Minutes of the

Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Participants of the

International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP)

Hosted by

Marine Environmental Data Service (MEDS)

Ottawa, CANADA
10 – 12 June 2002

PDF (Printer Friendly Version - Need Adobe Acrobat)

1.0 Opening of the Meeting

The twelfth annual meeting of the Participants of the IABP opened at 9:00 on 10 June 2002 in Ottawa, Canada. The Chairman of the IABP, Timothy Goos (TG), called the meeting to order. Wendy Watson-Wright, Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of Science, Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Canada, welcomed meeting attendees. She gave an overview of DFO activities and acknowledged the contributions of the IABP in monitoring the Arctic Basin. The notes for this overview can be obtained from http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/Opening.ppt.

Estelle Couture (EC) provided logistical information for the meeting.

The list of Attendees is shown in Attachment 1.

2.0 Agenda Approval

The draft was reviewed, amended and approved (Attachment 2).

3.0 Review Minutes and Action Items from Eleventh Meeting

Action Items (Actions taken are shown in italics):

3.1 Participants were requested to provide final comments on the Minutes of IABP-11 by 22 June 2001. The Executive will approve the final minutes by 31 July 2001.

Completed.

3.2 Participants were requested to review the IABP web site to:

· Identify errors, omissions, etc.

· Provide advice and comments on recommended improvements.

Ongoing.

3.3 Participants were requested to review the IABP CD and send comments to E. Couture.

Ongoing.

3.4 The Chair will send a letter to MEDS recognizing the CD as a significant contribution to the IABP.

A letter and plaque acknowledging these contributions were sent to MEDS.

3.5 The Coordinator will contact the owners of buoys with incorrect GTS headers and suggest corrections.

Ongoing. This item should be considered for addition to the Terms of Reference for the Coordinator of the IABP.

3.6 The Coordinator will provide information on deployment opportunities in the Arctic to the DBCP Technical Coordinator for inclusion in the JCOMMOPS deployment opportunities web page. The Coordinator will also add a link on the IABP web pages to this web page.

Ongoing. This item should be considered for addition to the Terms of Reference for the Coordinator of the IABP.

3.7 The Coordinator will request that the owners of position only buoy observations to post their data on the GTS.

Ongoing.

3.8 The Coordinator will contact the buoy manufacturers and owners to investigate the use of the Argos frequency outside of the central bandwidth to take advantage of the 10% discount and better data reception.

Ongoing. Although this discount has been withdrawn, users are encouraged to use this bandwidth to avoid data dropouts.

3.9 MEDS will investigate the feasibility of participating in the DBCP Buoy-QC Guidelines as a center responsible for quality control of position data distributed on the GTS (Item 10.1).

Completed. At the DBCP-17, MEDS agreed to participate as a Principal Meteorological or Oceanographic Center responsible for quality control of GTS buoy data (PMOC) for location data.

3.10 Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) will investigate the feasibility of participating in the DBCP QC guidelines as a center responsible for the quality control of GTS buoy data in the Arctic.

Incomplete. The MSC agreed to investigate their participation in the DBCP QC guidelines to assure the quality of data for the IABP buoys.

3.11 MSC in collaboration with MEDS will investigate the quality of the position data on SSVX02-CWEG.

Ongoing.

3.12 The DBCP Technical Coordinator will write a letter to MEDS regarding the location quality flag issue.

Completed.

4.0 Coordinator's Report

Ignatius Rigor reported on: 1.) the status of the buoy array, 2.) deployment plans and opportunities, and 3.) the progress of data management and publications related to the IABP.

The Coordinator’s report is given in Attachment 3, and is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/Coord.ppt.

Discussion

Etienne M. Charpentier (EMC) recommended maintaining a deployment log for the IABP. It was noted that this information is published in the annual buoy reports and will be made available on the web.

Ed T. Hudson (ETH) asked if the Argos ids on the buoy map that overlap could be separated.

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

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

EMC identified two items that he wanted the IABP to consider participation in:

1.) Cataloging metadata on buoys, and

2.) Evaluation sub-group.

This report is given in Attachment 4.

Discussion

Participants discussed the Metadata working group of the DBCP. This group is producing a general manufacturer’s specification sheet in order to collect consistent metadata from manufacturers about their buoys. Participants agreed that IR would be the IABP representative to this working group.

Participants discussed the work of the DBCP Evaluation sub-group and the opportunity for the Programme to participate. It was noted that errors in the reporting position of buoys was one of the issues the evaluation group is considering. Participants agreed that the IABP would collaborate with the sub-group concerning the issue of errors in position noted for IABP buoys. Participants agreed that EC would be the IABP representative to this sub-group.

