Author(s): Nataliya A. Marchenko
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: No keywords
Abstract: Information about sea ice distribution and movement is very important for planning and existing offshore infrastructure and safe navigation. Several agencies provide sea ice maps which show various ice categories. For the Barents Sea the main sources of information are the Polarview. met. no (http: //polarview. met. no/) portal by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the website of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (Russia) (www. aari. ru). The first site provides ice charts daily (except weekends and holidays), showing ice concentration. The second site shows ice types (nilas, first year ice, old ice and fast ice) every third day. All these maps are based on ice analysis from satellite imagery. But what does the ice look like in reality? There is always some uncertainty about ice state, especially in the marginal zone, on the limit of spreading. That’s why the observation of ice and ice chart analysis is valuable, especially in places where it can influence industrial and transportation activity. The western part of the Barents Sea is a region of increasing activity – oil and gas exploration may increase in addition to traditional fishing. During an expedition of the Arctic Technology Department of UNIS on the vessel MS Polarsyssel (22-30 April 2017), we crossed the “ice tongue” that stretches to Bear Island twice – once in the north and once in the south. On ice charts, this ice is shown as orange (7-9/10ths) and yellow (4-7/10ths). In the northern part, ice ridge morphology investigation, ice mechanical tests, and laser scanning of ice flows were performed at two sites. In the middle and southern part, time-lapse photography and films were used for comparison with ice chart information. These investigations provided a realistic characterization of sea ice in the region and are a valuable addition to the long-term studies of sea ice in the region.
Year: 2018