WCRP Climate and Cryosphere CliC Project CRYSYS Cryosphere System in Canada Dr' Barry Goodison

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WCRP Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project
CRYSYS Cryosphere System in CanadaDr. Barry
Goodison
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CLIVAR 1995 ?
WGNE WGCMWGSF
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CliC Goal and Objectives

• Principal Goal
• Assess and quantify the impacts that climatic
  variability and change have on components of the
  cryosphere and the consequences of these impacts
  for the climate system, and to determine the
  stability of the global cryosphere
• Supporting Objectives
• Enhance the observation monitoring of the
  cryosphere in support of process studies, model
  evaluation and change detection
• Improve understanding of the physical processes
  and feedbacks through which the cryosphere
  interacts within the climate system
• Improve the representation of cryospheric
  processes in models to reduce uncertainties in
  simulation of climate and predictions of climate
  change (role of the cryosphere on predictability
  of the climate system)
• Facilitate assessment of changes in the
  cryosphere and their impact, and to use this
  information to aid in the detection of
• climate change

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Countries Where Cryosphere Occurs
95 countries identified with cryospheric
components Cryosphere truly is global
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Current CliC Project Structure
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CliC Implementation StrategyCliC Project Areas

• CPA1. Terrestrial cryosphere and hydrometeorology
  of cold regions (Tatiana Khromova, RB, DK, TO,
  BG)
• CPA2. Glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, and
  their relation to sea level (Koni Steffen, JZ)
• CPA3. High Latitude oceans and the marine
  cryosphere (Ian Allison, CM, AW)
• CPA4. Linkages between the cryosphere and global
  climate (John Turner, CM, TF)

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CliC Initiatives

• Joint Panel Project Observed changes in the
  global cryosphere over the 20th century
• produce a substantive review paper synthesizing
  observed changes in all components of the
  cryosphere over as much of the globe as possible.
• provide significant input from CliC to WG1
  cryosphere chapter in upcoming IPCC Fourth
  Assessment Report
• International Polar Year
• CliC is lead for WCRP
• IASC/ICARPII
• IASC International Conference on Arctic Research
  Planning II fall 2005 Copenhagen - WCRP is a
  sponsoring agency
• IGOS-P Cryosphere
• link to CliC CPAs

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Changes in the Cryosphere during the 20th Century
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River less River more Lake
less Lake - more Sea-ice less
Sea-ice more Snow less Snow
more Glacier less Glacier
more Ice sheet less Ice Sheet
more Permafrost less Permafrost -- more
Symbols are identified at right. Red indicates
change is consistent with warming. Blue
indicates change is consistent with cooling.
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Where We Are

• SCAR becomes a co-sponsor
• MOA with IPA
• ACSYS CD
• Arctic Panel formed Cecilie Mauritzen chair
• GCOS continued interaction to ensure cryosphere
  captured
• GEO/GEOSS input at national/international
  levels
• IGOS-P Cryosphere Jeff Key and OPP
• WCRP COPES how does CliC contribute?
• Interactions with other groups carbon, water,
  weather
• ICSI Commission on the Cryospheric Sciences
• CliC/IGS/ICSI Symposium on Cryo as Indicator of
  Climate Change (2006)
• ICARPII (November 2005)
• International Polar Year Ian Allison, Vladimir
  Kotlyakov
• CliC 1st Science Conference (April 11-15 2005,
  Beijing)

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CHALLENGES for CliC

• CliC cryosphere is gaining prominence people
  care about snow and ice it is in the media
  regularly it affects peoples lives in northern
  communities it affects economic development
• We have a constituency or users broader than the
  scientific community it is not just an academic
  exercise
• To move forward
• WE NEED EVERYONES HELP AND CONTRIBUTIONS DURING
  THE YEAR
• Secretariat and CIPO being run ragged
• FUTURE
• White, bright, busy, challenging, engaging
• To Succeed we need everyones ideas, help,
  suggestions and hard work

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• CRYSYS
• NASA IDS Project
• CSA Government Related Initiatives Program (GRIP)
• Cryospheric System in Canada recompeted
  successfully in 2003 as a NASA IDS project for
  next 3 years
• highly rated in peer review
• project is a sub-set of CRYSYS team members who
  responded to the call to participate in the NASA
  IDS.
• CSA GRIP project The Cryosphere and its
  Response to Climate Change addresses IDS
  objectives and other ongoing CRYSYS research
  activities that address MSC and CSA objectives.

