Development of Improved and Verified GCM Atmospheric Ice Radiation and Microphysics Parameterizations Using SHEBA data

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is part of an integrated set of proposals for the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) Ocean project. The goal of the current phase of the SHEBA project is to use data collected during a one year experiment during which an icebreaker frozen into the ice pack of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas was used as a platform for data collection. A full annual cycle of data relating to feedbacks of the ocean-ice-atmosphere system was collected and will be used to improve model parameterizations of sea ice response to global warming. This project will utilize aircraft data to examine the role of ice crystal size/shape on the heat radiation properties in the cloud-radiation feedback component of the heat balance. New parameritizations of cloud-radiation feedbacks will be very important in determining overall heat balance. The activities of this project are an essential effort to enhance the outcome of the SHEBA research projects designed to improve column, mesoscale and General Circulation Models (GCMs) that facilitate better simulations of the Arctic sea ice response to projected global warming trends.