Assessment of the Mechanical Properties of Carbon-Fiber Heating Cables in Snow and Ice Melting Applications

The use of carbon-fiber heating cables(CFHC)to achieve effective melting of snow and ice deposited on roads is a method used worldwide.In this study,tensile and compressive tests have been conducted to analyze the mechan-ical properties of the CFHC and assess whether the maximum tensile and compressive strengths can meet the pavement design specifications.In order to study the aging produced by multiple cycles of heating and cooling,in particular,the CFHC was repeatedly heated in a cold chamber with an ambient temperature ranging between-20℃ and+40℃.Moreover,to evaluate how the strength of the pavement is affected by its presence,the CFHC was embedded at different depths and concrete blocks with different curing ages were subjected to relevant com-pression and splitting tensile tests.Numerical simulations based on the ANSYS software have also been performed and compared with the outcomes of the static loading tests.The results show that the CFHC embedded in the concrete does not affect the compressive splitting tensile strengths of the pavement.Overall,the CFHC meets the conditions required for continued use in road ice melting applications.

Response of nutrients and the surface phytoplankton community to ice melting in the central Arctic Ocean

During the fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition cruise in summer 2010, a time-series observation was carried out to examine the response of nutrients and phytoplankton community in the ice-water interface to the ice melting ice in the central Arctic Ocean. Phosphate and silicate in the ice-water interface were rich relative to dissolved inorganic nitrogen （DIN）, based on the Redfield ratio （16N：1P：16Si）, suggesting that DIN was the potential limiting nutrient. DIN concentrations in the sea ice were about 3-4 times that in the surface seawater, indicating that melting ice delivered DIN to the surface water. Pigment analysis showed that fucoxanthin and chlorophyll a contribute to carotenoids and chlorophylls in particles. The mean concentrations of chlorophyll c, diatoxanthin, diadinoxanthin and fucoxanthin from 15 August to 18 August were 6 ug.m-3, 22 ug.m-a, 73 ug.m-3 and 922 ug.m-3, respectively, suggesting that diatoms dominated in the phytoplankton community composition. Furthermore, a notable enhancement in fucoxanthin and chlorophyll a during a large-scale ice melting was likely attributed to senescent diatoms released from the bottom sea-ice as well as phytoplankton diatoms growth in the water column due to the input of nutrients （i.e., DIN） and reducing light limitation from melting ice. Temporal distribution patterns of prasinoxanthin and lutein differed from fucoxanthin, indicating that the response of green algae and diatoms to ice melting were different.

Accumulation of freshwater in the permanent ice zone of the Canada Basin during summer 2008

A combination of 5180 and salinity data was employed to explore the freshwater balance in the Canada Basin in summer 2008. The Arctic river water and Pacific river water were quantitatively distinguished by using different saline end-members. The fractions of total river water, including the Arctic and Pacific river water, were high in the upper 50 m and decreased with depth as well as increasing latitude. In contrast, the fraction of Pacific river water increased gradually with depth but decreased toward north. The inventory of total river water in the Canada Basin was higher than other arctic seas, indicating that Canada Basin was a main storage region for river water in the Arctic Ocean. The fraction of Arctic river water was higher than Pacific river water in the upper 50 m while the opposite was true below 50 m. As a result, the inventories of Pacific river water were higher than those of Arctic river water, demonstrating that the Pacific inflow through the Bering Strait is the main source of freshwater in the Canada Basin. Both the river water and sea-ice melted water in the permanent ice zone were more abundant than those in the region with sea-ice just melted. The fractions of total river water, Arctic river water, Pacific river water increased northward to the north of 82°N, indicating an additional source of river water in the permanent ice zone of the northern Canada Basin. A possible reason for the extra river water in the permanent ice zone is the lateral advection of shelf waters by the Trans-Polar Drift. The penetration depth of sea-ice melted waters was less than 30 m in the southern Canada Basin, while it extended to 125 m in the northern Canada Basin. The inventory of sea- ice melted water suggested that sea-ice melted waters were also accumulated in the permanent ice zone, attributing to the trap of earlier melted waters in the permanent ice zone via the Beaufort Gyre.

