An introduction to KOPRI's collaborative activities for sea ice observations in the Arctic

Abstract

The Pacific Arctic Sector has experienced a massive decline in sea ice extent during recent decade. In order to unveil the primary factors controlling the sea ice loss, Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) has conducted the ice-ocean observations on the Arctic sea ice since 2011. Most of KOPRI's activities for the observations include the international collaboration with the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Ocean University of China (OUC), and so on. One of the activies is the deployment of various ice-tethered buoys to measure ice bottom melting, heat exchange between the atmosphere-snow-ice-ocean interfaces, and the three dimensional deformation of the ice. These measurements help us to identify and understand the key physical processes between and within atmosphere-ice-ocean in the Arctic Ocean. Another activity is the melt pond study that reveals the evolution of two different types of melting ponds. In this study, thus, we introduce the overall activities for sea ice observations conducted from 2011 to 2015 and present what kinds of equipments used and some preliminary results.