Minutes of the

Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Participants of the

International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP)

Hosted by

Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC)

Yokosuka, Japan

30 May - 1 June 2001

PDF (Printer Friendly Version - Need Adobe Acrobat)

1.0 Opening of the Meeting

The eleventh annual meeting of the Participants of the IABP opened at 10:00 on 30 May 2001 at the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan. The Chairman of the IABP, Tim Goos (TG), called the meeting to order. Takashi Kikuchi (TK), who is co-Hosting this meeting with Masuo Hosono, welcomed the IABP.

Takashi provided logistic information for the meeting, notified the Attendees of a Welcome Party at 17:30, and offered a tour JAMSTEC after lunch on Thursday.

Participants welcomed the opportunity that JAMSTEC provided to be the first users of the International Guest House. The list of Participants is shown in Attachment 1. The list of Attendees is shown in Attachment 2.

2.0 Agenda Approval

The draft was reviewed, amended and approved (Attachment 3).

3.0 Review Minutes and Action Items from Tenth Meeting

Final minutes from Tenth Meeting will be completed by the fall. The Participants were asked to review the draft of these minutes, and submit comments to the Coordinator before July.

It has been noted that a number of Participants have been inactive, and the need to discuss provisions for withdrawal from the IABP was aired. This topic was added to the Agenda, and discussed in section 10.2 of these minutes.

Electronic submission of reports has been encouraged, and it was noted that some reports have been long. Submission of short summaries was encouraged.

4.0 Coordinator's Report

Ignatius Rigor reported on: 1.) the status of the buoy array, 2.) deployment plans for the year, 3. ) deployment opportunities, 4.) the progress of data management tasks, and publications related to the IABP, and 5.) planned improvements to the IABP Web pages,

The Coordinator’s report is given in Attachment 4, and is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-11/Coord.ppt.

Discussion

It was suggested that the position only data from the buoys should also be posted on the GTS. It was also asked how the data from the J-CAD buoys could be posted on the GTS closer to real-time. It was decided that the Coordinator will contact the appropriate Participants to arrange the GTS posting of these data, and will work with JAMSTEC to address the J-CAD GTS issue.

It was noted that some of the areas of operation in the GTS headers that the buoys are reporting under are not correct in the buoy table. E.g. some buoys use the header SSVX01-LFPW, which is the header for buoys in the North Atlantic, rather than SSVX07-LFPW, which is the header for the Arctic. It was decided that the Coordinator should contact the owners and request that these errors be corrected.

5.0 Report from Data Buoy Co-operation Panel (DBCP) (E. Charpentier)

Etienne Charpentier reported on the activities of the DBCP since the last IABP meeting. A status of global buoy programmes was presented. Details regarding his report can be found at http://dbcp.nos.noaa.gov/dbcp/highlights.html.

The summary of his report is given in Attachment 5.

Discussion

There was a discussion of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) and how the IABP cooperates with, can contribute to, or take advantage of JCOMM. It was noted that the IABP reports to the DBCP, which participates in the buoy observations team of the JCOMM Observations Programme Area.

6.0 Status Report on Membership and Letters of Intent (I. Rigor)

The Coordinator reported that we officially list 24 Participants from 10 different countries, and one international organization, the WCRP (Attachment 1). This is down from the 25 that we listed last year, since we were advised that Roshydromet and AARI would also represent the Russian Navy.

The Coordinator reported that Wynn Jones has taken another position at the U.K. Meteorological Office (UKMO). Dr. Shearman (Head Observations Supply) will be our contact until he can appoint a new contact. Dr. Shearman stated that the UKMO wants to stay abreast of IABP activities, and prefers to participate on an “ad hoc” basis rather than renew Participant status.

Discussion

It was noted that some Participants that were listed during earlier meetings are not listed in the current list (Attachment 1). Attachment 1 only lists Participants who responded to our request for “Letters of Intent” in 1998. It was decided that the valid date should be noted on the current list of Participants.

7.0 Presentations

7.1 J-CAD technology (R. Mahr, Jr.)

Ray Mahr Jr. reported on the geophysical sensors, and mechanical and electronic testing of the J-CAD buoys.