Participants discussed the apparent errors in position of buoys in messages on the GTS from the Edmonton LUT. Participants recommended that the MSC investigate the cause of the issue and implement appropriate processes to quality control these positions. Participants also recommended the Edmonton LUT use the location flag (in buoy code) to indicate the accuracy of the position of the buoy. MSC agreed to conduct this investigation.

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

IR reported that our membership has not changed during the past year. We officially list 24 Participants from 10 different countries, and one international organization, the WCRP (Attachment 1).

IR also reported that he has contacted Dr. Burghard Bruemmer (Met. Institute, U. Hamburg), who deployed 12 buoys in Fram Strait about joining the IABP.

The list of Participants is shown in Attachment 5.

Discussion

Vladimir Ryabinin (VR) asked if the IABP should have a paper or presentation at the 2003 Arctic Science Summit Week in Kiruna, Sweden. It was noted that Roger Colony (RC), Sergey Priamikov (SP) and VR might attend and be able to represent the IABP. TG suggested that a standardized IABP PowerPoint presentation be prepared for participants to use for such occasions, in addition to updated brochures, handouts, or posters.

It was agreed that IR would contact the inactive participants regarding their participation in the IABP.

7.0 Presentations

7.1 T. Agnew

7.1.1 Loss of Decades old sea-ice plugs in the Canadian Queen Elizabeth Islands

Sverdrup Channel and Nansen Sound, along the northwestern coastline of the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) in the Canadian High Arctic, have been blocked by sea ice plugs for several decades. These plugs constitute some of the oldest sea ice in the northern hemisphere and they block these northern channels from intrusions of sea ice from the Arctic Ocean. During the record minimum sea ice cover in the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) in the summer of 1998, both these ice plugs were dislodged and removed from the Queen Elizabeth Islands. The last time this occurred was during another record minimum summer ice cover in 1962. Despite the exceptionally low sea-ice cover in 1998, reconstruction of a 38-year record of minimum sea ice extent from weekly Canadian sea ice charts shows no long term trend to less sea ice in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. Ice conditions for the summers of 1999 and 2000 suggest a return to normal ice conditions in the QEI and reformation of the ice plugs. The absence of any long term trend in sea ice extent and the recovery to normal sea ice conditions in 1999 and 2000 is consistent with large scale sea ice dynamics and atmospheric circulation which on average continuously forces the Arctic ice pack up against the northern coastline of the QEI. It is also consistent with differences in the trends in sea ice cover and length of the melt season between the eastern and western Arctic found in other studies.

This presentation can be viewed at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/Agnew.ppt.

7.1.2 The passive microwave sea ice concentration record - how reliable is it?'

The recent digitization of Canadian and US sea ice charts has produced an easily accessible and valuable record of sea ice conditions over the northern hemisphere over the last 30-years. An analysis of ice type of information that can be obtained is shown. One interesting result is that the East Coast of Canada has the highest proportion of new and young sea ice types of any Canadian region. This is related to the sea ice regime on the East Coast where sea ice advances unconstrained on its eastern and southern edge opening up the sea ice cover and accelerating surface sea ice formation. This record is compared to the passive microwave sea ice concentration record over the last 20 years. Results of the comparison using the NASA Team algorithm over the 1979 to 1996 period demonstrates the consistency with which sea ice concentration and sea ice area is underestimated during summer melt and fall freeze-up conditions. This underestimation is considerably larger than previous comparisons using satellite remotely sensed data.

7.2 Scalable Maps of Arctic – C. Schock

At the IABP-10 meeting in Alaska, MEDS was asked to enhance their Arctic maps to show more information about each buoy such as WMO id, Argos id, etc. In response, MEDS created a new application to view arctic buoys. This application is based on SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), a new graphics file format, based on XML, that describes 2D graphics in the form of shapes (e.g., paths consisting of straight lines and curves), images and text. SVG has built in zoom and pan capabilities with no loss in quality on resizing. It follows the DOM (Document Object Model), which can allow for interactive and dynamic applications/graphics. SVG is text-based, created from predefined tags similar to HTML and so can easily be created using any text editor. Other programs are becoming available that give an interface to creating SVG files (ex. Jasc Webdraw) as well as some that can export SVG (ex. Adobe Illustrator). At present, SVG requires a viewer to see SVG files. MEDS used the Adobe SVG Viewer, which is a free download available on the Adobe website. In the future, browsers may have built in SVG support. SVG is quite new and became a web standard in September 2001 by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).

