates derived by comparing AEM ice thickness surveys conducted in the Lincoln Sea (spring) and Nares Strait (summer) in 2009. The exact same ice was not surveyed during both campaigns but comparison of ice thickness was conducted between regions representative of the same ice. Sea ice was tracked using a time series of 230 MODIS and ASAR images. Only level ice thickness measurements were compared by removing ridged ice regions detected within the laser surface profile. The spring profile had a level ice thickness of 3.5 m and the summer profile 2.3 m, a total melt of 1.2 m. Ice melt was 0.87-0.95 m, equivalent to a net heat of 262.3-286.4 MJ m-2. Snow melt was 0.25-0.33 m equivalent to a net heat of 28.5-37.6 MJ m-2. The EM instrument responded differently over ridged ice during the two seasons which was likely due to a mean instrument footprint difference of 25 m and therefore could not be used to derive melt for ridged sea ice.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Lincoln Sea
  • Electromagnetic
  • Seasonal sea ice thickness variability
  • Airborne electromagnetic induction thickness sounding
  • Sea ice thickness
  • Sea ice
  • Arctic sea ice
  • Nares Strait

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R39C6S838

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.