WESTERN ARCTIC PROJECT
In recent years L. Codispoti’s group has been heavily involved with the Western Arctic Shelf Basin Interactions Project (SBI). This project is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Arctic System Science Program which, in turn, is focused on how the Arctic may cause global change and be altered by global change. During recent years there has been a significant decrease in the Arctic Ocean’s ice cover, etc., and there is great concern over the magnitude of changes that have been observed in the Arctic during the last ~ 2 decades .
A photo of the research ice-breaker U.S.C.G.C. Healy
during the spring 2002 SBI cruise.
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Geographic Features in the SBI Study Region and
the location of sections (in red) where work was concentrated
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In Recent Years, the ice-extent in the Arctic and the ice thickness have been decreasing significantly, consistent with some predictions that the most obvious signs of greenhouse warming are likely to show up first in the Arctic. In addition during 2004, there was a strong push of warm water into the Arctic from the Adjacent Bering Sea, probably as a consequence of decadal scale variability
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Artic Ice Cover 1980-2000 (dark pink) vs Sept. 2003 (lilac)
Data from NOAA
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Artic Ice Cover 1980-2000 (dark pink) vs Sept. 2004 (lilac) |
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