The Marginal Ice Zone, which extends a few hundred kilometres from the ice edge into the ice pack, is characterized by highly variable ice conditions. While winds and ocean currents are advecting the sea ice, waves and swells generated in the open ocean propagate into the ice and, if large enough, break the ice. Simulating those sea-ice characteristics in weather and climate models is very challenging. Since sea ice is a dominant constraint for atmospheric surface fluxes in polar regions this has important consequences for the atmosphere - sea ice interactions on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.
In 2024 we conducted an observational campaign to observe key variables of the atmosphere, wave, and sea-ice system with a distributed network of buoys in the Marginal Ice Zone north of the Svalbard Archipelago. The dataset of the campaign includes atmospheric and surface temperatures, wave energy spectra, as well as sea-ice drift. Combined with remote sensing data, it can be used to better understand the break-up of the sea ice and the interaction with wave and atmospheric dynamics. In addition, model observations from 10 different model centres and about 20 different model simulations for this period are available.
- There is the opportunity to analyse the observations and model simulations to better understand the break-up of the sea-ice that occurred north of Svalbard in April/May 2024 and its interactions with the wave and atmospheric dynamics.
- There is another opportunity to work on new sensor technologies (Infrared sensor for skin temperature, atmospheric pressure, and anemometer sensors) to be implemented in the framework of the OpenMetBuoy. These new buoys will be tested at the stations at Blindern and Haukeliseter as well as deployed by future research cruises on the Arctic sea ice.