Aerial observations of sea ice and melt ponds near the North Pole during CHINARE2010

An aerial photography has been used to provide validation data on sea ice near the North Pole where most polar orbiting satellites cannot cover. This kind of data can also be used as a supplement for missing data and for reducing the uncertainty of data interpolation. The aerial photos are analyzed near the North Pole collected during the Chinese national arctic research expedition in the summer of 2010（CHINARE2010）. The result shows that the average fraction of open water increases from the ice camp at approximately 87°N to the North Pole, resulting in the decrease in the sea ice. The average sea ice concentration is only 62.0% for the two flights（16 and 19 August 2010）. The average albedo（0.42） estimated from the area ratios among snow-covered ice,melt pond and water is slightly lower than the 0.49 of HOTRAX 2005. The data on 19 August 2010 shows that the albedo decreases from the ice camp at approximately 87°N to the North Pole, primarily due to the decrease in the fraction of snow-covered ice and the increase in fractions of melt-pond and open-water. The ice concentration from the aerial photos and AMSR-E（The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System） images at 87.0°–87.5°N exhibits similar spatial patterns, although the AMSR-E concentration is approximately 18.0%（on average） higher than aerial photos. This can be attributed to the 6.25 km resolution of AMSR-E, which cannot separate melt ponds/submerged ice from ice and cannot detect the small leads between floes. Thus, the aerial photos would play an important role in providing high-resolution independent estimates of the ice concentration and the fraction of melt pond cover to validate and/or supplement space-borne remote sensing products near the North Pole.

Wave-ice dynamical interaction:a numerical model and its application

In this paper,an ice floe inner stress caused by the wave-induced bending moment is derived to estimate the stress failure of ice floe.The strain and stress failures are combined to establish a wave-induced ice yield scheme.We added ice stress and strain failure module in the Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model(FVCOM),which already includes module of ice-induced wave attenuation.Thus a fully coupled wave-ice dynamical interaction model is established based on the ice and wave modules of FVCOM.This model is applied to reproduce the ice and wave fields of the breakup events observed during the second Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem Experiment(SIPEX-2)voyage.The simulation results show that by adopting the combined wave-induced ice yield scheme,the model can successfully predict the ice breakup events,which the strain failure model is unable to predict.By comparing the critical significant wave height deduced from strain and stress failure schemes,it is concluded that the ice breakup is caused by the strain failure when wave periods are shorter than a threshold value,while the stress failure is the main reason for the ice breakup when wave periods are longer than the threshold value.Neglecting either of these two ice-break inducement mechanisms could overestimate the ice floe size,and thus underestimate the velocity of the ice lateral melt and increase the error of simulation of polar ice extent.

Effect of debris on seasonal ice melt (2016−2018) on Ponkar Glacier, Manang, Nepal

Supraglacial debris is widely present on glaciers in alpine environments and its distribution greatly affects glacier melt.The present study aims to determine the effect of debris on glacier ice melt on Ponkar Glacier,Manang District,Nepal.We estimated ice melt under various debris thickness using Energy Balance(EB)model and conductive heat flux methods,which are compared with in-situ observations.Four stakes are installed on the glacier at different debris thickness of 11−40 cm.Meteorological data from March 2016 to May 2018 are obtained from the Automatic Weather Station(AWS)installed on the glacier surface at an elevation of 3,881 m a.s.l.for the energy balance calculation.Debris surface temperature and different debris depths are also measured on the glacier.The calculated ablation rates from the conductive heat flux method are 0.9,1.62 and 0.41 cm/d on pre-monsoon,monsoon and post-monsoon,respectively,with mean debris thermal conductivity 1.04 W/(m∙K).The net radiation shows little variation between the seasons,while turbulent heat flux varies in the season.Sensible heat flux was found to be highest in post-monsoon season due to a larger temperature gradient between surface and air.