This presentation is available on the web at:

http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-11/METOCEAN.ppt.

7.2 J-CAD preliminary results

7.2.1 Comparison of the observational results from J-CAD 1 with climatology (T. Kikuchi)

As a project of North Pole Environmental Observatory (NPEO), J-CAD 1 has been installed near the North Pole on April 24th, 2000. J-CAD 1 drifted from the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait to the Greenland Sea and has observed oceanographic and meteorological conditions. In the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean, potential temperature and salinity data show as follows: 1) the surface salinity in 2000 was remarkably higher than the EWG climatology, 2) the warming of the Atlantic water was found. The salinization of the surface water induces a weakening of the cold halocline. These results support the previous studies (e.g., Steele and Boyd (1998)) and show the continuation of the changing Arctic. In other words, it should be noted that the oceanographic condition in 2000 is an unfavorable one for sea ice formation. On the other hand, the water mass characteristic, which is fresher than the EWG climatology, was found along the Greenland shelf break in the Fram Strait (78-80N). The characteristics might be corresponding to the CTD observational results north of the Greenland in Apr. 2000.

7.2.2 Beaufort Sea Oceanography (K. Shimada)

The properties and spreading pathways of shallow temperature maximum waters (STMs) in the western Canadian Basin are investigated using CTD and mooring data obtained in 1997-98 as part of the SHEBA drift experiment and available historical data. Three distinct varieties of STM are recognized on the basis of salinity range: (1) Surface Mixed Layer Water (SMLW) with S < 30; (2) Eastern Chukchi Summer Water (ECSW) with 31 < S < 32; and (3) Western Chukchi Summer Water (WCSW) with S > 32. These STMs carry sufficient heat within the upper layers of the ocean to significantly affect rates of ice cover and decay. For example, during the winter of 1997-98 anomalously warm STM (>0 C) originating from ECSW was observed to spread northwards along the Northwind Ridge and Chukchi Plateau, where the maximum reduction of the ice covers was subsequently observed in late summer, 1998 [Maslanik et al., 1999]. Regional climate variability and ice cover in the western Canadian Basin is thus affected not only by anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns, but also by the circulation of upper ocean water masses.

7.3 Argos Downlink, Next Practical Steps Towards Implementation (H. Yatomi)

Yatomi presented on enhancement of the ARGOS system, particularly about the present constellation of the satellites, launch schedule in the future and the downlink message function enabled by the ADEOS-II.

This presentation is available on the web at:

http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-11/Argos.ppt.

7.4 Statistics of Ice Edges (R. Colony and I. Shapiro)

The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding how sea ice extent and the processes of sea ice formation both reflect and influence climate changes in the Arctic region.

Until recently, the main exchanges between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans were thought to take place through Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard. However, recent studies (Rudels et al., 1994; Rudels 1995; Loeng et al., 1997) have suggested that periodic transport of North Atlantic water via the Barents Sea into the Arctic Ocean may also have a major effect on the climate of the Arctic region. Sea ice extent is linked to the input of warm, relatively saline Atlantic water, and this in turn influences the atmosphere and the climate. Hence this region is proving to be of increasing interest in the study of the relationship between sea ice and climate in the Arctic region.

This study uses the ACSYS (Arctic Climate System Study) Historical Sea Ice Chart Database constructed by the Norwegian Polar Institute. The measurements of the ice edge positions in this dataset came from a wide variety of sources. The data range from records of the ice edge recorded on vessels dating back as early as 1553, to the most recent ice edge observations by satellite. Data from the last 100 years provide almost weekly coverage from spring to autumn (e.g., Russian sea ice data from 1969, shown here in Figure 1); when satellites became available in 1966 there is continuous weekly coverage. The processing methods for these data sets to identify variations and anomalies are of critical importance. We are using these data to define a mean position for the ice edge across the geographical area of interest for each month of the year. Our approach for the statistical analysis of these data is to use the position of the mean monthly ice edge as the basis from which anomalies are calculated for any particular year. A typical illustration of the mean April ice extent and mean October ice extent is shown in Figure 2.

