Ice algae are a key component in polar marine food webs and have an active role in large-scale biogeochemical cycles. They remain extremely under-sampled due to the coarse nature of traditional point sampling methods compounded by the general logistical limitations of surveying in polar regions. This study provides a first assessment of hyperspectral imaging as an under-ice remote-sensing method to capture sea-ice algae biomass spatial variability at the ice/water interface. Ice-algal cultures were inoculated in a unique inverted sea-ice simulation tank at increasing concentrations over designated cylinder enclosures and sparsely across the ice/water interface. Hyperspectral images of the sea ice were acquired with a pushbroom sensor attaining 0.9 mm square pixel spatial resolution for three different spectral resolutions (1.7, 3.4, 6.7 nm). Image analysis revealed biomass distribution matching the inoculated chlorophyll a concentrations within each cylinder. While spectral resolutions >6 nm hindered biomass differentiation, 1.7 and 3.4 nm were able to resolve spatial variation in ice algal biomass implying a coherent sensor selection. The inverted ice tank provided a suitable sea-ice analogue platform for testing key parameters of the methodology. The results highlight the potential of hyperspectral imaging to capture sea-ice algal biomass variability at unprecedented scales in a non-invasive way.

We explore spatial aliasing of non-Gaussian distributions of sea-ice thickness. Using a heuristic model and >1000 measurements, we show how different instrument footprint sizes and shapes can cluster thickness distributions into artificial modes, thereby distorting frequency distribution, making it difficult to compare and communicate information across spatial scales. This problem has not been dealt with systematically in sea ice until now, largely because it appears to incur no significant change in integrated thickness which often serves as a volume proxy. Concomitantly, demands are increasing for thickness distribution as a resource for modeling, monitoring and forecasting air–sea fluxes and growing human infrastructure needs in a changing polar environment. New demands include the characterization of uncertainties both regionally and seasonally for spaceborne, airborne, in situ and underwater measurements. To serve these growing needs, we quantify the impact of spatial aliasing by computing resolution error (Er) over a range of horizontal scales (x) from 5 to 500 m. Results are summarized through a power law (Er= bxm) with distinct exponents (m) from 0.3 to 0.5 using example mathematical functions including Gaussian, inverse linear and running mean filters. Recommendations and visualizations are provided to encourage discussion, new data acquisitions, analysis methods and metadata formats.

A non-linear regression model describing the mass-balance distribution of the whole Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, for the years 1992–2000 is presented. All available data from some 40 locations over this 9 year period were used to determine the parameters of the model. The regression model uses six adjustable parameters which all have a clear physical interpretation. They are the slope, direction and the height of the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) plane, two altitude mass-balance gradients, and a maximum value of the surface mass balance. It is found that the temporal variation of the observed mass-balance distribution can be accurately described through annual shifts of the ELA. Annual shifts in ELA are on the order of 100 m, which is of the same magnitude as the change expected to be caused by the climate variation predicted during the next decades. A slight trend towards a more negative mass balance is detected during this 9 year period.

The processes involved in the evolution of vertical profiles of Mg2+, Ca2+ and microparticle concentrations, as well as their seasonal variation in surface snow, were studied by weekly sampling from September 2003 to September 2004 of a snow pit on Ürümqi glacier No. 1, eastern Tien Shan, China. The development of the microparticle and Mg2+ and Ca2+ stratigraphy in the snow pit is closely related to the physical development of the snow–firn pack. The sampling site is located at 4130 ma.s.l. in the percolation zone of the glacier, and in addition to the effects of sublimation and wind erosion, melting plays a crucial role in both the physical and chemical evolution processes. During the winter, soluble aerosol concentrations in the surface layers are altered slightly by sublimation and wind erosion, and the concentrations are further modified as the wet season begins in late April. In contrast, soluble aerosol stratigraphy in the deeper layers remains relatively unchanged through the winter. In early summer, as melting occurs in the upper part of the snow–firn pack, meltwater carries chemical species to different depths in the underlying snow–firn layers, such that at the end of the ablation season, all of the surface cations might be leached out from the upper layers. In addition, the possible source of calcium and magnesium is discussed in this paper.

