Exploring the inter-connections and processes at the critical boundary zone of land and sea ice
Arctic Extremes (ARCTEX) aims to advance the current state of knowledge on how extreme events in the Arctic impact the interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice and land ice. More broadly, enhancing our understanding of the processes and interactions in the critical zone between sea ice and land ice is essential for predicting and mitigating the impacts of climate change in the Arctic region. Studying these interactions can provide valuable insights into the feedback mechanisms, vulnerabilities, and changes occurring in the Arctic environment, ultimately aiding in the development of effective adaptation and management strategies.
POLAR SCIENCE CLUSTER
ARCTEX was funded under a European Space Agency (ESA) Polar Science Cluster call aimed at investigating the integrated Arctic system through an innovative approach. Other relevant projects under the same call include:
The project will investigate and evaluate these processes and extreme events through detailed studies focusing on three of the most important marine-affected glaciers and ice caps in the rapidly changing Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean, which will act as the project's science cases.
Impact of extreme environmental effects in the polar regions
The occurrence and severity of extreme environmental events have increased in recent decades with extreme weather and climate events already occurring with ever greater frequency and magnitude. While remote, the Polar regions and the change that takes place there has a major impact on weather and climate patterns globally, due to the teleconnection of Earth systems across the globe. Studies suggest that it is now virtually certain that extreme events in the Polar regions will be more severe and impactful than those previously observed, making it critically important that we document these extreme changes and understand the physical processes driving them. Understanding the nature, dynamics and impacts of these extreme events in the Arctic requires an integrated approach. This is because the Arctic is, by nature, an integrated and highly connected system; governed by complex interactions and teleconnections between land and sea ice, the ocean and atmosphere.
Extreme events in the Arctic can have far-reaching effects on weather patterns and climate variability in other regions of the world. An improved understanding of the mechanism driving these events can help improve weather and climate prediction models, leading to better forecasts and early warnings for extreme weather events globally. Extreme events can happen on different spatial and temporal scales, which require an integrated methodological approach for resolving the critical "gap" zones between EO datasets to gain further process-based insights into the nature and dynamics of the Arctic climate interactions.
Bringing together the remote sensing communities of land ice and sea ice
ARCTEX will, in a coordinated manner, bring together the EO-communities of land ice and sea ice to co-develop datasets targeted at the complex interactions occurring during extreme events at the interfaces of these domains to better understand their implications for the global climate dynamics. Within ARCTEX, we will integrate data, expertise, and methodologies from across these disciplines to produce much-needed data to support a comprehensive view of the complex interactions occurring between land and sea ice and develop effective strategies for addressing the grand challenges posed by climate change in polar regions.
Exploiting and expanding on the current EO-data portfolio
While time series have been created for existing essential climate variables, the temporal sampling of such climate data records is suboptimal for studying climate extremes occurring over short time scales and the inter-connected impacts related to these. A typical temporal sampling of the climate data records is annual or in the best case, monthly. Hence, existing datasets are not adequate for studying rapidly evolving extreme events taking place in a matter of weeks or even days. To accurately document changes associated with any extreme event, and in particular, to attribute cause and effect between different parameters, it is necessary to develop bespoke datasets to capture this shorter-term variability and their covariances. As the Arctic is vast, we concentrate our analysis on three science cases:
ARCTEX is centered around the following project activities:
SCIENTIFIC FOCUS
One of the main aims of the ARCTEX project is to deepen our understanding of the physical processes driving change in the polar regions by learning from the detailed scientific case studies on Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, Austfonna and Flade Isblink.
Each of the study cases has a particular focus points due to their location and surrounding conditions. You can read more about the scientific aim and each study case here.
TOOLS AND DATA
ARCTEX will develop novel methods to advance EO research, and generate products that will enhance our ability to observe and understand specific processes in the Arctic. Of particular focus is the teleconnections between the ice mélange characteristics with glacier buttressing, polynya formation and evolution with precipitation across ice caps, and sea ice conditions related to the stability of an ice cap.
An overview of the novel EO-based datasets to be/being produced within ARCTEX and the existing datasets to be utilised is available here.
