Tracy L. DeLiberty

Thickness distribution of Antarctic sea ice

[1] Ship-based observations are used to describe regional and seasonal changes in the thickness distribution and characteristics of sea ice and snow cover thickness around Antarctica. The data set comprises 23,373 observations collected over more than 2 decades of activity and has been compiled as part of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) program. The results show the seasonal progression of the ice thickness distribution for six regions around the continent together with statistics on the mean thickness, surface ridging, snow cover, and local variability for each region and season. A simple ridge model is used to calculate the total ice thickness from the observations of level ice and surface topography, to provide a best estimate of the total ice mass, including the ridged component. The long-term mean and standard deviation of total sea ice thickness (including ridges) is reported as 0.87 ± 0.91 m, which is 40% greater than the mean level ice thickness of 0.62 m. Analysis of the structure function along north/south and east/west transects revealed lag distances over which sea ice thickness decorrelates to be of the order of 100–300 km, which we use as a basis for presenting near-continuous maps of sea ice and snow cover thickness plotted on a 2.5 � 5.0 grid.

Soil moisture: A central and unifying theme in physical geography

Soil moisture is a critical component of the earth system and plays an integrative role among the various subfields of physical geography. This paper highlights not just how soil moisture affects atmospheric, geomorphic, hydrologic, and biologic processes but that it lies at the intersection of these areas of scientific inquiry. Soil moisture impacts earth surface processes in such a way that it creates an obvious synergistic relationship among the various subfields of physical geography. The dispersive and cohesive properties of soil moisture also make it an important variable in regional and microclimatic analyses, landscape denudation and change through weathering, runoff generation and partitioning, mass wasting, and sediment transport. Thus, this paper serves as a call to use research in soil moisture as an integrative and unifying theme in physical geography.

Spatial Variability and Persistence of Soil Moisture in Oklahoma

Using a hydrologic model to estimate daily soil moisture at 258 evaluation locations over a 30-year period, the spatial variability and persistence of soil moisture across Oklahoma is examined. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) uses readily available meteorological inputs with detailed land surface information. Spatial variability of soil moisture across Oklahoma is extremely dynamic and exhibits a remarkable range of individual characteristics due to the heterogeneous land surface. An autocorrelation analysis is used to evaluate the persistence of soil moisture at each evaluation location. In general, soil moisture across Oklahoma persists from 5 to 10 weeks in the eastern portion of Oklahoma to over 30 weeks in western Oklahoma as a result of the large-scale climatic variability of precipitation supply and evapotranspiration demand. However, the lags are not spatially coherent due to the heterogeneity of the land surface. Land surface characteristics potentially influencing the persistence of soil moisture across Oklahoma are examined, including vegetation type and soil texture and depth. Of the three parameters, soil depth plays a significant role in the memory of soil moisture conditions. As the soil profile depth increases, a corresponding increase in the persistence of soil moisture occurs.

A multiobjective land development optimization model: the case of New Castle County, Delaware

This paper develops a multiobjective optimization model to consider transportation impacts of the future development of land. The output of the model is the best location and type of land use that has minimal negative transportation effects and uses the maximum available public transportation infrastructure. It provides tools for both planners and transportation engineers and enables them to consider different scenarios of possible policies and land development. Since multiple objectives and their nonlinear structures are considered, the model is solved using mixed integer nonlinear programming. The final results are shown in both tabular and graphical format. The effectiveness of the model is applied to the northern part of New Castle County, Delaware. The results show that the model successfully finds the best locations for both residential and commercial land uses in order to meet several criteria discussed in the paper.

Antarctic sea-ice thickness and volume estimates from ice charts between 1995 and 1998

Abstract This work evaluates two distinct calculations of central tendency for sea-ice thickness and quantifies the impact such calculations have on ice volume for the Southern Ocean. The first calculation, area-weighted average thickness, is computed from polygonal ice features and then upscaled to regions. The second calculation, integrated thickness, is a measure of the central value of thickness categories tracked across different scales and subsequently summed to chosen regions. Both methods yield the same result from one scale to the next, but subsequent scales develop diverging solutions when distributions are strongly non-Gaussian. Data for this evaluation are sea-ice stage-of-development records from US National Ice Center ice charts from 1995 to 1998, as proxy records of ice thickness. Results show regionally integrated thickness exceeds area-weighted average thickness by as much as 60% in summer with as few as five bins in thickness distribution. Year-round, the difference between the two calculations yields volume differences consistently >10%. The largest discrepancies arise due to bimodal distributions which are common in ice charts based on current subjective-analysis protocols. We recommend that integrated distribution be used for regional-scale sea-ice thickness and volume estimates from ice charts and encourage similar testing of other large-scale thickness data archives.

On the uncertainty of sea-ice isostasy

Abstract During late winter 2007, coincident measurements of sea ice were collected using various sensors at an ice camp in the Beaufort Sea, Canadian Arctic. Analysis of the archived data provides new insight into sea-ice isostasy and its related R-factor through case studies at three scales using different combinations of snow and ice thickness components. At the smallest scale (<1 m; point scale), isostasy is not expected, so we calculate a residual and define this as Ж (‘zjey’) to describe vertical displacement due to deformation. From 1 to 10 m length scales, we explore traditional isostasy and identify a specific sequence of thickness calculations which minimize freeboard and elevation uncertainty. An effective solution exists when the R-factor is allowed to vary: ranging from 2 to 12, with mean of 5.17, mode of 5.88 and skewed distribution. At regional scales, underwater, airborne and spaceborne platforms are always missing thickness variables from either above or below sea level. For such situations, realistic agreement is found by applying small-scale skewed ranges for the R-factor. These findings encourage a broader isostasy solution as a function of potential energy and length scale. Overall, results add insight to data collection strategies and metadata characteristics of different thickness products.

