Centenary of the Birth of V.A. Obruchev, Soviet Geologist, Geographer, Traveller, and Pioneer in Permafrost Research

ARCTIC ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
V.V. Tikhomirov ◽  
N.A. Voskresenskaya ◽  
K. Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Mining Institute ◽  
Active Member ◽  
Ice Ages ◽  
Natural Scientist ◽  
Northern Asia ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

Vladimir Afanas'evich Obruchev, who was born on October 10, 1863 in the village of Klepenino in the upper Volga region, was an outstanding natural scientist, who made great contributions to the exploration of Asia. His father was in the military service and often transferred with his family from one province to another. For some time they lived in Lithuania where Obruchev completed his high school education in Vilnius in 1881 and then passed the entrance examinations of both the Mining and the Technological institutes in Petersburg. He chose the Mining Institute and completed his studies there in 1886. ... For his great achievements the Academy of Sciences of the USSR named Obruchev a corresponding member of the Academy in 1921, and an active member in 1929. From this time on he was working in the Academy of Sciences and for 3 years, beginning in 1929, he was director of the Geological Institute. During World War II he was Academician-secretary of the Department of Geological and Geographical Sciences and as such led the scientific research of all academic institutes in this field. Obruchev was among the first to advocate the organization of a special committee for the study of permafrost. He was president of this committee from 1930 to 1939. In this year he became director of the Permafrost Institute, which now bears his name, and held that position for the rest of his life. ... He was also deeply involved in the exploration of northern regions. While analysing the geology of the greater part of Asia north of the Arctic Circle he concluded that during Quaternary times two glacial periods had occurred there, and that a thick ice sheet had covered not only the arctic zone but had extended south to 60°N. He established that at the beginning of the Quaternary dry land occupied the present Kara Sea area and that glaciers extended from there to the south between the Urals and the Taymyr Peninsula, which were also covered by a continental ice sheet at that time. Obruchev thought that the present Greenland ice cap and other glaciers of the North American islands, the glaciers of Spitsbergen, Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa, Novaya Zemlya, and Severnaya Zemlya are the remnants of ice caps and glaciers of the Ice Ages. Further evidence for the glaciations is the existence of fossil ice, which Obruchev discussed in detail in several of his works. His research concerning the Ice Ages helped to establish the southern limits of glaciation and the present distribution of permafrost. The very large amount of geological and geographical information collected by Obruchev in northern Asia has very great value in permafrost research, especially in the preparation of long-term climatic predictions and in the determination of the degree of climatic amelioration in the Arctic. He did not isolate permafrost from other natural phenomena but studied it in relation to the geology of the region. ... Obruchev died on June 19, 1956 and was buried in the Novodevich' cemetery in Moscow.

scholarly journals Glaciological and Geomorphological Reconnaissance in the Antarctic in 1956

1957 ◽  
Vol 3 (21) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Shumskiy
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Preliminary Account ◽  
Antarctic Expedition ◽  
Ice Regime ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract This paper presents a preliminary account of the glaciological observations made by the Antarctic Expedition of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, Queen Mary Land and Knox Coast in 1956. The topography of the edge of the ice sheet is described, and the ice regime is discussed, particularly in relation to the existence of ice-free areas such as “Bunger’s oasis”.

scholarly journals A new bedrock and surface elevation dataset for modelling the Greenland ice sheet

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 351-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan L. Bamber ◽  
Duncan J. Baldwin ◽  
S. Prasad Gogineni
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Rock Outcrops ◽  
Bed Topography ◽  
Elevation Model

AbstractA new digital elevation model of the surface of the Greenland ice sheet and surrounding rock outcrops has been produced from a comprehensive suite of satellite and airborne remote-sensing and cartographic datasets. The surface model has been regridded to a resolution of 5 km, and combined with a new ice-thickness grid derived from ice-penetrating radar data collected in the 1970s and 1990s. A further dataset, the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean, was used to extend the bed elevations to include the continental shelf. The new bed topography was compared with a previous version used for ice-sheet modelling. Near the margins of the ice sheet and, in particular, in the vicinity of small-scale features associated with outlet glaciers and rapid ice motion, significant differences were noted. This was highlighted by a detailed comparison of the bed topography around the northeast Greenland ice stream.

