Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information
• Funding

Project #:OG-241-0: Optical Environment of the Western Antarctic Peninsula Region

An Analytical Spectral Devices Ice-1 spectroradiometer was used to measure albedos and transmittances. This instrument has an effective spectral range from 380 nm to 860 nm. It is a dual channel instrument with separate detectors to simultaneous measure incident and transmitted irradiance. Fiber optics probes are used to transmit the from the cosine collectors to two highly sensitive CCD detector arrays. Limited daylight and harsh weather constrained the number of optical measurements. In 2001, optical measurements were made on 7 August, 8 August, 11 August, and 18 August. In 2002, optical measurements were made on 25 August, 26 August, 7 September, and 8 September. In 2002 vertical profiles of upwelling irradiance were made at several sites. (from the data cdrom)

Related datasets:
ice thickness, snow pits, sea ice, ice properties

From 2001 cruise report: The optics of the different sea ice types found in the region. When weather and day light permitted, snow and ice albedo and transmission measurements were taken. At only one site was the surface frozen where we could measure the combined snow and ice albedo and transmission and then shovel the area and re-measuring to subtract out the snow component. This will allow us to sort out what component the snow and ice have individually in the transmission of light into the ice and water column for the organisms to grow. Our measurements were hampered due to blowing snow which we experienced nearly every day and the fact that we needed to be stopped near solar noon as the sun angle is low this time of year, so only a limited number of optics measurements were performed.

From 2002 cruise report: We also measured the optics of the sea ice using a scanning spectral radiometer. This instrument measures the light levels in 0.5 nanometer increments from 380 to 800 nanometers (visible light through the near infrared). With this instrument we made optical measurements on seven different ice floes. We performed these measurements through the undisturbed snow and ice, and would then shovel off the area to obtain measurements of just the sea ice with no snow cover. We first measured snow and bare ice albedo, then upwelling irradiance at 1 cm increments as we lowered the sensor down through the snow cover. We then would drill a hole in the ice and measure upwelling irradiance at 2 cm to 5 cm increment down through the ice sheet both before and after removing the snow cover. Additionally, the transmission of light through both snow covered sea ice and bare ice was measured.

The fundamental objectives of United States Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) Program are dependent upon the cooperation of scientists from several disciplines. Physicists, biologists, and chemists must make use of data collected during U.S. GLOBEC field programs to further our understanding of the interplay of physics, biology, and chemistry. Our objectives require quantitative analysis of interdisciplinary data sets and, therefore, data must be exchanged between researchers. To extract the full scientific value, data must be made available to the scientific community on a timely basis.

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).