The mean ice edge is represented by a series of points x(s), were s is some arbitrary distance along the mean ice edge. One possible way to define the anomaly for a particular year is as the perpendicular distance of the mean ice edge x(s) to the observed ice edge y(r,t), where r is an arbitrary distance along the observed ice edge, and t denotes the year of observation. This represents the scalar quantity whose value is negative if the anomaly is directed towards the ice pack, and positive if directed towards the open ocean. This approach leads to a series of scalar quantities that can be analyzed for statistical properties.

Figure 1. Russian sea ice data, 1969.

Figure 2. April (a) and October (b) mean ice extent.

REFFERENCES

Rudels, B., 1995: The thermohaline circulation of the Arctic Ocean and Greenland Sea. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, 352, 287-299.

Rudels, B., E.P. Jones, L.G. Anderson, and G. Kattner, 1994: On the intermediate depth waters of the Arctic Ocean. In: The Polar Oceans and Their Role in Shaping the Global Environment, eds. O.M. Johannessen, R.D. Muench and J.E. Overland, Geophysical Monograph 85, American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C.

Loeng, H., V. Ozhigin, and B. Adlandsvik, 1997: Water fluxes through the Barents Sea. ICES J. Mar. Sci., 54, 310-317.

7.5 Impacts of Changes in Ice Motion On Surface Air Temperature and Sea Ice Concentration

by Ignatius G. Rigor, John M. Wallace and Roger L. Colony

Dramatic changes in Arctic climate have been noted during the past two decades. Walsh et al. (1996), for example, reported a 5 hPa decrease in sea level pressure (SLP) over the central Arctic Ocean between the periods 1986-1994 and 1979-1985. Studies of changes in Surface Air Temperature (SAT) show that the Arctic continents have warmed during winter and spring (Rigor et al. 2000, Jones et al. 1998; Chapman and Walsh (1993). As a proxy indicator of Arctic warming, Parkinson (1999) studied satellite data from the scanning Multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR) and found that the length of the sea ice season has shortened in the eastern Arctic and lengthened in the western Arctic from 1978-1996. Looking at coinciding observations of ice draft measured by submarines, Rothrock et al. (1999) show that the sea ice has thinned in the 1990’s compared to observations from 1958-1976. Did changes in SAT drive the thinning and reduction in area of Arctic sea ice , or did the thinner and less expansive area of sea ice allow more heat to flux from the ocean to warm the atmosphere?

To answer this question, data collected by the International Arctic Buoy Programme from 1979–1998 were analyzed to obtain statistics of SAT, SLP, and sea ice motion (SIM). The annual and seasonal mean fields agree with those obtained in previous studies of Arctic climatology. The data show a decrease of 3 hPa in decadal mean SLP over the central Arctic Ocean between 1979–1988 and 1989–1998. This decrease in SLP drives a cyclonic trend in SIM, which resembles the structure of the Arctic Oscillation (AO).

Regression maps of SIM on the wintertime AO index show (1) an increase in ice advection away from the coast of the East Siberian and Laptev seas, which should have the effect of producing more new, thin ice in the coastal flaw leads, (2) a decrease in ice advection from the western Arctic into the eastern Arctic, and (3) a slight increase in ice advection out of the Arctic through Fram Strait. Taken together, these changes suggest that at least part of the thinning of sea ice recently observed over the Arctic Ocean can be attributed to the trend in the AO toward the high index polarity.

Rigor et al. (2000) showed that year-to-year variations in the wintertime AO imprint a distinctive signature on SAT anomalies over the Arctic, which is reflected in the spatial pattern of temperature change from the 1980's to the 1990's. Here it is shown that the memory of the wintertime AO persists through most of the subsequent year: spring and autumn SAT and summertime sea-ice concentration are all strongly correlated with the AO-index for the previous winter. It is hypothesized that these delayed influences reflect the dynamical influence of the AO on the thickness of the wintertime sea-ice, whose persistent 'footprint' is reflected in the heat fluxes during the subsequent spring, in the extent of open water during the subsequent summer, and the heat liberated in the freezing of the open water during the subsequent autumn.

This research has been submitted to J. Climate and a draft is available from: http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/SeaIceAO/.

