Award Abstract # 0901962
Seasons of Change in the Arctic Environment

NSF Org: OPP
Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
Recipient: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Initial Amendment Date: June 29, 2009
Latest Amendment Date: April 6, 2010
Award Number: 0901962
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Neil R. Swanberg
OPP
 Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: July 1, 2009
End Date: June 30, 2013 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $862,974.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $862,974.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2009 = $862,974.00
ARRA Amount: $862,974.00
History of Investigator:
  • Mark Serreze (Principal Investigator)
    serreze@kryos.colorado.edu
  • Tingjun Zhang (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Andrew Slater (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Oliver Frauenfeld (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Kevin Schaefer (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Colorado at Boulder
3100 MARINE ST
Boulder
CO  US  80309-0001
(303)492-6221
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: University of Colorado at Boulder
3100 MARINE ST
Boulder
CO  US  80309-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): SPVKK1RC2MZ3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): ARCSS-Arctic System Science
Primary Program Source: 01R00910DB RRA RECOVERY ACT
Program Reference Code(s): 0000, 6890, OTHR
Program Element Code(s): 521900
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.078

ABSTRACT

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

The Arctic system is strongly defined by its seasonality. The extreme annual cycle of solar radiation, interactions between the Arctic and lower latitudes, within-Arctic interactions between the land, ocean, and atmosphere, and the energetics of freeze and thaw, combine to lend a complexity and richness to Arctic seasonality not seen elsewhere on the planet. This seasonality is changing. Summer sea ice extent is declining, attended by strong autumn rises in air temperature over the Arctic Ocean. Active layer freeze-up in Siberia is occurring later in the winter. These and other emerging changes will become more prominent in coming decades, with impacts promising to cascade through the physical, chemical, biological, and socio-economic components of the system.

This research will identify the dominant climate forcings, feedbacks, and component linkages driving change in Arctic system seasonality, and they will shape the evolution of the system through the 21st century. This will require consideration of changes in global radiative forcing, energy and mass transports from lower latitudes into the Arctic, and between the land, ocean, and atmosphere within the Arctic, and how these influence the Arctic?s physical, chemical, and biological processes. A framework of passive versus active controls will help to organize the investigations. A passive control is the control by background warming. An example is how Arctic warming will lead to shorter seasonal duration of snow cover. An active control refers to altered seasonality driven by changes in energy or mass transports into the Arctic from lower latitudes or within the Arctic itself. An example is how reduced autumn sea-ice extent leads to warming over the ocean, which then, through regional atmospheric transport, may lead to warming over adjacent land. Changes in seasonality will likely often reflect both passive and active controls. Diagnostics such as seasonal anomaly structures, defined as the seasonal cycle of a state variable for a given year or years relative to the long-term climatology, will be used to evaluate how seasonality in different system elements has evolved through the instrumental record. These observational analyses will guide modeling experiments to examine the sensitivity of state variables to active and passive controls and how changing seasonality will shape the future of the system.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:  When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

(Showing: 1 - 10 of 32)
Cassano, E.N., J.J. Cassano, M.E. Higgins and M.C. Serreze "Atmospheric impacts of an Arctic sea ice minimum as seen in the Community Atmosphere Model" International Journal of Climatology , 2013 DOI: 10.1002/joc.3723
DeConto, R.M., S. Galeotti, M. Pagani, D. Tracy, K. Schaefer, T. Zhang, D. Pollard and D.J. Beerling "Past extreme warming events linked to massive carbon release from thawing permafrost" Nature , 2012 10.1038/nature10929
DeConto, R.M., S. Galeotti, M. Pagani, D. Tracy, K. Schaefer, T. Zhang, D. Pollard and D.J. Beerling "Past extreme warming events linked tomassive carbon release from thawing permafrost" Nature , 2012 10.1038/nature10929
Frauenfeld, O.W., and T.J. Zhang "An observational 71-year history of seasonally frozen ground changes in the Eurasian high latitudes" Environmental Research Letters , 2011 10.1088/1748-9326/6/4/044024
Frauenfeld, O.W., and T.J. Zhang "An observational 71-year history of seasonally frozen ground changes in the Eurasian high latitudes" Environmental Research Letters , 2011 10.1088/1748-9326/6/4/044024
Lawrence, D.M., K.W. Oleson, M.G. Flanne, P.E. Thornton, S.C. Swenson, P.J. Lawrence, X. Zeng, Z-L Yang, S. Levis, K. Sakaguch, G.B. Bonan, and A.G. Slater "Parameterization improvements and functional and structural advances in Version 4 of the Community Land Model" Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems , v.3 , 2011 , p.M03001 10.1029/2011MS000045
Lawrence, D.M., K.W. Oleson, M.G. Flanne, P.E. Thornton, S.C. Swenson, P.J. Lawrence, X. Zeng, Z-L Yang, S. Levis, K. Sakaguch, G.B. Bonan, and A.G. Slater "Parameterization improvements and functional and structural advances in Version 4 of the Community Land Model" Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems , v.3 , 2011 10.1029/2011MS000045
Liu, L., K. Schaefer, T. Zhang, and J. Wahr "Estimating 1992-2000 active layer thickness on the Alaskan North Slope from remotely sensed surface subsidence" Journal of Geophysical Research , 2011 10.1029/2011JF002041
Liu, L., K. Schaefer, T. Zhang, and J. Wahr "Estimating 1992-2000 active layer thickness on the Alaskan North Slope from remotely sensed surface subsidence" Journal of Geophysical Research , 2011 10.1029/2011JF002041
Porter, D.F., J.J. Cassano and M.C. Serreze "Local and large-scale atmospheric responses to reduced Arctic sea ice and ocean warming in the WRF model" Journal of Geophysical Research , v.117 , 2012 10.1029/2011JD016969
Porter, D.F., J.J. Cassano and M.C. Serreze "Local and large-scale atmospheric responses to reduced Arctic sea ice and ocean warming in theWRF model" Journal of Geophysical Research , v.117 , 2012 10.1029/2011JD016969
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 32)

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.

Print this page

Back to Top of page