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• NASA IDS Project
• How are global ecosystems changing?
• Improved passive-microwave SWE mapping (Derksen,
  Goita, Walker)
• Validation of EOS cryospheric products (Agnew, De
  Abreu, Derksen, Fernandes, Walker)
• Integrated retrievals of sea ice type and
  thermodynamic state from AMSR-E (Barber)
• Diurnal and seasonal snow covered sea ice process
  studies using surface and satellite based
  polarimetric microwave remote sensing data
  (Yackel)
• Development and analysis of a long term land
  surface temperature database from spaceborne
  passive microwave data for the northern high
  latitude environment (Royer et al. )
• Development of approaches for monitoring river
  ice and frozen ground with SAR (Bernier et al.)
• Monitoring glacier mass balance and glacier
  contributions to streamflow (Demuth - National
  Glacier Monitoring Programme, GSC/NWRI)
• Monitoring permafrost temperature, active layer
  thickness, and permafrost sensitivity to warming
  (Smith National Permafrost Monitoring
  Programme, GSC)

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• 2. How is global sea level affected by climate
  change?
• Determining Canadian Arctic glacier contributions
  to sea level rise (Sharp)
• Validation of CryoSat (Demuth and Sharp)
• 3. How are variations in local weather,
  precipitation and water resources related to
  global climate variation?
• Detailed evaluation of snow cover simulated by
  the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) for
  contrasting land surface types (Mackay and
  Derksen)
• Examination of scaling issues in the
  representation of snow processes in CRCM (Derksen
  and Walker)
• Assimilation of remotely sensed snowpack data
  into the WATCLASS coupled land surface process
  hydrological model (Fassnacht)
• 4. What are the consequences of climate and sea
  level changes and increased human activities on
  coastal regions?
• CRYSYS contributing (in advisory role) to GMES
  Northern View project which includes projects
  looking at the implications of changes in the
  near-shore ice complex (NIC) on shoreline erosion
  in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Beaufort Sea,
  and the development of an operational ice edge
  monitoring and forecasting product for use in
  northern communities.

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• 5. How well can long-term climate trends be
  assessed or predicted?
• Evaluation of the representation of high latitude
  snow cover processes in climate models (Mackay
  and Marsh)
• Modelling and validation of arctic snow
  distribution and melt at the local and
  meso-regional scales (Young and colleagues)
• Merging of satellite and in situ data for
  assessing variability and change in SWE (Derksen
  and Walker)
• Investigation of the role of the Arctic
  Oscillation and sea ice feedbacks in the Eastern
  Canadian Arctic and Beaufort Sea (LeDrew)
• How well can cycling of carbon through the Earth
  system be modeled, and how reliable are
  predictions of future atmospheric concentrations
  of carbon dioxide and methane by these models?
• Understanding the role of ice crusts and lenses
  on GHG emissions (Bernier)
• BERMS

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• The proposed research activities contribute to
  several ESA initiatives related to the cryosphere
  (CryoSat and GMES), and to a number of
  international scientific projects (ArcticNet,
  ACSYS/CliC, BERMS, CALM, CASES, GEWEX, GCOS,
  GTN-P, GTN-G, MAGICS and SEARCH).
• The CRYSYS project has made significant advances
  in the areas of data rescue/sharing and outreach
  over the period since 1999. The Canadian
  Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN) was
  established at the University of Waterloo in
  collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and
  the private sector (www.ccin.ca). The State of
  the Canadian Cryosphere website (www.socc.ca)
  has continued to be developed as part of the CCIN
  to provide information and outreach.
• We must integrate these initiatives and make sure
  we see the bigger picture and address the science
  questions that need to be answered to increase
  our knowledge of climate and cryosphere science
  to contribute to policy and socio-economic issues

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Objectives for CSA Project The Cryosphere and
its Response to Climate Change

• Documenting areal and volume changes of Canadian
  Arctic Ice Caps
• Calibration and validation of the CryoSat
  altimeter
• Improved monitoring of snow cover from space
• Improved monitoring of sea ice from space
• Improved monitoring of freshwater ice from space
• Improved monitoring of frozen ground from space
• Improved representation of the cryosphere in
  climate and hydrological models
• Improved understanding of cryosphere-climate
  feedbacks
• Develop and maintain a Canadian Cryospheric
  Information Network (CCIN)
• Note many of these are also part of the NASA
  IDS project
• GRIP review by EOMB Mar 23 2004

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Integrated Studies, Joint Projects Supersites
for COPE?
CEOP

• Produce baseline terrestrial cryosphere products
  for model validation and climatological assessment

Supersite
Scaling
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SWE March 1 2005
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• CRYSYS the Future
• Must continue to deliver new knowledge and
  information to meet its objectives as a
  cryosphere IDS team
• Must continue to demonstrate the important
  contribution of satellite data to cryosphere
  and climate change in support of CSA, MSC and
  other national and international initiatives
• CRYSYS transition to CliC Canada
• CRYSYS is recognized internationally
• Canada is seen as a key player in CliC
• must build a strong partnership within the
  Canadian cryosphere community to contribute
  to CliC
• Must get on with establishing a CliC
  Canada/CRYSYS structure to develop and implement
  Canadas contribution to CliC

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Thoughts for IGOS-P Cryosphere

• What is the motivation for this effort?
• Why is cryosphere important?
• ACIA
• It is not just cryosphere for climate all
  applications
• Not just remote sensing
• Dont forget in-situ networks
• What are the cryosphere gaps from all methods
  of observation
• Antarctica?
• Alpine regions of the world
• Cryosphere is global
• Data management
• Links to GCOS, other IGOS-P, GEOSS- lot done (eg
  Canada)
• Lot of reports on needs for obs have been
  prepared lets use them and not try to reinvent
  the wheel update and expand
• Solid precipitation, snow, sea-ice, freshwater
  ice, glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets,
  permafrost and frozen ground