Andrew Yee[_1_]
November 10th 07, 01:57 AM
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
26 October 2007
Less Arctic ice means higher risks, experts warn
The International Ice Charting Working Group predicts more marine
transportation in the Arctic as sea ice continues to diminish and warns of
"significant hazards to navigation," according to a statement released
yesterday.
The statement was released during a five-day conference held at ESRIN, ESA's
Earth Observation Centre in Frascati, Italy, in which operational ice
experts from Europe and North America gathered to discuss the state of the
polar regions.
"In September 2007, the Arctic sea ice reached the minimum extent -- the
lowest amount of ice recorded in the area annually -- in the history of ice
charting based on satellite, aircraft and surface observations, continuing a
recent trend of diminishing sea ice that began in the 1980s and has
accelerated. While there will still be natural inter-annual variability, the
decline is likely to continue," the statement reads.
"The Arctic is already experiencing an increase in shipping, primarily for
oil and gas development and tourism, and we can expect to see further
increases as diminishing ice extent makes Arctic marine transportation more
viable. The International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) cautions that
sea ice and icebergs will continue to present significant hazards to
navigation for the foreseeable future."
Satellites for monitoring, modelling
During the last 25 years, satellites have been observing the Arctic and have
witnessed reductions in the minimum ice extent at the end of summer from
around 8 million km2 in the early 1980s to the historic minimum of less than
4.24 million km2 in 2007, as observed in September by ESA's Envisat
satellite. The previous record low, as observed by Envisat and the EOS Aqua
satellite, was in 2005 when the minimum ice extent was 5.5 million km2.
"We have been very lucky to have had the capability to monitor the polar
regions with satellites since the 1970s because it has allowed us to fully
capture the trend," Dr Pablo Clemente-Col, Chief Scientist at the US
National Ice Center and International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG)
member, said. "Furthermore, because of satellite monitoring we will be able
-- with a high-degree of precision -- to indicate if the trend is reversing,
continuing or worsening."
The reduction in the sea ice extent has been much faster than global climate
models predict. According to Douglas Bancroft, Director of the Canadian Ice
Service, the record reduction in 2007 stunned the international operational
ice charting community: "The overall extent was similar to what some of the
models envisioned but decades in advance of when they expected that would
occur. In fact, the summer of 2007 looked very similar to some climate model
forecasts for 2030 to 2050."
Helge Tangen, Regional Director of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute,
says satellite data are also important for continually updating models. "We
are now making more sophisticated models forecasting the ice in the short
range. Analysts use the satellite-derived data and put that into the models,
which gives them a very good start compared to what we had before."
Satellites for ice services
"With the introduction of space-based systems designed specifically for
remote sensing of ice, it is clear that satellites are now the backbone of
ice services around the world," Bancroft said. "We primary rely on active
radar satellite instruments operating at C-band, such as the Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) aboard Canada's RADARSAT-1 and the Advanced Synthetic
Aperture Radar (ASAR) aboard ESA's Envisat."
The continuity of these missions, as represented by the forthcoming launches
of RADARSAT-2 and the series of GMES Sentinel satellites being developed by
ESA, is essential to maintaining operational ice services in the immediate
future, Bancroft said.
GMES (the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) responds to
Europe's needs for geo-spatial information services by bringing together the
capacity of Europe to collect and manage data and information on the
environment and civil security, for the benefit of European citizens.
As the main partner to the European Commission in GMES, ESA is the
implementing agency for the GMES Space Component, which will fulfil the
space-based observation requirements in response to European policy
priorities. The Sentinel missions are the first space missions explicitly
conceived to meet the GMES service requirements.
In 2009, ESA will make another significant contribution to polar region
research with the launch of CryoSat-2, the agency's Earth Explorer ice
mission. The observations made over the three-year lifetime of the mission
will provide conclusive evidence on the rates at which ice cover is
diminishing.
