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The sea ice research group is part of the Climate Variability and Change group within the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, and the Ice oceans atmospheres and climate program of the AAD. Both physical and biological processes in Antarctic sea ice are investigated within the group.
Introduction to sea ice
Sea ice is frozen seawater. It forms when the surface layer of the ocean becomes cold enough to freeze, not to be confused with icebergs, which have their origin in land glaciers.
In the southern ocean, a vast area of sea ice forms and melts every year. In the Southern hemisphere winter, sea ice covers up to 19 million square kilometres of the southern ocean. Over this area, exchange of energy and gases between the ocean and atmosphere is controlled by the extent, concentration and thickness of the sea ice cover. Antarctic sea ice also plays a role in oceanic circulation, and is host to an immense biological system
The list below is a brief snapshot of the research activities of the sea ice group
- Estimating the thickness of Antarctic sea ice
- Investigating ice motion and ocean/atmosphere/ice energy exchange
- Deriving physical properties of sea ice from remote sensing products
- Validation of satellite-based remote sensing products
- Investigation of trace elements in sea ice
Whats happening to Antarctic sea ice?
Clicking on any of the graphs along the top of this page will take you to web pages where you can explore some sea ice observations made by satellites from several years back to the present time. Note that all of these plots examine the area, concentration or extent of sea ice, but not the total volume. Deriving estimates of Antarctic sea ice thickness, and hence volume, is a current major focus of this research group, since the total volume of ice that forms and melts in the ocean is a major contributor to global climate systems. For those interested in why Antarctic sea ice might not behave the same as Arctic sea ice, Phil Reid's meteorology pages have a great discussion of the forces at play.
Laser scanner notes
Background and operation of our airborne LiDAR system.
SIPEX in Google Earth
A virtual reference tool for the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment 2007. Keep track of what happened where, and when using this amazing tool for science communication and visualisation.
MODIS users group
A brand new initiative to share some tools for working with MODIS products.
SIPEX 2007
The Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment 2007 is due to sail on 5 September. Follow the voyage for its six week duration at the SIPEX site, linked above.
ASPeCt
Antarctic Sea ice Processes and Climate - an international collaboration for opportunistic Antarctic sea ice data collection.
The rest
The sea ice group at work...