Advanced Weathervaning in Ice

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hidding ◽  
Guillaume Bonnaffoux ◽  
Mamoun Naciri
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Change ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Model Tests ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Mooring System ◽  
Sudden Increase ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Ice Loads ◽  
Level Ice ◽  
Drift Direction

The reported presence of one third of remaining fossil reserves in the Arctic has sparked a lot of interest from energy companies. This has raised the necessity of developing specific engineering tools to design safely and accurately arctic-compliant offshore structures. The mooring system design of a turret-moored vessel in ice-infested waters is a clear example of such a key engineering tool. In the arctic region, a turret-moored vessel shall be designed to face many ice features: level ice, ice ridges or even icebergs. Regarding specifically level ice, a turret-moored vessel will tend to align her heading (to weather vane) with the ice sheet drift direction in order to decrease the mooring loads applied by this ice sheet. For a vessel already embedded in an ice sheet, a rapid change in the ice drift direction will suddenly increase the ice loads before the weathervaning occurs. This sudden increase in mooring loads may be a governing event for the turret-mooring system and should therefore be understood and simulated properly to ensure a safe design. The paper presents ADWICE (Advanced Weathervaning in ICE), an engineering tool dedicated to the calculation of the weathervaning of ship-shaped vessels in level ice. In ADWICE, the ice load formulation relies on the Croasdale model. Ice loads are calculated and applied to the vessel quasi-statically at each time step. The software also updates the hull waterline contour at each time step in order to calculate precisely the locations of contact between the hull and the ice sheet. Model tests of a turret-moored vessel have been performed in an ice basin. Validation of the simulated response is performed by comparison with model tests results in terms of weathervaning time, maximum mooring loads, and vessel motions.

Early Holocene ocean conditions off the Zachariæ Isstrøm, Northeast Greenland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Davies ◽  
Anders Møller Mathiasen ◽  
Kristiane Kristensen ◽  
Christof Pearce ◽  
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Outlet Glacier ◽  
The Impact

<p>The polar regions exhibit some of the most visible signs of climate change globally; annual mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has quadrupled in recent decades, from 51 ± 65 Gt yr<sup>−1</sup> (1992-2001) to 211 ± 37 Gt yr<sup>−1</sup> (2002-2011). This can partly be attributed to the widespread retreat and speed-up of marine-terminating glaciers. The Zachariae Isstrøm (ZI) is an outlet glacier of the Northeast Greenland Ice Steam (NEGIS), one of the largest ice streams of the GrIS (700km), draining approximately 12% of the ice sheet interior. Observations show that the ZI began accelerating in 2000, resulting in the collapse of the floating ice shelf between 2002 and 2003. By 2014, the ice shelf extended over an area of 52km<sup>2</sup>, a 95% decrease in area since 2002, where it extended over 1040km<sup>2</sup>. Paleo-reconstructions provide an opportunity to extend observational records in order to understand the oceanic and climatic processes governing the position of the grounding zone of marine terminating glaciers and the extent of floating ice shelves. Such datasets are thus necessary if we are to constrain the impact of future climate change projections on the Arctic cryosphere.</p><p>A multi-proxy approach, involving grain size, geochemical, foraminiferal and sedimentary analysis was applied to marine sediment core DA17-NG-ST8-92G, collected offshore of the ZI, on  the Northeast Greenland Shelf. The aim was to reconstruct changes in the extent of the ZI and the palaeoceanographic conditions throughout the Early to Mid Holocene (c.a. 12,500-5,000 cal. yrs. BP). Evidence from the analysis of these datasets indicates that whilst there has been no grounded ice at the site over the last 12,500 years, the ice shelf of the ZI extended as a floating ice shelf over the site between 12,500 and 9,200 cal. yrs. BP, with the grounding line further inland from our study site. This was followed by a retreat in the ice shelf extent during the Holocene Thermal Maximum; this was likely to have been governed, in part, by basal melting driven by Atlantic Water (AW) recirculated from Svalbard or from the Arctic Ocean. Evidence from benthic foraminifera suggest that there was a shift from the dominance of AW to Polar Water at around 7,500 cal. yrs. BP, although the ice shelf did not expand again despite of this cooling of subsurface waters.</p>