An experimental investigation was performed on the kinetic friction coefficient of laboratory-grown, columnar saline ice sliding against itself. Tests were performed on a dual-opposing load apparatus specially manufactured for attachment to an MTS testing system. The mean kinetic friction coefficient, μ, was measured for sliding velocities from 10−6 to 5 × 10−2 m s−1 at temperatures from —3° to —40°C under a contact pressure of about 20 kPa. The ice specimens were oriented with grain columns perpendicular to the sliding interface. At -3°C and at —10°C, three distinct regions were observed: from 10−6 to about 10−5ms−1, μwas nearly constant at 0.5; at velocities from 10−5 to 10−3 m s−1, μ began to drop rapidly to about 0.1; and, above 10−3 m s−1, μ began to level off at ~0.05. The velocity at which μ began to decline increased with decreasing temperature. At temperatures below —10°C, μ increased from ~0.5 at v =10−6ms−1 to a peak value of ~0.7 near a velocity of 5 × 10−5ms−1 and then fell rapidly to about 0.1 at 10−2ms−1. In general, μ increased with decreasing temperature and sliding velocity.

A simple model, which is zonally averaged, for the transport of atmospheric water vapour is presented which uses as input the zonally averaged evaporation field and the mean meridional travel distance of tropospheric water vapour as functions of latitude. The model demonstrates that for polar regions each of the 10° latitude strips poleward of 25° is of equal importance as a moisture source. The model is used to predict zonal averages of δ(18O) for the present day and 18 ka BP. Both annual average values and seasonal amplitudes are presented and compared to observations. Sea-ice cover is an important factor in determining both annual averages and seasonal amplitudes today and at 18 ka BP. An earlier model (Jouzel and others 1983) linking δ(18O), the deuterium excess, and sea-salt content in an Antarctic ice core to the relative humidity of the source region is based on a single-source atmospheric water-vapour cycle type model and is re-evaluated using the present model.

Uniaxial compression tests were performed on samples of the Greenland Ice Gore Project (GRIP) deep ice core, both in the field and later in a cold-room laboratory, in order to understand the ice-flow behavior of large ice sheets. Experiments were conducted under conditions of constant strain rate (type A) and constant load (type B). Fifty-four uniaxial-compression test specimens from 1327-2922 m were selected. Each test specimen (25 mm x 25 mm x 90 mm) was prepared with its uniaxial stress axis inclined 45° from the core axis in order to examine the flow behavior of strong single-maximum ice-core samples with basal planes parallel to the horizontal plane of the ice sheet. The ice-flow enhancement factors show a gradual increase with depth down to approximately 2000 m. These results can be interpreted in terms of an increase in the fourth-order Schmid factor. Below 2000 m depth, the flow-enhancement factor increases to about 20-30 with a relatively high variability When the Schmid factor was > 0.46, the enhancement factor obtained was higher than expected from the .-axis concentrations measured. The higher values of flow-enhancement factor were obtained from specimens with a cloudy band structure. It was revealed that cloudy bands affect ice-deformation processes, but the details remain unclear.

Electrification of snow particles during blizzards creates forces that may strongly effect their trajectories in saltation along a charged surface. This paper shows the results of adding such forces to the equations of motion for saltation. Evaluating these equations requires knowledge of the electric-field strength very near the surface, and a review shows that such measurements are lacking. However, extrapolation of reported measurements from greater heights agrees with the electric field computed for a bed of spherical particles. In this hypothetical field, the equations of motion predict large changes in saltation length that might occur as particles pass over surfaces with positive and negative sign. Such changes apparently coincide with surface erosion and deposition.

