Download INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES OF THE OCEAN
(IAPSO) 2006
1. ACTIVITIES
Finnish Institute of Marine Research
Studies in the FIMR focused on the following objectives:
Studies on remote sensing of sea ice;
Sea-ice physics and air-sea-ice interaction.
Generation of wind waves and development of operational coupled atmosphere-wind wave models,
Dynamics of circulation in the Baltic Sea and development of numerical circulation models,
Studies of the Arctic Ocean fluxes.
Remote sensing, sea ice:
FIMR participated in ESA’s GMES project Polar View. The project is coordinated by C-Core
(Canada) and it has about 40 partners from Europe and Canada. The overall goal for Polar View is
to be the World's leader providing EO services and products for environmental monitoring and
security for the Polar Regions. That goal will be reached by building a cohesive international
network meeting the following objectives: 1) engage a wide spectrum of end users who can be
convinced of the value of the services and products, 2) provide a suite of desirable EO-related
services and products to governmental users, 3) provide additional EO-related services and products
to industrial users, 4) interface in a mutually beneficial way with the cryospheric science and
climate change community; and 5) generate revenues, either directly or indirectly, from the
provision of the suite of services to sustain Polar View.
Baseline Polar View structure has nodes for the Baltic (land and sea ice), Europe and Russia (the
Euro-Arctic Node), and North America. Each node is a consortium in itself and managed by a Node
Manager. Operational Service Providers report to the Node Managers in their region; the Node
Managers report to the Program Manager who in turn reports to ESA. Pan-Arctic activities were
initiated within the International Programs. Baltic Node is lead by Ari Seinä, FIMR.
FIMR have continued SAR-based remote sensing of sea ice and oil slicks.
FIMR have been active in the CryoSat CAL/VAL research. In May 2006, FIMR participated
CryoVex2006 field experiment in the Lincoln Sea. Satellite, airborne and in-situ data have been
analysed in order to validate radar altimeter method for sea-ice thickness measurements and
developing retrieval algorithms for ice types.
Sea-ice physics and air-sea-ice interaction:
FIMR has begun to examine the influence of the pressure in a sea ice field on ships navigating in
ice. Operational ice model of the FIMR was developed in order to model and predict ice pressure in
a geophysical scale and an IceCam camera instrument was installed onboard I/B Otso in order to
record pressured ice situations for further studies.
Sea ice thermodynamics and dynamics research of the Arctic have begun within the Damocles
project. An effect of a simplification of the sea-ice description in the climate models have been
studies.
Sea ice drift, air-ice radiation and air-ice turbulent exchange data gathered from the international
ISPOL-04/05 expedition (Drifting Ship Ice Station Polarstern) in the Weddell Sea, Antarctic, was
continued.
In collaboration with FMI the study on the factors controlling the snow surface and 2-m air
temperatures over the Antarctic continent was continued, by using synoptic observations from 12
stations for 5 consecutive years, and era-40 reanalysis data from the European Center for MediumRange Weather Forecasts.
Development of the FIMR -resolution thermodynamic snow/ice model (HIGHTSI) has continued.
The model was used for investigate the air-sea/ice-ocean interaction and climate change in the Polar
regions. The model has also been applied for the sea ice thermodynamics study in the EC funded
Arctic research proposal: DAMOCLES. Third application is to provide geophysical based
information to help interpret ate remote sensing SAR images. A comparisons study between SAR
backscattering coefficient and HIGHTIS was carrid out and the work has continued within the
Finnish-Canadian joined proposal: POL_ICE. Two field campaigns in the Baltic Sea and Resolute
Bay, Canadian ware made.The HIGHTSI model has been implemented in the Finnish Ice Service
operationally to predict the thermodynamic ice growth. and high-resolution ice thickness charts in
the Baltic Sea.
FIMR have also contributed on Baltic Sea Assesment on Climate Change (BACC).
Wave and sea level studies, carbon dioxide fluxes:
The Baltic Swell Experiment was carried out with the University of Miami and the University of
Uppsala in autumn 2003. The aim of the experiment was to collect experimental data to study the
air-sea interaction during swell. The analysis of the measurements continued and the preparation of
the manuscripts started.
The wave growth from a straight shoreline was studied with the wave model WAM using different
approached for defining the shoreline with islands. The source terms in WAM were studied in
cooperation with the Alkyon Hydraulic Consultancy and Research. A source term that calculates the
exact nonlinear interactions was implemented in the wave model and tested. Further tests were
made with a new dissipation term.
The development of sea level prediction models continued and a new model that takes into account
the air pressure was developed and included in the operational environment.
The measurements and the development of the measuring system of the carbon dioxide fluxes along
with waves and relevant atmospheric parameters from a research vessel continued. A directional
wave sensor was developed for use on board the research vessel. Experimental data for studies of
the factors affecting the carbon dioxide fluxes over the ocean as well as the diurnal cycle and
seasonal variations were collected during a research cruise in the Baltic Sea.
Polar research
During 2006 FIMR (Rudels) continued the research activity on the physical oceanography of the
Arctic Mediterranean Sea – on the exchanges between the Arctic Mediterranean and the world
ocean, and on the circulation and processes operating in the Arctic Ocean –. The studies have
mainly been carried out in cooperation with other research groups and within larger Nordic,
European and international programmes. The work on exchanges between the Arctic Mediterranean
and the surrounding seas has been done within the ASOF programme (Arctic and Subarctic Ocean
Fluxes) and the Arctic Ocean circulation has been studied within the DAMOCLES programme
(Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies)
and by analysing results from the HOTRAX expedition 2005 (Healy Oden Trans-Arctic
Expedition). A course entitled "Arctic Ecosystems, Carbon Flux and climate Change" was orgaised
(Rudels) in the NordForsk programme and sponsored by the Nordic Council.
FIMR (Rudels) participated in the evaluation panel for the Danish/Greenland research station
Zackenberg on northeast Greenland. Fieldwork has been conducted on RRV Discovery in the
Iceland Sea, Denmark Strait and western Irminger Sea to study the Denmark Strait overflow. This
work is done in cooperation with the University of Hamburg and CEFAS (Centre for Environment,
Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences) and is a continuation of earlier ASOF studies.
Hydrography and modeling:
Field experiments of water exchange between the Baltic Sea Proper and the Gulf of Bothnia
through Archipelago Sea were conducted in summer season. Analysis of the collected data showed
slow mean velocities and different directions of exchange above and below thermocline. Other
activities has concentrated to development of sea level forecast system and data bases of
observations.
Operational system for doing sea level forecasts on the basis of data and numerical model results
was developed and used actively during the year. Operational ecosystem modelling was carried out
e.g. in a number of EU-funded projects FIMR (Stipa) coordinated the EU project MERCW and the
national RTD project ShipNODeff
Hydrodynamic modeling and process studies of the physical features of the Baltic Sea were
continued
University of Helsinki, Department of Physical Sciences
The ice-ocean modelling group at the Division of Geophysics in the Department of Physical
Sciences at the University of Helsinki continued their work on global coupled ice ocean modelling
with the French ORCA-LIM model family.
2. SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS
a) Number of Peer-reviewed articles: 13
b) Number of other scientific publications: 12
3. NUMBER OF EXPERT POSITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC BODIES: 11
4. NUMBER OF SCIENTIFIC VISITS
a) Finnish scientists abroad longer than 2 weeks: 2
b) Visits from abroad longer than 2 week: 2