EDMERP Details

General

Project Title

ARctic: present Climatic change and pAst extreme events

Project Acronym

ARCA

Project Reference

Associated programme

Start Date

2014-01-01T12:00:00

End Date

2015-12-31T12:00:00

Geographic Area

Geocoverage

Arctic fjords and Arctic Ocean

Sea Area

Arctic Ocean

Observations

Data Theme

Cross-discipline

Description

Abstract

The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, resulting in a rapid environmental change. The community of Arctic research is trying cope with these changes and with the complexity of the interactions, processes and responses that are the basis of these changes. The inextricable interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere, on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, are largely responsible for the phenomenon that is named "arctic amplification". In recent years, signals of an acceleration of the changes are increasingly evident in the observations of many geophysical and biological properties. The possibility of extreme events, especially the collapse of the ice sheets no longer appears as the remote and is assumed by several scientists. Unfortunately, the same complexity that generates this instability induces large uncertainties and errors in climate models, especially at regional scale. The melting of the marine ice cap (meltwaters) during periods of global warming induced inputs of salinity anomalies into the oceans with large volumes of fresh water that cause sudden changes in the thermohaline properties with possible consequences on the global thermohaline circulation (Clark et al. 2001). The data suggest that these changes in ocean circulation have caused the cooling phases of northern Europe during the last glaciation, from 20,000 years ago (IPCC, 2007). Changes in the North Atlantic ocean circulation have been, and may, in the future, be affected by the disintegration of the Greenland ice cap, induced by anthropogenic global warming. The fusion of arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers, involves the transfer at sea of a large amounts of suspended sediment (turbid meltwater plumes), with changes of chemical and physical characteristics of coastal and oceanic waters. This project aims to gain insights into the complex mechanisms that govern the dynamics of the ice sheets and the flow of fresh water and sediment into the ocean, and to reconstruct the history of extreme events of sub-glacial melting over the last 20,000 years along the southern edge of the Svalbard continental shelf. Data will be acquired through (a) an international oceanographic campaign (CORIBAR), (b) intensive campaigns aimed to study the energy balance at the surface interaction processes and air-sea-ice (along the edge of the tidewater glaciers that overlook the Kongsfjorden), and (c) the acquisition/sharing of data provided by the monitoring networks of the dynamics of large outlet glaciers of Greenland. The study of the dynamics of outlet glaciers and snow accumulation assessment will be joined with further studies to determine the state (wet / dry) ice-bedrock interface and the determination of the rate of events detachment of icebergs in the fjords. The work of analysis and synthesis of data will allow to correlate the main events of meltwaters climatic conditions and build some conceptual models. These models will be used to identify the variables and the key processes that regulate the flow of fresh water and sediments, describe the dispersion of sediments in the ocean polar quantify/evaluate sediment transport and the influence on ocean circulation. The possible anthropogenic influence on these processes will be investigated by reconstructing the recent history of the last 150 years through the analysis of sediments and ice cores collected in the area of the Kongsfjiorden.

Project website

http://www.arcaproject.it

Originators

Coordinator

CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Contact name

Vito Vitale

Fax

E-mail

sdn-userdesk@seadatanet.org

Other Partners

CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Geomagnetism, Aeronomy and Environmental Geophysics Department

OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale), Division of Geophysics

Administration

Local identifier

1927

Creation Date

2017-11-28

Revision Date

2017-11-28