The reflection and transmission of ice-coupled waves under a sea-ice sheet is re-examined in this work. Recent theory can account for inhomogeneities in ice sheets such as the sails of pressure ridges and cracks or leads, but has only examined small numbers of features. Here the scattering coefficients can be obtained for an ice sheet containing a region of arbitrarily varying thickness that more closely approximates a real ice sheet and, consequently, models wave scattering more effectively. We explore the consequences of inverting ridge keels, placing the mass above the ice sheet as a technique by which the keel can be partially accounted for. It is found that the ridge sails themselves can reasonably be neglected. Upward-looking submarine sonar data are used to demonstrate the use of the model, noting that there are choices as to how to interpret such data. The model is tested to establish its sensitivity to these choices.

Self-organizing maps (SOMs) provide a powerful, non-linear technique to optimally summarize a complex geophysical dataset using a user-selected number of ‘icons’ or SOM states, allowing rapid identification of preferred patterns, predictability of transitions, rates of transitions, and hysteresis in cycles. The use of SOMs is demonstrated here through application to a 24 year dataset (1973–96) of monthly Antarctic sea-ice edge positions. Variability in sea-ice extent, concentration and other physical characteristics is an important component of the Earth’s dynamic climate system, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere where annual changes in sea-ice extent (temporarily) double the size of the Antarctic cryosphere. SOM-based patterns concisely capture the spatial and temporal variability in these data, including the annual progression of expansion and retreat, a general eastward propagation of anomalies during the winter, and sub-annual variability in the rate of change in extent at different times of the year (e.g. retreat in January is faster than in November). There is also often a general seasonal hysteresis, i.e. monthly anomalies during cooling follow a different spatial path than during warming.

Winter accumulation on glaciers in temperate to sub-arctic climate regimes is determined by both precipitation and snowdrifting during repeated events during any particular winter. Since glacier mass balance is calculated from the sum of winter and summer balance, and summer balance can be modeled with high accuracy, identification of the coupling between atmospheric circulation and winter balance is essential in order to fully understand the climate information hidden in the glacier mass-balance records. We have sampled snow cores from Storglaciären, Sweden, to examine identifiable chemical signatures to link these with up-wind sources in an attempt to quantify how much accumulation occurs under given atmospheric conditions. The snow samples reveal that several different chemical signatures occur but that identifying their source is not trivial, although only few but distinct sources exist. The relationship between the identified strata of a given signature is difficult to couple to recorded precipitation events because the crucial timing of deposition is lacking in our investigation. If time control on snow deposition is available, the combination of snow chemistry, meteorological and climatological data is a promising tool for evaluating the coupling between snow accumulation and atmospheric circulation.

All radar power interpretations require a correction for attenuative losses. Moreover, radar attenuation is a proxy for ice-column properties, such as temperature and chemistry. Prior studies use either paired thermodynamic and conductivity models or the radar data themselves to calculate attenuation, but there is no standard method to do so; and, before now, there has been no robust methodological comparison. Here, we develop a framework meant to guide the implementation of empirical attenuation methods based on survey design and regional glaciological conditions. We divide the methods into the three main groups: (1) those that infer attenuation from a single reflector across many traces; (2) those that infer attenuation from multiple reflectors within one trace; and (3) those that infer attenuation by contrasting the measured power from primary and secondary reflections. To assess our framework, we introduce a new ground-based radar survey from South Pole Lake, comparing selected empirical methods to the expected attenuation from a temperature- and chemistry-dependent Arrhenius model. Based on the small surveyed area, lack of a sufficient calibration surface and low reflector relief, the attenuation methods that use multiple reflectors are most suitable at South Pole Lake.