The MEDS application shows arctic buoy tracks for the current month and uses javascript and the DOM to give the user an interactive experience. They can click and drag to select an area to zoom in to, or use other zoom in/out buttons, and up/down/left/right pan buttons to adjust their view. A reset to original view is also available. A data table to the right of the map is filled in with metadata taken from table.txt on the IABP website whenever users mouseover a buoy track. Clicking the track will link them to another page with the data for that buoy. At this time, the application is only viewable to Internet Explorer users and will be made available to the public through the MEDS website by the end of June 2002 in both official languages.

This presentation can be viewed at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/Schock.ppt.

7.3 The State of the Canadian Arctic Cryosphere during the Extreme Warm Summer of 1998 – B. Alt

The presentation provided an overview of The State of the Canadian Arctic Cryosphere during the Extreme Warm Summer of 1998. The complete paper can be accessed via http://www.socc.uwaterloo.ca/ . The presentation then focused on a few interesting things with respect to ice in the Canadian Arctic islands.

1998 was the warmest year on record in Canada (and globally) with particularly pronounced warming anomalies located over the Canadian Arctic in the spring and fall seasons. This warming had major implications for snow, ice and permafrost (the "cryosphere") in the north e.g. open water formed earlier than had been previously observed, sea ice extent in the Canadian Arctic in September was 25% less than the previous recorded minimum, and there were above normal glacier ablation, snow melt and active layer development. The aim of this project was to carry out a detailed assessment of the response of the Arctic cryosphere to this warming event, to place this event in the context of the known climate variability over the last 3-4 decades, and to understand how some of the observed changes interact with the Arctic climate system.

The summer of 1998 was characterized by a warm southerly flow accompanying a strong surface pressure ridge over western North America which extended across the Mackenzie Delta and the Canadian Arctic Islands to Greenland. These conditions have been linked to the strong El Niño of 1997/1998 by a number of researchers. The above-normal temperatures resulted in rapid retreat of the snow line across North America in April, May and June, and an amplification of the initial warming. The warming was associated with earlier thaw of the "active layer" (the soil layer above permafrost which thaws in the summer) in the Mackenzie Delta region, early snow free conditions in the high arctic, early break-up of lake ice particularly in north-eastern Canada, early and extensive clearing of Beaufort Sea ice, relatively early sea ice break-up in the Arctic Islands and Hudson Bay and early initiation of melt on ice caps in the Arctic Islands. Temperatures remained above normal during the summer in all regions, although in parts of the eastern Arctic conditions were not extreme. The most notable feature of the summer of 1998, however, was the extended period of warmth into the fall season, particularly in the Arctic Islands. This resulted in an exceptionally long melt season, greater thaw penetration (12 cm greater than previously recorded) and probable ice wedge melt in the Mackenzie Delta. The large amount of thawing of the surface layer was associated with surface slides and slumps ("active layer detachments") along the Beaufort Sea coast and in northern Ellesmere Island. The extended fall warming also led to a record late start to the snow cover season over the eastern Arctic, late freeze-up of lakes, the latest recorded date (and extreme percent) of maximum open water in the High Arctic Islands and an extended glacier melt season in the western and south-eastern High Arctic. Synthesis and analysis of 30 to 40 year time-series of climate and cryosphere variables revealed other summers that were comparable to 1998 in terms of melt intensity (particularly 1962, and for various regions and components 1981, 1971, 1988 and 1995). However, the length of the melt season of 1998 appears to unique in the available cryospheric record.

A number of lag-effects were noted in the study. For example, in the west,

the warmth of the 1997/1998 winter and preceding summer (1997) was a major factor in the early sea ice break-up and ground thaw during the spring of 1998, while in the spring of 1999, lake ice broke-up early due to late freeze-up in the summer of 1998. Similarly in the High Arctic, the extensive open water at the close of the summer of 1998 allowed early break-up in 1999 and 2000. The long-term records showed that it takes 2-5 years for the sea ice regime to regain previous coverage after an extreme season. In the north-eastern High Arctic, the summer of 1999 was in fact even warmer than 1998. There are some indications that the distinctive atmospheric circulation conditions (positive AO) which characterized the period from about 1988 may actually have begun to reverse by 1998. In general the 1990 decade showed warming in the western Arctic culminating in the warm summer of 1998, while in the east, several very cold summers during the decade made the conditions of 1998 and 1999 stand out against the general lack of long term warming in the region. It was evident from the study that an extreme season, though it provides many valuable insights into the interactions of climate and the cryosphere, cannot be studied in isolation.