Effects of sea ice melt water input on phytoplankton biomass and community structure in the eastern Amundsen Sea

Sea ice melt water and circumpolar deep water(CDW)intrusion have important impacts on the ecosystem of the Amundsen Sea.In this study,samples of nutrients and phytoplankton pigments from nine stations in the eastern Amundsen Sea were collected during the austral summer.Based on in-situ hydrological observations,sea ice density data from satellite remote sensing,and chemical taxonomy calculations,the relationships between environmental factors and phytoplankton biomass and community structure were studied.The results showed that with increasing latitude,the contribution of sea ice melt water(MW%)and the stability of the water body increased,and the depth of the mixed layer(MLD)decreased.The integrated concentration of chlorophyll a(Chl-a)ranged from 21.4 mg·m^(−2) to 148.4 mg·m^(−2)(the average value was 35.7±53.4 mg·m^(−2)).Diatoms(diatoms-A[Fragilariopsis spp.,Chaetoceros spp.,and Proboscia spp.]and diatoms-B[Pseudonitzschia spp.])and Phaeocystis antarctica were the two most widely distributed phytoplankton groups and contributed 32%±16%and 28%±11%,respectively,of the total biomass.The contributions of Dinoflagellates,Chlorophytes,Cryptophytes,the high-iron group of P.antarctica,and Diatom group A were approximately 17%±8%,15%±13%,9%±6%,5%±9%,and 3%±7%,respectively.The area with the highest phytoplankton biomass was located near the ice-edge region,with a short time lag(T_(lag))between sampling and complete sea ice melt and a high MW%,while the area with the second-highest Chl-a concentration was located in the area affected by the upwelling of CDW,with thorough water mixing.Vertically,in the area with a short T_(lag) and a shallow MLD,the phytoplankton biomass and proportion of diatoms decreased rapidly with increasing water depth.In contrast,in the region with a long T_(lag) and limited CDW upwelling,the phytoplankton community was dominated by a relatively constant and high proportion of micro phytoplankton,and the phytoplankton biomass was low and relatively stable vertically.Generally,the phytoplankton community structure and biomass in the study area showed high spatial variation and were sensitive to environmental changes.

Discussion on possibilities of taking ground ice in permafrost as water sources on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during climate warming

Large amounts of ground ice are born with permafrost on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Degradation of permafrost resulted from the climate warming will inevitably lead to melting of ground ice.The water released from the melting ground ice enters hydrologic cycles at various levels,and changes regional hydrologic regimes to various degrees.Due to difficulties in monitoring the perma-frost-degradation-release-water process,direct and reliable evidence is few.The accumulative effect of releasing water,however,is remarkable in the macro-scale hydrologic process.On the basis of the monitoring results of water-levels changes in some lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,and combined with the previous results of the hydrologic changing trends at the regional scale,the authors preliminarily discussed the possibilities of the degrading permafrost on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a potential water source during climate warming.

Greenland Ice Sheet surface melt:A review

Surface melt has great impacts on the Greenland Ice Sheet （GrlS） mass balance and thereby has become the focus of significant GrlS research in recent years. The production, transport, and release processes of surface meltwater are the keys to understanding the poten- tial impacts of the GrlS surface melt. These hydrological processes can elucidate the following scientific questions： How much melt- water is produced atop the GrlS？ What are the characteristics of the meltwater-formed supraglacial hydrological system？ How does the meltwater influence the GrlS motion？ The GrlS supraglacial hydrology has a number of key roles and yet continues to be poorly understood or documented. This paper summarizes the current understanding of the GrlS surface melt, emphasizing the three essential supraglacial hydrological processes： （1） meltwater production： surface melt modeling is an important approach to acquire surface melt information, and areas, depths, and volumes of supraglacial lakes extracted from remotely sensed imagery can also provide surface melt information; （2） meltwater transport： the spatial distributions of supraglacial lakes, supraglacial sarams, moulins, and crevasses demonstrate the characteristics of the supraglacial hydrological system, revealing the meltwater transport process; and （3） meltwater release： the release of meltwater into the englacial and the subglacial ice sheet has important but undetermined impacts on the GrlS motion. The correlation between surface runoff and the GrlS motion speed is employed to understand these influences.