8.0 Status Reports from each Participant

8.1 Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) – E. Hudson

Buoys - The 6 buoys that the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) deployed since IABP-10 (June 2000) including two buoys deployed for the U.S. National Ice Center were outlined. MSC plan to carry on with the Twin Otter landing-on-ice deployments out of Eureka and to support WHITE TRIDENT 2002 via purchase of an ICEX-AIR.

LUT - MSC operates a LUT from Edmonton. They also do some quality control of data and issue a report on a monthly basis. The potential move of the Edmonton LUT to Resolute for acquisition, processing and input to GTS of buoys-on-ice the Arctic Basin was discussed. The Edmonton LUT would be left in place for Pacific buoys. It was noted that such a move would not be considered until a high speed communication system to port data out of the Resolute Bay system has been established.

Processing of JAMSTEC J-CAD 18920 - Operational meteorological offices including MSC’s Arctic Weather Centre require data from the buoys on the Arctic Basin to be on GTS in real-time. Data from J-CAD 18920 was of particular interest to MSC’s Arctic Weather Centre as the buoy was deployed just west of Banks Island September 2000 and subsequently transited the Beaufort. Via the header SSVX01 RJTD, data from the J-CAD deployed in the Beaufort September 2000 (Argos ID 18920 / WMO # 48613) is available on GTS only once a day - xx0600Z - and the data put on circuit at that time is at newest several hours old. To have real time data, the MSC Edmonton LUT was used to acquire, process, and put onto GTS the meteorological data of the J-CAD (SSVX02 CWEG and using WMO # 48521).

See Attachment 6 for the full report MSC Participant Report. .

Discussion

It was recommended that MSC use the same WMO # as JAMSTEC when posting the data from the J-CAD on the GTS. In this way, the users will know that these reports are from the same buoy.

In order for this LUT to be useful to other Argos users, MSC in liaison with Service Argos, Inc., USA will investigate the possibility of connecting the Resolute LUT to Service Argos.

8.2 Marine Environmental Data Service (MEDS) – E. Couture

Data Archiving

MEDS, as the world data centre for drifting buoys continues to capture, quality control and archive all data received in real time from the Global Telecommunication System (GTS). It was noted that that the number of messages received from buoys reporting in the Arctic had decreased significantly in the last year. However, we cannot be certain that the decrease is real since MEDS has been experiencing problems with the processing system. MEDS always keeps the original data, which could be recovered in the event that MEDS processing system was responsible for this "loss" of data.

Quality Control Issues at MEDS

MEDS uses two quality flags for position e.g. 1 = good data 3 = "there is something wrong". A position may receive a flag of 3 for one of the two following reasons:

1) The speed between two consecutive reported positions is greater than 5 knots.

2) The difference between time of observation and time of position is greater than 30 minutes (this is true for approximately 55% of the data)

Consequently, MEDS has no way of distinguishing between invalid positions and valid ones reported at a different time than the time of observation. The implications are that all data flagged 3 (55-60%) do not get reported on MEDS web pages (data inventories, maps, etc) and in some cases, the data does not get distributed to people who request it.

MEDS asked the IABP meeting attendees for opinion and advice on whether MEDS flagging practices should be revised.

Quality of Arctic position data

MEDS reported that in the past year, approximately 30% of GTS position data from the Arctic were questionable. After further investigation, MEDS found that a large fraction of the data posted on SSVX02-CWEG lacked precision while data posted by other LUTs were generally of good quality.

IABP CD

The IABP CD has been completed and was distributed to all the Participants. For more details see item 9.2.

MEDS web site

MEDS web site is continuously evolving. This year, the drifting buoy section of the web site was partly redesigned to improve clarity. Drifting buoy information can be viewed globally or by action group. For each action group, drift track maps of currently operational buoys can now be viewed individually from the time they were deployed. Statistics on the number of buoys and messages archived at MEDS are now also available.

http://www.meds-sdmm.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/meds/Prog_Int/RNODC/RNODC_e.html

Discussion

It was noted that the difference in the times of location and the times of observations could differ by more than 30 minutes and still be valid, when the observation was recorded on the platform before satellite transmission. MEDS flags these observations as “questionable.” It was agreed that these observations are valuable and it was recommended that MEDS will review its policy and if necessary reprocess the archived data. The DBCP Technical Coordinator will write a letter to MEDS with copy to the IABP Coordinator, suggesting MEDS to reprocess the archive to address this issue. JAMSTEC agreed to provide statistics of ice velocity from their J-CAD buoys to get an estimate of the peak ice velocities in the Arctic.