Another important finding of the study was the critical role that individual synoptic events have on the high Arctic cryosphere's response to warming. For example, a strong southerly wind event was responsible for breaking the last of the Nansen plug and for dislodging the Sverdrup plug, and an early snowfall event shut down melt on some of the glaciers and ice caps in the Queen Elizabeth Islands.

This study was the first time the Canadian scientific community has been charged with taking an integrated look at the response of the Arctic cryosphere to warming. This culminated in a special 1-day "Summer of 1998" workshop in Edmonton on February 11, 2001 with important exchanges of information and ideas. A number of areas for follow-on work were identified as a result of this study. These include: studying the frequency of critical synoptic events that have a major impact the northern cryosphere; differing regional responses; and the role of large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns such as the Arctic Oscillation.

This presentation can be viewed at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/Alt.ppt.

7.4 Operational Monitoring of First Year Sea Ice Strength at the Canadian Ice Service – R. DeAbreu

The Canadian Ice Service is now providing a new chart describing the seasonal decrease in first year sea ice strength. First year ice strength is an important control on the break-up of sea ice and the ability of ships to work in and around ice. The prototype Ice Strength Chart regularly reports on the strength of un-deformed first year ice relative to its mid-winter strength and should be used in conjunction with Arctic Regional Charts. The Ice Strength Chart also reports on the condition of the ice surface by estimating the Stages of Melt. The chart utilizes a relationship between air temperature data and ice strength. The chart was developed in, and is currently being validated for, the approaches to Resolute area (Lancaster Sound).

This presentation can be viewed at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/DeAbreu.ppt.

7.5 Marine Remote Sensing Data Applications Development at the Canadian Ice Service – D. Flett

The Canadian Ice Service (CIS) is the Canadian government organization mandated to provide information on ice conditions to mariners operating in Canadian ice-infested waters. In order to monitor such a vast area over the entire annual cycle of ice formation and break-up, the CIS relies heavily on remote sensing systems to provide the data necessary to generate ice information products. The CIS uses data from a variety of remote sensing sources including optical and passive and active microwave satellites, and airborne remote sensing platforms. These data are received and processed at the CIS in near real-time and integrated and analysed by expert analysts and forecasters in conjunction with surface observations, environmental data (met, ocean, etc.), and model outputs. In the past 10 years, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has become the primary data source upon which the CIS relies to monitor ice conditions. This started in 1990 with a contracted dual-sided airborne SAR service which was replaced in the early to mid-1990's with satellite SAR data, notably from the ERS satellites and starting in 1996 with RADARSAT. The CIS has developed several products and applications over the last 10 years using these various remote sensing data sources directed primarily at enhancing the use of the data for our internal Operations clients. A few examples include: ice motion tracking, lake/sea

surface temperature products, image data fusion methods, integration of new data sources into Operations (e.g. QuikScat), monitoring ice decay and break-up, and R&D for future multiple polarization SAR sensors.

Two applications development projects are highlighted in more detail: Iceberg Detection using SAR and Marine Winds Information from SAR. The CIS has had an ongoing Panel on Energy R&D (PERD) funded project the last 3 years to investigate the potential of and operationally integrate the used of satellite SAR for our operational iceberg monitoring program. Field validation programs have been carried out during the iceberg seasons to establish the capabilities and limitations of detecting icebergs from RADARSAT. Manual methods for extracting potential iceberg targets and automated algorithms are currently being implemented in our operational environment and will be further tested and evaluated in the years to come, particularly with new systems becoming available, such as Envisat and RADARSAT-2. A second project with funding from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has been under way the last 2 years demonstrating the potential of extracting marine wind information from satellite SAR data as an additional information source for marine weather forecasting. An infrastructure for extracting marine winds information from the CIS operational RADARSAT data stream and delivery of image and wind products to 3 participating weather centres has been established. Initial results from this project are encouraging and the weather centres have been generally quite positive in their feedback. Further demonstrations are planned for summer 2002 and winter 2003.

In summary, the CIS is a true operational user of remote sensing data and prides itself on being a showcase example. In the future we intend to focus on improving the use of existing and new remote sensing data sources, expanding our remote sensing products and applications development, and working towards the assimilation of remote sensing observations into ice and marine environmental models.

This presentation can be viewed at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-12/Flett.ppt.

7.6