Assessing the global averaged sea-level budget from 2003 to 2010

A global mass balance （Greenland and Antarctica ice sheet mass loss, terrestrial water storage） and differ- ent sea-level components （observed sea-level from satellite altimetry, steric sea-level from Ishii data, and ocean mass from gravity recovery and climate experiment, GRACE） are estimated, in terms of seasonal and interannual variabilities from 2003 to 2010. The results show that a detailed analysis of the GRACE time series over the time period 2003-2010 unambiguously reveals an increase in mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet and Antarctica ice sheet. The mass loss of both ice sheets accelerated at a rate of （392.8±70.0） Gt/a during 2003-2010, which contributed （1.09±0.19） mm/a to the global mean sea-level during this time. The net terrestrial water storage （TWS） trend was negative over the 8 a time span, which gave a small positive contribution of （0.25±0.12） mm/a. The interannual variability of the global mean sea-level was at least part- ly caused by year-to-year variability of land water storage. Estimating GRACE-based ice sheet mass balance and terrestrial water storage by using published estimates for melting glaciers, the results further show that the ocean mass increase since 2003 has resulted half from an enhanced contribution of the polar ice sheets, and half from the combined ice sheet and terrestrial water storage loss. Taking also into account the melt- ing of mountain glaciers （0.41 mm/a） and the small GRACE-based contribution from continental waters （0.25 mm/a）, a total ocean mass contribution of （1.75±0.57） mm/a from 2003 to 2010 is found. Such a value represented 75% of the altimetry-based rate of sea-level rise over that period. The contributions to steric sea-level （i.e., ocean thermal expansion plus salinity effects） are estimated from： （1） the difference between altimetry-based sea-level and ocean mass change and （2） the latest Ishii data. The inferred steric sea-level rate from （1） （1.41 mm/a from 2003 to 2010） did not agree well with the Ishii-based value also estimated here （0.44 mm/a from 2003 to 2010）, but phase. The cause for such a discrepancy is not yet known but may be related to inadequate sampling of in situ ocean temperature and salinity measurements.

Spatial distribution of supraglacial debris thickness on glaciers of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and surroundings

Debris-covered glaciers,characterized by the presence of supraglacial debris mantles in their ablation zones,are widespread in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC)and surroundings.For these glaciers,thin debris layers accelerate the melting of underlying ice compared to that of bare ice,while thick debris layers retard ice melting,called debriscover effect.Knowledge about the thickness and thermal properties of debris cover on CPEC glaciers is still unclear,making it difficult to assess the regional debris-cover effect.In this study,thermal resistance of the debris layer estimated from remotely sensed data reveals that about 54.0%of CPEC glaciers are debris-covered glaciers,on which the total debris-covered area is about 5,072 km2,accounting for 14.0%of the total glacier area of the study region.We find that marked difference in the extent and thickness of debris cover is apparent from region to region,as well as the debris-cover effect.53.3%of the total debris-covered area of the study region is concentrated in Karakoram,followed by Pamir with 30.2%of the total debris-covered area.As revealed by the thermal resistance,the debris thickness is thick in Hindu Kush on average,with the mean thermal resistance of 7.0×10^-2((m^2∙K)/W),followed by Karakoram,while the thickness in western Himalaya is thin with the mean value of 2.0×10^-2((m^2∙K)/W).Our findings provide a basis for better assessments of changes in debriscovered glaciers and their associated hydrological impacts in the CPEC and surroundings.