Natural variability and recent warming in central Greenland ice cores

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Hoerhold ◽  
Thomas Münch ◽  
Stefanie Weißbach ◽  
Sepp Kipfstuhl ◽  
Bo Vinther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Natural Variability ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Last Millennium ◽  
Recent Warming ◽  
Temperature Reconstructions ◽  
Firn Core

<p>Climate variability of the Arctic region has been investigated by means of temperature reconstructions based on proxies from various climate archives around the Arctic, compiled over the last 2000a in the so called Arctic2k record. However, the representativeness of the Arctic2k reconstruction for central Greenland remains unclear, since only a few ice cores have been included in the reconstruction, and observations from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIC) report ambiguous warming trends for the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century which are not displayed by Arctic2k. Today, the GIC experiences periods with temperatures close to or above the freezing point at high elevations, area-wide melting and mass loss. In order to assess the recent warming as signature of global climate change, records of past climate changes with appropriate temporal and spatial coverage can serve as a benchmark for naturally driven climate variability. Instrumental records for Greenland are short and geographically sparse, and existing temperature reconstructions from single ice cores are noisy, leading to an inconclusive assessment of the recent warming for Greenland.</p><p>Here, we provide a Greenland firn-core stack covering the time span of the last millennium until the first decade of the 21<sup>st </sup>century in unprecedented quality by re-drilling as well as analyzing 16 existing firn core sites. We find a strong decadal to bi-decadal natural variability in the record, and, while the record exhibits several warming events with trends that show a similar amplitude as the recent one, we find that the recent absolute values of stable oxygen isotope composition are unprecedented for the last 1000 years.</p><p> </p><p>Comparing our Greenland record with the Arctic 2k temperature reconstruction shows that the correlation between the two records changes throughout the last millennium. While in the periods of 1200-1300 and 1400-1650 CE the records correlate positively, between 1300 and 1400 and 1650-1700 CE shorter periods with negative correlation are found. Since then the correlation is characterized by alternation between positive and zero correlation, with a drop towards negative values at the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Including re-analysis data, we hypothesize that the climate on top of the GIC was decoupled from the surrounding Arctic for the last decades, leading to the observed mismatch in observations of warming trends.</p><p>We suggest that the recently observed Greenland temperatures are a superposition of a strong natural variability with an anthropogenic long-term trend. Our findings illustrate that global warming has reached the interior of the Greenland ice sheet, which will have implications for its surface mass balance and Greenland’s future contribution to sea level rise.</p><p>Our record complements the Arctic 2k record to a profound view on the Arctic climate variability, where regional compilations may not be representative for specific areas.</p>

scholarly journals Contribution to the Movement and the form of Ice Sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic

1961 ◽  
Vol 3 (30) ◽  
pp. 1133-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haefeli
Keyword(s):  
Average Rate ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Surface Profile ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Present Theory ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Influence ◽  
Horizontal Velocity Component ◽  
Flow Law ◽  
Set Up

AbstractStarting from Glen’s flow law for ice and from a series of assumptions based in part on observations in Greenland and in the Jungfraujoch, the velocity distribution (horizontal velocity component) and surface configuration is derived for a strip-shaped ice sheet in a stationary state. For the choice n = 3 − 4 of the exponent in the power-law flow relation, there is extensive agreement between the theoretically calculated surface profile and the east-west profile measured through “Station Centrale” by Expéditions Polaires Françaises. The corresponding theoretical solution for a circular ice sheet is also given. As a first application of this theory, an attempt is made to calculate the average rate of accumulation in Antarctica from its surface profile (assumed circular in plan) and from the flow-law parameters derived from the Greenland Ice Sheet. It is also shown that a change in accumulation has only a small influence on the total ice thickness of an ice sheet. A method of calculating approximately the age of ice in an ice sheet, based on the foregoing theory, is illustrated by applying it to the Greenland Ice Sheet. After comparing the present theory with that of Nye, a general expression for the surface profile of an ice sheet with constant accumulation is set up and discussed by means of comparison with two profiles through Antarctica.

