Increase and further evaluate the forecast quality of the current neXtSIM-F forecasting platform, and improve the dissemination of the results to end-users.
The main focus of the project will be on improving the forecast initialization. The reason is that the forecast quality of the neXtSIM-F forecasting platform (which is running operationally as of October 2015) is based on the quality of the three core components. These components are:
Model: The sea-ice model itself, which is named neXtSIM
Forcing: Atmospheric and oceanic forcing data taken from ECMWF and TOPAZ
The Nansen Center is pleased to announce that a new sea ice forecasting platform called neXtSIM-F is now up and running for the Barents and Kara Seas.
Forecasts are generated daily using neXtSIM-F on a 3km Lagrangian grid. neXtSIM-F is based on the sea ice model neXtSIM which is currently being developed at NERSC by the sea ice modelling group.
Development of a new sea ice forecasting platform for the Barents/Kara Seas
The main idea will be to develop a sea ice-only forecasting platform, which would be able to use in real time the ocean forecast provided by the TOPAZ system (or any other ocean model), the winds forecast provided by ECMWF and any available information about the ice cover state coming from another model, in-situ measurements or remote-sensed data from space.
Improved ice forecasting for planning operations and navigation in the Kara and Barents Seas.
This two years project will validate the dynamical and thermodynamical properties of a sea ice model for the area, validate it against the satellite and drifting ice buoys available to the project, fine tune the rheology parameters for the area and set up a second nest at 1 km resolution on the Kara Gate to reproduce instances of clotting of the Kara Gate.
The project is devoted to improvement of lead fraction retrievals in the Arctic from satellites. These will then be used to study processes such as heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere and brine rejection during the ice formation.
Participants: N. Ivanova, P. Rampal, S. Bouillon, E. Ólason (NERSC), I. Fer, L.H Smedsrud (GFI), and M. Ilicak (Uni-Research)
IceMotion will provide new SAR-derived sea ice motion data based on combined use of feature tracking and Doppler shift data for research and monitoring in ice-covered Polar seas.
Sea-ice motion is an essential variable to observe from EO data, because it strongly influences the distribution of sea-ice on different spatial and temporal scales. Ice drift causes advection of ice from one region to another and export of ice from the Arctic Ocean to the sub-Arctic seas. The proposal will exploit Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from Sentinel-1and Radarsat-2 for sea ice research and prepare for operational use of Sentinel-1 data. The main objective of IceMotion is to develop new SAR-derived sea ice motion data with high resolution (ca.
Within an international consortium of partners from highly recognized research institutions in France, Germany and Norway, NERSC proposes new sea ice model developments related to ice dynamics
Within an international consortium of partners from highly recognized research institutions in France, Germany and Norway, NERSC proposes completely new sea ice model developments related to ice dynamics. These will be tested/evaluated/validated at a regional scale using a high-resolution (~4km) coupled ice-ocean model of the Barents and Kara Seas nested into the MyOcean Arctic forecasting system TOPAZ that runs on lower resolution (~10km) but at the global/Pan-Arctic scale.
neXtWIM is focusing on developing an Arctic forecasting platfrom for sea ice and ocean waves, by combining the neXt generation Sea Ice Model neXtSIM and the Waves in Ice Model WIM both currently developed at NERSC.
With increasing temperatures worldwide, the Arctic is experiencing rapid and drastic changes in sea ice conditions, with innumerable consequences for the environment and human activities. In particular, the sea ice extent has experienced several record lows in the last decade, producing more open water in the Arctic ocean, and consequently more waves. At the same time many industries such as tourism, shipping and the oil and gas industry are seeking to take advantage of the reduced ice cover to expand their operations.
Arctic sunset: Credit: V. Dansereau, 2010.NERSC's new project neXtWIM: Waves in the next geration sea ice model (2015-2018) has just been funded by the Research Council of Norway Klimaforsk program.
SIMech proposes to develop a unique sea ice model based on a new rheology that will reproduce for the first time the brittle mechanical behaviour of the sea ice cover.
The Arctic region is currently experiencing rapid changes that are mainly driven by global warming. Over the last decade, we have observed a drastic shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice cover in summer accompanied by a spectacular thinning of mean thickness and an increased export of sea ice through the Fram Strait. These changes perturb the interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean and modify the Arctic climate.
