Researchers from NERSC and colleagues in France, Germany, and Mali have improved how to simulate sea-ice movement in the Arctic. Their sea-ice model neXtSIM with a new and unique rheology is very good at producing accurate sea-ice forecasts and can possibly enhance climate predictions. 

Sea ice in the Arctic. Photo: Espen Storheim/Nansen Center

A new study led by Jonathan Rheinlænder at the Nansen Center investigates if the sea-ice model neXtSIM can recreate an unusual breakup event in the Arctic to find out what caused it.

People have been using the Arctic Ocean for over a century, mainly for shipping goods between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The northern passages come with dangers though – sea ice poses a significant threat to shipping and other marine activities. In the past decades, technological advances have made it safer to cross these waters, but the ocean and sea-ice conditions in the Arctic remain challenging. A recent study led by Anton Korosov at the Nansen Center is contributing to increase safe navigation in the Arctic.

Einar Ólason takes over the co-lead of the collaborative programme "Arctic", one of four core activities of the European Climate Research Alliance (ECRA). He supersedes Lars Henrik Smedsrud (GFI/UiB, UNIS, Bjerknes Centre), who held that position since 2014.

What is the ECRA?

Last month a new project has started, with several of our NERSC researchers involved. The "Scale-Aware Sea Ice Project" (SASIP) will run for six years, with international partners in France, the US, the UK, Italy, and Mali.

Our Sea Ice Modelling group members Guillaume Boutin, Timothy Williams, Einar Ólason, and Pierre Rampal (NERSC & CNRS) recently published an article together with Camille Lique (IFREMER, Brest, France). They coupled the sea ice model neXtSIM to a wave model and present exciting results!