The response of glaciers to changing climate is explored with an atmosphere/glacier hierarchical modeling approach, in which global simulations are downscaled with an Arctic MM5 regional model which provides temperature and precipitation inputs to a glacier mass-balance model. The mass balances of Hubbard and Bering Glaciers, south-central Alaska, USA, are simulated for October 1994–September 2004. The comparisons of the mass-balance simulations using dynamically-downscaled vs observed temperature and precipitation data are in reasonably good agreement, when calibration is used to minimize systematic biases in the MM5 downscalings. The responses of the Hubbard (a large tidewater glacier) and Bering (a large surge-type glacier) mass balances to the future climate scenario CCSM3 A1B, a ‘middle-of-the-road’ future climate in which fossil and non-fossil fuels are assumed to be used in balance, are also investigated for the period October 2010–September 2018. Hubbard and Bering Glaciers are projected to have increased accumulation, particularly on the upper glaciers, and greater ablation, particularly on the lower glaciers. The annual net balance for the entire Bering Glacier is projected to be significantly more negative, on average (–2.0ma–1w.e., compared to –1.3ma–1w.e. during the hindcast), and for the entire Hubbard Glacier somewhat less positive (0.3ma–1w.e. compared to 0.4 ma–1w.e. during the hindcast). The Hubbard Glacier mass balances include an estimated iceberg calving flux of 6.5 km3 a–1, which is assumed to remain constant.

The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern Hemisphere where seasonal sea ice is produced every year. The formation of sea ice drives thermohaline circulation in the Sea of Okhotsk, and this circulation supports the high productivity in the region. However, recent reports have indicated that sea-ice production in the Sea of Okhotsk is decreasing, raising concern that the decreased sea ice will affect not only circulation but also biological productivity in the sea. To reconstruct climatic changes in the Sea of Okhotsk region, we analyzed an ice core obtained from Ichinskaya Sopka (Mount Ichinsky), Kamchatka. We assumed that the remarkable negative peaks of δD in the ice core were caused by expansion of sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. Melt feature percentage (MFP), which indicates summer snowmelt, showed high values in the 1950–60s and the mid-1990s–2000s. The high MFP in the 1950–60s was assumed to be caused by an increase in cyclone activity reaching Kamchatka during a negative period of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index, and that in the 1990–2000s may reflect the increase in solar irradiation during a positive period of the summer Arctic Oscillation index.

The Polar MM5 mesoscale atmospheric model was run for 13 years (1991–2003) over Greenland at 24 km horizontal resolution (Box and others, 2004). The model physics were driven by satellite, station and weather-balloon observational data assimilation, i.e. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analysis. The analysis in this study focuses on the response of the surface mass balance to its primary controls: temperature and precipitation. The results indicate coherent spatial patterns of variability and statistically significant links with temperature and precipitation and the North Atlantic Oscillation. Precipitation trends have the same spatial pattern and sign as temperature, suggesting an association of precipitation and temperature variability. Increasing temperatures contribute to an increasing ablation trend and expansion of the ablation zone despite increasing accumulation trends. The Pinatubo (Philippines) volcanic cooling in the early 1990s enhances this apparent warming trend. Only in the northeast does precipitation appear to dominate the surface mass balance, where both temperature and precipitation have decreased. There is little evidence for a total ice-sheet surface mass-balance trend, although the meltwater runoff has a positive trend and, combined with iceberg discharge and basal melting estimates, suggests the ice sheet as a whole is in a state of net mass loss over this period.

Statistics of Arctic Sea-ice Surface roughness have been investigated in order to improve classification of ice-thickness regimes. The data consist of Surface roughness and thickness profiles, acquired Simultaneously by helicopter-borne laser altimetry and electromagnetic induction Sounding. Five thickness classes were identified using the modal thickness as a criterion. For each class, the Statistical properties of the Surface roughness profiles were analyzed. A classification algorithm was designed, which assigns profiles to the thickness classes on the basis of a Set of Selected Statistical roughness parameters. The algorithm was applied to profiles of different lengths. Best results were obtained for 2 km long profiles, for which it was possible to discriminate well between thick first-year and multi-year ice, and to distinguish these classes from thinner ice. The classification rule was tested on data obtained under winter and Summer conditions. The results Suggest that Statistical Surface roughness properties are different for thinner and thicker ice classes. However, individual thin-ice classes cannot be discriminated on the basis of the Selected roughness parameters.

