Mass Balance: Chukchi
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Mass Balance: Chukchi |
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The first traces of new ice along Chukchi beach were seen on October 8, with old multiyear floes present along shore. By 3 November 2000 there was a band of new shorefast ice a few hundred meters wide. Sometime in late-November there was a break-off of shorefast ice between Barrow and NARL. Subsequently there was formation and thickening of a fast ice belt of several hundreds to >1000 m wide. There was a final break-off of shorefast ice between Barrow and NARL, and possibly further, during a storm on January 8, 2001. The Chukchi mass balance site, located on the Chukchi Sea, was initially located on snow-covered ice. The snow melted by early June. Towards the end of the observation period, the ice dynamics threatened to run the site aground, so it was removed. The site was equipped with four thickness gauges (30, 38, 44, 48) and a downward-looking acoustic sensor measuring the position of the surface. A thermistor string at this site measured vertical profiles of temperature. There were also hobo temperature sensors measuring temperatures at the base of the snow cover. |
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Chukchi Sea mass balance site during installation, February 2001. |
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