Variation of upper-ocean heat content in the Canada Basin in summers of 2003 and 2008

Conductivity, temperature, and depth data collected during the summers of 2003 and 2008 were used to study upper-ocean （top 200 m） heat content in the Canada Basin. The variation of heat content with depth, heat content differences between the summers, principal driving factors, and horizontal spatial scale differences were analyzed. A catastrophic reduction of sea ice cover in the Canada Basin was evident in 2008 by comparison with 2003, suggesting that more solar radiation was absorbed in the upper ocean during the summer of 2008. The sea ice reduction produced more freshwater in the upper ocean. Thus, seawater properties changed. The study shows that the huge reduction of sea ice would result in two changes-widespread warming of the upper ocean, and the depth of Pacific inflow water in the basin increased substantially. Near-surface temperature maximum （NSTM） water was also analyzed as an indicator of Arctic Ocean warming.

Oxygen isotopic composition and its application to the study of tracing oceanographical process in Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea

In this paper, the 18 O distribution of surface water from the central sea areas of the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea was studied. The δ 18 O value of surface water from the Bering Sea is averagely -0.5‰; the δ 18 O contents of the Chukchi Sea are distributionally lower in northeast and higher in southwest; the δ 18 O value at the margin of Canadian Basin is -2.8‰, and averagely -0.8‰ in the southern area of the Chukchi Sea. The δ 18 O vertical distribution in some deep water stations from the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea is also studied. In the southern margin of Canadian Basin, the δ 18 O value is -2‰ -3‰ for surface layer and rises to 0 at 100 m depth layer. In the Bering Sea, the δ 18 O is about -0.5‰ for surface layer and increases to 0 at the depth of 300 m. The NO tracer can reflect obviously three water masses vertically distributed in the central Bering Sea: the upper Bering water mass, the middle Bering water mass and the deep Pacific water mass. The distributive ranges of NO and temperature for the various water masses are T<7℃, NO>780 μmol/dm 3 and T≥7℃, NO>650 μmol/dm 3 for upper Bering water mass, T<4℃, 550<NO<780 μmol/dm 3 for middle Bering water mass, and T<4℃, 330<NO<550 μmol/dm 3 for deep Pacific water mass. It is found from δ 18 O-S relation diagram and δ 18 O vertical profiles that the δ 18 O is about +0.3‰ from halocline layer till sea bottom. Its isotopic characteristics are the same as the Atlantic water, showing that the sea water comes from the north Atlantic. The freshwater end member of the Chukchi Sea in the survey period is also explored.

Evidences of the expanding Earth from space-geodetic data over solid land and sea level rise in recent two decades

According to the space-geodetic data recorded at globally distributed stations over solid land spanning a period of more than 20-years under the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2008,our previous estimate of the average-weighted vertical variation of the Earth＇s solid surface suggests that the Earth＇s solid part is expanding at a rate of 0.24 ± 0.05 mm/a in recent two decades.In another aspect,the satellite altimetry observations spanning recent two decades demonstrate the sea level rise（SLR） rate 3.2 ± 0.4 mm/a,of which1.8 ± 0.5 mm/a is contributed by the ice melting over land.This study shows that the oceanic thermal expansion is 1.0 ± 0.1 mm/a due to the temperature increase in recent half century,which coincides with the estimate provided by previous authors.The SLR observation by altimetry is not balanced by the ice melting and thermal expansion,which is an open problem before this study.However,in this study we infer that the oceanic part of the Earth is expanding at a rate about 0.4 mm/a.Combining the expansion rates of land part and oceanic part,we conclude that the Earth is expanding at a rate of 0.35 ± 0.47 mm/a in recent two decades.If the Earth expands at this rate,then the altimetry-observed SLR can be well explained.

Melting Alpine Ice Unveils Decades-Old Corpses

文章的标题写得何等好啊!典型的“非人称主语句”(Impersonal SubjectSentence),表达简洁,生动,形象。汉语恐怕只能译成“阿尔卑斯山冰雪融化 陈年尸首显容露貌”;此外,文章的主题句也精彩极了!须知,其主干结构仅为:ASwiss father…thought his quest had paid off…而已。时此主题句的翻译,也许只能化整为零了。如译:瑞士的一位为人父者在搜寻他那已经失踪了18年的登山之子的尸体时,本周终于得到了回报,因为欧洲创纪录的高温天气令冰川消 融,一具尸体终于显露。