Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA)

Conference · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:83147

Curry, J A ^[1]; Moritz, R; Untersteiner, N ^[2]; Randall, D A ^[3]; McPhee, M ^[4]

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1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
2. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
3. Colorado State Univ., Ft. Collins, CO (United States)
4. McPhee Research, Naches, WA (United States)

The interaction of the ocean and the atmosphere is a key to understanding and ultimately predicting global climate. Our present understanding is that Arctic air-sea-ice processes influence global climate by modifying the surface albedo and the global thermohaline circulation. Although the sensitivity of global climate to processes occuring in the Arctic Ocean is widely acknowledged, there is great uncertainty about the magnitude and overall effect. To improve our knowledge of Arctic and global climate requires multivariate data sets of two kinds: An accurate climatology, including monthly mean values and variances for the major quantities that characterize the Arctic air-sea-ice system; and, Detailed process-oriented data sets that document the simultaneous temporal variations of the coupled atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system on time scales of hours to a year. To address these issues, a program, Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) that will combine in situ observations, satellite remote sensing, analysis and modeling has been proposed. To achieve the overall scientific goals of SHEBA, the following specific issues will be addressed: Surface heat and mass budget; Arctic clouds; Upper ocean interactions; and, Coupled sensitivity of ice, atmosphere and ocean. To meet the goals and scientific objectives of SHEBA will require the following components: a one-year filed program over the Arctic Ocean pack ice, a satellite remote sensing component, and a modeling component.

• Research Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States). Environmental Sciences Div.
• OSTI ID: 83147
• Report Number(s): CONF-940277--; ON: DE95009951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
ALBEDO
ARCTIC OCEAN
ARCTIC REGIONS
CLIMATE MODELS
CLIMATES
CLOUDS
ICE
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER
REMOTE SENSING