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Arctic Ocean sea ice and ocean Circulation using Satellite Methods
SATICE, is the first high-rate, high-precision positioning experiment on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. SATICE is consisting of an array of five polar GPS buoys operating simultaneously. Each buoy collects continuous GPS data while drifting on sea ice. Data from each buoy is streamed over a satellite link to a central computer on the Internet in near real time, where they are processed to estimate the time-varying buoy positions. SATICE positioning goal is sub-hourly, subdecimeter precision in three dimensions over buoy separations spanning from intra-floe to pan-Arctic scales. In August 2011 the first two SATICE buoys were deployed during the Araon cruise in the Chukchi sea one year later in August 2012, two more SATICE buoys were deployed in the Arctic Ocean during the 2012 Araon cruise. SATICE scientific goals are to estimate:
● spatio-temporal variations of ocean tides in the Arctic Ocean ● sea-ice freeboard heights ● ice thickness ● ice mass balance ● ocean dynamic topography ● ocean circulation ● freshwater storage ● Cal/Val ESA's Cryosat-2 measurements It is crucial to monitor these ice and ocean parameters to improve our understanding of the key thermodynamic and dynamic processes that drive the Arctic climate change. These estimates will be used to improve coupled ice-ocean-atmospheric models and Arctic Ocean tide models. using in-situ, high-precision GPS observations of sea-ice motions, satellite-based radar and lidar sea-ice altimetry, and satellite gravity. Buoy layout
The sea level and the snow depth measurements together with the pre-determined length of the pipe are necessary to be able to calculate the freeboard.
Location of SATICE buoy SI04
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Image taken by SATICE buoy 4, September 14, 2012, 00:30 UTC
SI04 position on July 9, 2013 and ocean track since the deployment in August 2012. The satellite image is taken by MODIS.
News
11 August 2014 - SI05 deployed New SATICE buoy deployed at about 77.4 N and 146.2 W, in the Beaufort/Chukchi Sea region of the Arctic Ocean, thanks to KOPRI. Sister SI04 is within 300 km. 10 June 2014 - SI04 still alive Still receiving a once-daily message, currently at 80.36N, 123.57W, not far from a region by the Canadian Queen Elisabeth Islands know as the Sever Spur. Dying to recover it, should it become within reach of Araon 2014 cruise to the Beaufort Sea. 24 November 2013 - Silence from SI04 SI04 power went into winter-save mode after 1 year and 3 months (468 days) of uninterrupted operations on the ice, collecting continuous high-precision GPS data. The buoy managed to travel 4500 km since deployment. Once-daily communications still on, and counting. 14 August 2013 - SI04 one year on the ice SI04 has now been one year on the ice, traveled over 3700 km, and collected and transmitted over 0.5 GB of data thru Iridium without losing one single bit. 12 July 2013 - Palindromic SI04, 333 days Drifting towards the Beaufort, positive temperatures, melting from above, not yet from below, charging batteries, all healthy and committed to continue, if Nature cooperates. 9 June 2013 - SI04 300 days on the ice! 300 days on the ice, traveled over 3000 km, 100% data success rate. Ocean track can be found here. 23 March 2013 - Happy Spring SI04 Celebrating her 222 days on the ice, SI04 is happy, it's already Spring. 3 February 2013 - End of the polar night SI04 captures the first glimpse of (twi)light after 91 days in complete darkness. Good morning Sun! 1 January 2013 - Happy new year SI04! More than 4 months on the ice and almost 1800 km traveled, SI04 is still doing a fantastic job. 21 December 2012 - SI03 lost Unfortunately SI03 was lost on December 21. The buoy is still sending out messages through its backup system telling us that no power is coming in from the main battery banks. 22 November 2012 - 100 days on the ice! The two systems have now been 100 days on the Arctic sea ice. In total they have traveled about 1500 km. Ocean track can be found here. 15 October 2012 - Buoy status See the current status of the buoys here. 13 October 2012 - Two months on the ice! On August 13-14, 2012 SATICE buoy 3 and 4 were successfully deployed on a flow in the Arctic ocean. Today, October 13, they became two months old. 14 August 2012 - SATICE buoys 3 and 4 deployed SATICE buoy 3 and 4 were successfully deployed during the Araon cruise on August 14. See deployment 2012. August, 2011 - SATICE buoys 1 and 2 deployed More info under deployment 2011. |
