PISCES-A: Pacific Infrastructure Supporting Continuous Engineering and Science in the Arctic
Abstract
Approved for Public Release:The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have partnered for the Arctic Pacific Infrastructure Supporting Continuous Engineering and Science (Arctic PISCES) project to advance observing and prediction science in Arctic coastal and inner-shelf regions to support sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) forecasts of the ocean-ice-atmosphere system. The objective of Arctic PISCES is to advance monitoring capabilities of the ice-ocean-atmosphere conditions in the Arctic coastal zone and use observational data to improve forecast models that support operations in the region. The tracking of ocean heat content and its impact on the state of the coastal (landfast) ice cover is central to the work.Observational data will be used to better understand the evolution of coastal sea ice, especially the landfast ice that buffers the coastal zone and provides an important seasonal platform for the local community. The data will provide an understanding of (1) the drivers of break-out events in spring, including the balance of thermodynamics (heat and light) compared with dynamics (winds, waves, currents) and (2) storm events across the rest of the seasonal cycle. The field campaign will take place off the coast of Utqiagvik, AK where UAF operates a coastal sea ice radar system. Oceanographic data will be collected by instruments on the ice, through the ice, and under the ice on the seabed. APL-UW will deploy drifting buoys on/through the ice. Seasonal Ice Mass Balance buoys (SIMBs) will be deployed by UAF through the ice to measure temperature, meteorologicalconditions, ice thickness, ice growth, and ablation. UAF and APL-UW will deploy (1) tripod suites to measure temperature, pressure,currents, sound, ice draft, and waves and (2) mooring suites to measure temperature, pressure, and light. The field campaign will be conducted from summer 2025 to summer 2026 to measure a full seasonal landfast ice cycle. Latency in data return from ice-covered coastal zones will be reduced to ensure timescales useful for the observational data to support model validation, calibration, and forecast tuning. Numerical models will be used to study the physical processes that control the ice freeze-up and break-up processes with a focus on predicting the break-up timing. Ice break-up is influenced by the advection of warm water and air, solar radiation levels and light penetration depths, and surface mixing produced by winds, waves, and currents. These processes will be examined by three types of models, initially run with historical data for calibration, validated with observational data collected during the field campaign, and then converted to run as forecast models. UW-APL will continue developing a pan-Arctic model to study not only the local conditions affecting ice conditions but also the advection of warm water and air into the coastal zone. UAF will apply a singlecolumn melt degree day model to produce two-week forecasts of the break-up date. PNNL will develop a wave model to predict the waveconditions at the edge of the landfast ice. Sea ice velocity data will be collected by the UAF radar; PNNL will derive sea ice concentration data from satellite synthetic aperture radar data for locations farther offshore to be used for model initialization and validation. Near-real time data from the ARM facility and the in-situ instruments will be used to initialize the models when run in forecast mode.Community collaboration and partnerships include the North Slope Borough#s Department of Search and Rescue (NSB DSAR; data and model output to inform search and rescue response planning and operations), UIC Science (logistics support and infrastructure, community partnerships and communications, liaison to NSB DSAR), and Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 11, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412286
Entities
People
- Hajo Eicken
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Alaska Fairbanks