Drift distances, times and primary grain sources of the Arctic Ocean, Exp302 (ACEX)

Knowledge of the long-term history of the perennial ice is an important issue that has eluded study because the Cenozoic core material needed has been unavailable until the recent Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX). Detrital Fe oxide mineral grains analyzed by microprobe from the last 14 Ma (164 m) of the ACEX composite core on the Lomonosov Ridge were matched to circum-Arctic sources with the same mineral and 12-element composition. These precise source determinations and estimates of drift rates were used to determine that these sand grains could not be rafted to the ACEX core site in less than a year. Thus the perennial ice cover has existed since 14 Ma except for the unlikely rapid return to seasonal ice between the average sampling interval of about 0.17 Ma. Both North America and Russia contributed significant Fe grains to the ACEX core during the last 14 Ma.

First-year and second-year snow properties on sea ice in the Weddell Sea during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXII/2 (ISPOL) during the drift

Observations of snow properties, superimposed ice, and atmospheric heat fluxes have been performed on first-year and second-year sea ice in the western Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Snow in this region is particular as it does usually survive summer ablation. Measurements were performed during Ice Station Polarstern (ISPOL), a 5-week drift station of the German icebreaker RV Polarstern. Net heat flux to the snowpack was 8 W/m**2, causing only 0.1 to 0.2 m of thinning of both snow cover types, thinner first-year and thicker second-year snow. Snow thinning was dominated by compaction and evaporation, whereas melt was of minor importance and occurred only internally at or close to the surface. Characteristic differences between snow on first-year and second-year ice were found in snow thickness, temperature, and stratigraphy. Snow on second-year ice was thicker, colder, denser, and more layered than on first-year ice. Metamorphism and ablation, and thus mass balance, were similar between both regimes, because they depend more on surface heat fluxes and less on underground properties. Ice freeboard was mostly negative, but flooding occurred mainly on first-year ice. Snow and ice interface temperature did not reach the melting point during the observation period. Nevertheless, formation of discontinuous superimposed ice was observed. Color tracer experiments suggest considerable meltwater percolation within the snow, despite below-melting temperatures of lower layers. Strong meridional gradients of snow and sea-ice properties were found in this region. They suggest similar gradients in atmospheric and oceanographic conditions and implicate their importance for melt processes and the location of the summer ice edge.