scholarly journals Heterogeneous CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> content of glacial meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet and implications for subglacial carbon processes

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1627-1644
Author(s):  
Andrea J. Pain ◽  
Jonathan B. Martin ◽  
Ellen E. Martin ◽  
Åsa K. Rennermalm ◽  
Shaily Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Mineral Weathering ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Co2 Concentrations ◽  
Geochemical Models ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 Concentrations ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Accelerated melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased freshwater delivery to the Arctic Ocean and amplified the need to understand the impact of Greenland Ice Sheet meltwater on Arctic greenhouse gas budgets. We evaluate subglacial discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet for carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) concentrations and δ13C values and use geochemical models to evaluate subglacial CH4 and CO2 sources and sinks. We compare discharge from southwest (a sub-catchment of the Isunnguata Glacier, sub-Isunnguata, and the Russell Glacier) and southern Greenland (Kiattut Sermiat). Meltwater CH4 concentrations vary by orders of magnitude between sites and are saturated with respect to atmospheric concentrations at Kiattut Sermiat. In contrast, meltwaters from southwest sites are supersaturated, even though oxidation reduces CH4 concentrations by up to 50 % during periods of low discharge. CO2 concentrations range from supersaturated at sub-Isunnguata to undersaturated at Kiattut Sermiat. CO2 is consumed by mineral weathering throughout the melt season at all sites; however, differences in the magnitude of subglacial CO2 sources result in meltwaters that are either sources or sinks of atmospheric CO2. At the sub-Isunnguata site, the predominant source of CO2 is organic matter (OM) remineralization. However, multiple or heterogeneous subglacial CO2 sources maintain atmospheric CO2 concentrations at Russell but not at Kiattut Sermiat, where CO2 is undersaturated. These results highlight a previously unrecognized degree of heterogeneity in greenhouse gas dynamics under the Greenland Ice Sheet. Future work should constrain the extent and controls of heterogeneity to improve our understanding of the impact of Greenland Ice Sheet melt on Arctic greenhouse gas budgets, as well as the role of continental ice sheets in greenhouse gas variations over glacial–interglacial timescales.

scholarly journals TO THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF E.G. Morozov

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-163
Author(s):  
S. M. Shapovalov
Keyword(s):  
Internal Waves ◽  
Executive Committee ◽  
International Association ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Russian Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

March 15, 2021 Chief Researcher, Head of the Laboratory of Hydrological Processes of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, DSc, ex-president of the International Association for Physical Ocean Sciences (IAPSO) Evgeny Morozov is 75 years old. E.G. Morozov is a prominent scientist and organizer of world-class science in the field of studying the temporal and spatial variability of hydrological processes and internal waves in a wide range of scales. He was the first to build a map of the amplitudes of tidal internal waves of the World Ocean. His monograph “Oceanic Internal Waves” published in 1985 in Russian, as well as his article “Semidiurnal internal wave global field”, published in the Deep Sea Research in 1995, are among the most cited on the problem of internal tidal waves. Unique results were obtained by E.G. Morozov in the study of internal waves in the Arctic, including under the ice and near the front of glaciers sliding into the ocean on Spitsbergen. He made a significant contribution to the study of various currents: the Gulf Stream, the Kuroshio and their rings, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the California Current, the Falkland Current, the Lomonosov and Tareev subsurface equatorial currents. Since 1999 he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean (IAPSO) and since 2011 he has been elected President of the IAPSO, represented the IAPSO in this capacity on the Executive Committee of the International Geodetic and Geophysical Union (IUGG) and on the Executive Committee of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic research (SCOR). E.G. Morozov is the chairman of the Ocean Physical Sciences Section of the National Geophysical Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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