Examination of satellite-derived 1973–75 sea-ice concentrations for the Southern Ocean and comparison with 1 000 mbar temperatures and sea-level pressures reveal considerable Interannual variability in both the ice and atmospheric fields plus strong suggestions of ice/atmosphere interconnections. The mean position of the ice edge undergoes a strong yearly cycle that lags the cycle of the zonally-averaged temperatures by about one month, but the mean ice edge does not contain small-term fluctuations or interannual variability to the same extent as either the temperature or the pressure. Regionally, the ice varies much more noticeably from year-to-year, with the interannual contrasts showing strong spatial dependence in all months and strong spatial coherence in winter. These are illustrated by selected maps of monthly differences in ice concentrations between 1973 and 1974 and between 1974 and 1975. It is shown that the interannual ice differences can, in many cases, be attributed to the Interannual differences in the positioning and intensity of cyclonic and anticyclonic systems.

Comparison of the distribution of seasonal variations in surface elevation derived from a firn-densification–elevation model with observed variations derived from ERS-1/-2 satellite radar altimetry shows close similarity in the patterns of the amplitude of the variations over the North Greenland ice sheet. The amplitudes of the seasonal variations decrease from west to east and from south to north, determined by the accumulation rate and the surface-temperature distribution pattern. Several methods of estimating the amplitude of the seasonal variation in the observations are compared, including the use of a three-frequency sinusoidal function derived from the modeled seasonal variation that is asymmetric. The resulting correlation coefficient between the observed amplitude, estimated with the three-frequency function, and the modeled amplitude is 0.66 and the slope is 0.7. Residual differences may be caused by interannual variability in accumulation and temperature and other approximations in the model.

The high-salinity surface layer of young sea ice was subjected to field and laboratory experiments. Artificial pools, in which young ice was formed, were opened within a fast-ice sheet in the Saroma lagoon, Hokkaido, in February of 1983 and 1984. The salinity of 1 mm thick surface layer of the young ice was observed as high as 42.4‰, which exceeds the seawater salinity of 31‰. The surface salinity increased with rising surface temperature. When a load was placed on the fast ice near the pool, seeped brine of salinity 72.5‰ was observed on the surface of the young ice; and when the load was removed, the brine disappeared. Meanwhile, brine permeabilities, both upward and downward, were measured in the laboratory, Both permeabilities decreased logarithmically with lowering surface temperature. A remarkable anisotropy was observed: the upward permeability was greater than downward, and the ratio of upward to downward premeability increased with lowering surface temperature from 5 at -3 °C to 33 at -5°C. Upward and downward permeabilities in ms-1 were respectively 1x10-4 and 2x10-5 at -3°C, 2x10-5 and 6x10-7 at -5°C, and at -10°C upward permeability was 3x10-7.

An ice core 103 m long was extracted in 1980 from an altitude of 5340 m on the icefield plateau of Mount Logan, Yukon Territory (lat 60°35ˈN, long 140°30ˈW). The firn-ice transition occurs at a depth of 65 m, corresponding to about the year 1880.

The chemistry of this upper 65 m is apparently dominated by acid-ion species, the peaks in which are provisionally identified with several documented volcanic events. Although the analyses cover only selected discontinuous intervals, it appears that there is no significant long-term trend in the background acidity level of the precipitation at this location over the past century, in contrast to the results from the North American Arctic and Greenland.

Nitrate ion concentration shows pseudo-seasonal variations, which may be associated with stratospheric-tropospheric interactions, although other seasonally linked mechanisms are possible. This result has also been reported for ice-core sequences from Greenland. Other nitrate pulses are tentatively associated with local volcanic events and a possible meteorite event (the entry of Tunguska in 1908). One of the largest short-term sources of sulfate ions is probably from volcanic activity on the north Pacific rim. Background volcanically-quiet nitrate and sulfate ion concentrations are compared with similar Greenland data in an attempt to throw further tight on the origin of the acids.

Since the moisture for this precipitation originates primarily in the Gulf of Alaska, the data has particular relevance to that region. Short-term climatic changes, as reflected by the oxygen isotope (δl8O) record, show some response to the major volcanic-acid events. The influences affecting the δl8O record are listed but not discussed.