[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVLJVH48F_index_1.html ]
http://www.esa.int
26 October 2007
Less Arctic ice means higher risks, experts warn
The International Ice Charting Working Group predicts more marine
transportation in the Arctic as sea ice continues to diminish and warns of
"significant hazards to navigation," according to a statement released
yesterday.
The statement was released during a five-day conference held at ESRIN, ESA's
Earth Observation Centre in Frascati, Italy, in which operational ice
experts from Europe and North America gathered to discuss the state of the
polar regions.
"In September 2007, the Arctic sea ice reached the minimum extent -- the
lowest amount of ice recorded in the area annually -- in the history of ice
charting based on satellite, aircraft and surface observations, continuing a
recent trend of diminishing sea ice that began in the 1980s and has
accelerated. While there will still be natural inter-annual variability, the
decline is likely to continue," the statement reads.
"The Arctic is already experiencing an increase in shipping, primarily for
oil and gas development and tourism, and we can expect to see further
increases as diminishing ice extent makes Arctic marine transportation more
viable. The International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) cautions that
sea ice and icebergs will continue to present significant hazards to
navigation for the foreseeable future."
Satellites for monitoring, modelling
During the last 25 years, satellites have been observing the Arctic and have
witnessed reductions in the minimum ice extent at the end of summer from
around 8 million km2 in the early 1980s to the historic minimum of less than
4.24 million km2 in 2007, as observed in September by ESA's Envisat
satellite. The previous record low, as observed by Envisat and the EOS Aqua
satellite, was in 2005 when the minimum ice extent was 5.5 million km2.
"We have been very lucky to have had the capability to monitor the polar
regions with satellites since the 1970s because it has allowed us to fully
capture the trend," Dr Pablo Clemente-Col, Chief Scientist at the US
National Ice Center and International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG)
member, said. "Furthermore, because of satellite monitoring we will be able
-- with a high-degree of precision -- to indicate if the trend is reversing,
continuing or worsening."
The reduction in the sea ice extent has been much faster than global climate
models predict. According to Douglas Bancroft, Director of the Canadian Ice
Service, the record reduction in 2007 stunned the international operational
ice charting community: "The overall extent was similar to what some of the
models envisioned but decades in advance of when they expected that would
occur. In fact, the summer of 2007 looked very similar to some climate model
forecasts for 2030 to 2050."
Helge Tangen, Regional Director of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute,
says satellite data are also important for continually updating models. "We
are now making more sophisticated models forecasting the ice in the short
range. Analysts use the satellite-derived data and put that into the models,
which gives them a very good start compared to what we had before."
Satellites for ice services
"With the introduction of space-based systems designed specifically for
remote sensing of ice, it is clear that satellites are now the backbone of
ice services around the world," Bancroft said. "We primary rely on active
radar satellite instruments operating at C-band, such as the Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) aboard Canada's RADARSAT-1 and the Advanced Synthetic
Aperture Radar (ASAR) aboard ESA's Envisat."
The continuity of these missions, as represented by the forthcoming launches
of RADARSAT-2 and the series of GMES Sentinel satellites being developed by
ESA, is essential to maintaining operational ice services in the immediate
future, Bancroft said.
GMES (the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) responds to
Europe's needs for geo-spatial information services by bringing together the
capacity of Europe to collect and manage data and information on the
environment and civil security, for the benefit of European citizens.
As the main partner to the European Commission in GMES, ESA is the
implementing agency for the GMES Space Component, which will fulfil the
space-based observation requirements in response to European policy
priorities. The Sentinel missions are the first space missions explicitly
conceived to meet the GMES service requirements.
In 2009, ESA will make another significant contribution to polar region
research with the launch of CryoSat-2, the agency's Earth Explorer ice
mission. The observations made over the three-year lifetime of the mission
will provide conclusive evidence on the rates at which ice cover is
diminishing.
[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVLJVH48F_index_1.html ]