8.3 National Ice Center (NIC) – C. O’Connors

In 2000-2001, the U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Program (USIABP) received fiscal support, manpower resources, and other services from seven U.S. Government agencies and IARC. Presently, the USIABP has 14 buoys operating in the buoy network covering the central Arctic Basin and/or adjoining seas. This number includes eight Coastal Environmental System (CES) buoys, five Christian Michelsen Research (CMR) ICEXAIR buoys and one MetOcean buoy.

During the past year, the Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command provided aerial assets and funding for the annual WHITE TRIDENT deployment exercise. All ICEXAIR buoys deployed by WHITE TRIDENT were provided through the cooperative procurements of IABP Participants. Other USIABP activities and IABP contributions included:

1. Continued funding for the IABP Coordinator / Data Management function.

2. Data processing cost for an U.K. Meteorological Office ICEXAIR buoy.

3. Deployment from the USS Mendel Rivers in October.

4. Ordered a replacement start-up wand for Zeno buoy.

5. CRREL proposal for buoys engineering support, and modifications for the USIABP on hold.

Anticipated 2001 USIABP activities include:

1. Coordination of the 2001 WHITE TRIDENT deployment.

2. CES buoy sent to Sweden for deployment opportunity on the M/V Oden.

3. Coordinate a deployment with PMEL to co-locate two of their thickness drifters with two of our Zeno buoys.

4. Re-apply to our contributing agencies for funding for the next three years.

8.4 Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command – E. Horton (NAVOCEANO)

During the past year, the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) deployed 7 ICEXAIR drifters for IABP. Through a contract with the Arctic and Antarctic Research institute (AARI), a grid of 4 meteorological land stations and 2 additional ice drifters was completed. In April 2001, AARI deployed 4 ice drifters built for NAVOCEANO off the coast of Severnaya Zemlya from the Russian icebreaker Federov using a helicopter to fly to the final deployment location. All are reporting over the GTS. Plans are underway for 7 ICEXAIR to be deployed in August during our annual Atlantic/Arctic deployment.

8.5 World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) – V. Savtchenko

At its session in Boulder, CO, USA (19-23 March 2001) the Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) for the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) established a Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) project as a component of the WCRP. A CliC Science and Co-ordination Plan was published recently as an issue of the WCRP Blue Cover Report Series (WCRP-114 (WMO/TD No. 1053)). A CliC Implementation Plan is in a development phase. A first session of a CliC Implementation Plan Task Group was held from 15-17 March 2001 in Boulder, CO,USA. A report of this meeting is under preparation and expected to be published by the WCRP soon.

ACSYS and CliC glossy brochures were published recently. A Measurements and Models of the Arctic Ocean Circulation workshop is planned to be held later this year at the LDEO, Palisades, NY, USA. The final ACSYS conference is scheduled to be organized in 2004 around the theme of "Progress in understanding of the Arctic Climate System". A CliC Commitments Conference will be held in late 2002.

ACSYS has a planned end-date of 31 December 2003. The first session of the WCRP ACSYS/CliC Scientific Steering Group (SSG) (Kiel, Germany, 23-27 October 2000) considered how best to make a smooth transition of relevant ACSYS activities into CliC. Given the focus of CliC in tackling the interactions of the cryosphere with the components of the physical climate system , the ACSYS/CliC SSG-1 concluded that there is a need for most, if not all, ACSYS activities to be carried into CliC in one form or another.

The ACSYS/CliC SSG-1 stated, in particular, that at the present time we are far from being able to monitor the total sea-ice volume of the Northern Hemisphere and its variations. In the absence of effective satellite-based techniques, which are well into the future, this remains a logistically daunting and expensive challenge. Because of its concentration on the centr