Apr 22 2004
From The Space Library
NASA researchers discovered a previously unknown property of Arctic sea ice, challenging conventional models of climate change that had incorporated data on Arctic sea ice. A group of scientists led by Ronald Kwok of NASA's JPL had used satellite data from Canada's RADARSAT and NASA's ICESat to examine changes in Arctic sea ice. In the past, scientists had tended to examine data from ocean buoys to determine changes in Arctic sea ice, rather than using satellite data. The NASA researchers had discovered that, during 12-hour intervals, Arctic sea ice makes subtle, back-and-forth motions, which result in approximately 20 percent of ice growth during the Arctic winter. Although conventional models of the dynamics of Arctic sea ice had incorporated data regarding the ice's motion, those models had not incorporated ice motion occurring during such brief periods and, thus, may have inaccurately simulated large-scale changes in the ice and underestimated the production of Arctic sea ice. (NASA, “NASA Arctic Sea Ice Study May Stir Up Climate Models,” news release 04-132, 22 April 2004; Ronald Kwok, H. Jay Zwally, and Donghui Yi, “ICESat Observations of Arctic Sea Ice: A First Look,” Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 16 (18 August 2004): L16401-L16405.
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