Data-derived spatial-resolution errors of Antarctic sea-ice thickness

Abstract Uncertainties due to spatial resolution (E R) of gridded sea-ice thickness (z) distributions remain largely unquantified. We address this issue using remotely sensed and in situ observations of the Southern Ocean (south of −60°) to determine appropriate data sources based on length scales for continental-scale sea-ice studies. Sea-ice thickness is not normally distributed such that the mean, median, and mode are distinct from each other. Averaging only retains the mean value, reducing bias and natural variability as z is aggregated to coarse resolutions. The rate of smoothing as a function of resolution influences the sea-ice thickness distribution represented by each product. Analysis of E R for 1° through 5° resolutions shows absolute E R increasing with grid-cell size and sea-ice extent in both datasets. The absolute E R for gridded thickness distribution ranges from 0.02 to 0.40 m at 1° and from 0.03 to 0.78 m at 5°. The E R value and slope (m) is lower (E R≤0.20 m, m<0.05) for ice charts than the ship dataset (0.10 m<E R<0.80 m, m<0.17) with relative E R between datasets remaining consistent. From these results, recommendations for dataset use and future sea-ice observation frequency and distribution schemes are discussed.

A Regional Scale Investigation of Climatological Tropical Convection and Precipitation in the Amazon Basin

This study constructs a regional scale climatology of tropical convection and precipitation from more than 15 years of monthly outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and precipitation data on 2.5°× 2.5° latitude-longitude grid to examine the spatial and temporal patterns and variability of convection and precipitation in the Amazon Basin. A linear regression analysis also detects if any trends exist in the two datasets. The region of study extends from 15°N to 25°S and 30° to 80°W that encompass the Amazon Basin and surrounding fringe areas for the period from January 1979 through December 1995 for the OLR data and up to 1996 for the precipitation dataset. The basin-average mean monthly and seasonal climatology serve as a ‘baseline’ reference for comparison with the full time series of basin-average monthly OLR and precipitation to illustrate the interannual variability and identify anomalous periods of wet and dry conditions. A linear trend analysis of OLR data found small negative values across the Amazon Basin indicating a slight increase in convective activity over the period of study. The analysis of the precipitation time series, however, shows no coincidental increase in precipitation as would be expected with an increase in convective activity. Portions of Rondônia and Mato Grosso, areas that have undergone extensive deforestation, illustrate no trend in precipitation as suggested by GCM simulation results. The only area featuring any large change in precipitation occurs in a small area in the northwestern region of South America where a large positive trend in precipitation exists.

Behavior of satellite-tracked Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) in relation to environmental factors around the western Antarctic Peninsula

Background The Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) is a relatively small baleen whale species and is well suited to life in the Antarctic pack ice. Information on their individual movement and distribution patterns is largely unknown due to their association with sea ice habitat where direct observations are limited. The primary objectives of this study are (1) to use satellite telemetry to quantify the movement patterns, distribution, and presumed foraging areas of Antarctic minke whales and (2) to assess the environmental conditions that are associated with areas used by minke whales along the western Antarctic Peninsula.ResultsIndividual movement patterns from three Antarctic minke whales fitted with ARGOS-linked transmitters were analyzed with respect to environmental conditions. Behavioral states were identified using the Multi-Scale Straightness Index. Satellite telemetry revealed disparate behavioral patterns between these three individuals. Generalized additive model analysis demonstrated environmental variables, particularly sea ice, bathymetry, and sea surface temperature, are the best predictors of presumed foraging areas.ConclusionsSatellite telemetry from three individuals revealed Antarctic minke whale summer foraging spaces are highly individualized but can generally be associated with pack ice habitat over the continental shelf. The coupled relationship between minke whales, krill, and sea ice suggests that these whales may be sensitive to changes in sea ice concentration, extent, and duration, making them particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Utilization of GPS Travel Time and Delay Data for Optimal Routing

Abstract Traffic congestion during peak hours has become one of the major problems affecting the road networks. GPS, in coordination with data retrieving software has been used for various purposes ranging from commercial utilization (route guidance systems) to monitoring traffic by different transportation organizations. In this research, collection of travel time and delay data on a congested network is used to obtain results that enable a commuter to make intelligent choices regarding his or her route. Travel time and delay data retrieved from a GPS instrument attached to a test vehicle traversing the study area during peak hours has been used to determine an optimal route between any given origin and destination in the area. The data collected on each road segment was analyzed and fitted into distributions. Using these distributions, the estimated travel time on each segment was inferred and the probability of being delayed was determined. The travel time and delay data in the form of Microsoft Access tables was imported into the GIS and programmed using a Visual Basic code, such that a user-friendly tool written in Visual Basic using ArcObjects was developed which provides the user with the optimal route between two selected points in the network, the travel time required to traverse the route, and the probability of being delayed on the route. In addition to this data, travel time maps are generated for the network, which provide a visual display illustrating the road network around a reference point for a given time.