Welcome
&
Thank You
for visiting the home page of the
Snow,
Ice, &
Permafrost Group
at the
Geophysical Institute
of the
University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Snow, ice, and permafrost research at the Geophysical Institute is directed toward developing a better understanding of the properties of these materials, of the processes occurring within them, and of the role they play in the polar and subpolar environments. Much of the research involves field investigations in Alaska, with some work carried out in Greenland and Antarctica. Some of the research is performed with the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility in the Geophysical Institute.
Sea ice studies cover a range of topics. One of these is how ice properties are related to meteorological conditions and growth histories. Others deal with the physical characteristics and development of ice in the Ross, Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas, Antarctica, and the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea. The relationship between ice properties and radar backscatter is under study in order to improve the interpretation of SAR images. Some of the problems have an engineering focus. Permafrost research has been directed toward problems in heat and mass transport, including those involving salt, the response of permafrost to climate change (and the inverse problem of extracting information about past climate from present permafrost conditions), and the application of geophysical methods for detecting permafrost and related materials.
Glacier studies have recently focused on the dynamics of the fast flow of glaciers in Alaska and on the ice streams in Greenland and Antarctica. Studies have been broadened to include the use of satellite radar altimetry in ice sheet dynamics, and problems related to climate. In Alaska, the latter include the airborne measurement of glacier surface elevation changes, the identification of snow line positions using SAR data, and the determination of the accumulation rate on Mt. Wrangell. In Greenland, the accumulation over the ice sheet has been re-examined, and SAR data have been applied to the refinement of the glacier facies concept. In Antarctica, modeling studies have examined greenhouse effects on the ice sheet and processes involved in ice stream flow.
Snow studies have focused on seasonal snow cover, particularly in northern Alaska; its quantity; the direction and magnitude of wind transport; its physical properties and structure; and its melting in relation to meteorological conditions.
The results of our snow, ice, and permafrost research are useful in the State of Alaska both in developing an understanding of scientific problems (including global change) and in the solution of applied problems (including the development of resources).
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