Author(s): Peng Lu; Miao Yu; Bin Cheng; Timo Vihma; Xuewei Li; Qingkai Wang; Zhijun Li
Linked Author(s): Peng Lu
Keywords: Rctic sea ice; Microstructures; Thermodynamics; Gas bubbles; Mass balance
Abstract: For a long time, the change of Arctic sea ice has been investigated only on a macro scale, such as shrink in ice extent, decrease in ice thickness, shorten in ice age, etc. The corresponding physical mechanisms focus mainly on external forcings including atmosphere and solar radiation. However, in addition to macro-scale expressions, the rapid changes of Arctic sea ice are also expressed on the micro-scale, that is, the changes of sea ice microstructure including gas bubbles and brine pockets. It has been validated by field investigations such as CHINARE 2008-2018 and MOSAiC 2019-2020, but a deep insight into this field is still far from enough. The large porosity within ice and the annual and seasonal changes are very likely to alter the thermal, optical, and mechanical properties of sea ice, and then affect the energy budget and mass balance of sea ice. Therefore, a new international research project was proposed to study the mechanism and effect of changes in the microstructure of Arctic sea ice during climate warming, which intends to combine methods and data of in-situ investigation, numerical modeling, remote sensing, and laboratory experiments. And the final goal is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of Arctic sea ice changes on both macro and micro scales, and from both external and internal aspects.
Year: 2024