SIPN1 Webinar Archives

A small Sea Ice Outlook workshop was held 10 March 2009 in Boulder, Colorado. Participants discussed lessons learned from the 2008 Sea Ice Outlook and planned for the 2009 Sea Ice Outlook. A report from this meeting will be circulated to the community for input in April 2009.

For more information, please contact Helen V. Wiggins, ARCUS.

This meeting was held for the contributors and advisors to the Sea Ice Outlook to (1) briefly review last year's activities, (2) plan the 2010 Pan-Arctic Sea Ice Outlook and the Regional Ice Outlook, and (3) get feedback on a Sea Ice Walrus Outlook planned for the Pacific Arctic sector in conjunction with NOAA researchers and Bering Sea communities.

For further information, please contact Helen V. Wiggins, ARCUS.

Uncertainty in Satellite-Derived Sea Ice Extent Estimates

This webinar focused on uncertainty in sea ice extent estimates from remotely-sensed data. Arctic sea ice extent estimates from remote sensing data (e.g., passive microwave sensors like Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System [AMSR-E] and others) are widely used to project sea ice trends, initialize models, and evaluate model forecasts. As with all kinds of remote observations, this method of estimating sea ice extent has strengths and weaknesses that result in unique kinds of uncertainty. To date, however, little effort has been made to provide an uncertainty range of extent estimates from satellite data. Meier discussed our current understanding of these issues and proposed various methods of estimating extent uncertainty, with the aim of improving analyses of sea ice extent trends and variability. A question and answer session with participants followed the presentation.

Webinar Presenter:

Walt Meier
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Bio:

Walt Meier, a member of the SIPN leadership team, is a research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory. His research focuses on remote sensing of sea ice, development of new sea ice products and sea ice climate data records, and analyzing changes in the Arctic sea ice cover. He has been the principal investigator on a project to create a sea ice climate data record.

The 2015 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) - Post Season Discussion

This webinar included a discussion of the 2015 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) with a focus on what were the lessons learned from this season, what was new this season, and what areas could be improved for the future. Presentations included a review and analysis of the outlooks contributed from 2008 to 2015, discussion of the 2015 summer sea-ice conditions that lead to the minima this year, and discussion of the SIO success and challenges at the local scale. Community discussion followed the presentations

Webinar Presenters

Larry Hamilton
University of New Hampshire

Julienne Stroeve
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Cecilia Bitz
University of Washington

Observations of Arctic Snow and Sea Ice Thickness from Satellite and Airborne Surveys

This webinar, organized by the Sea Ice Prediction Network Leadership Team, provided information on the current state and availability of snow and sea ice thickness data from NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne surveys and the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite mission. The accuracy and limitations of these operational data sets was also discussed to place the utility of the data in context for use in a variety of study areas.

Webinar Presenter
Nathan Kurtz
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

This open webinar, hosted by the Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN), focused on post-season analysis and discussion of the 2014 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO). The SIO produces reports in June, July, and August that synthesize a variety of predictions and perspectives on the arctic sea ice minimum. The webinar provided a venue for discussion of the 2014 SIO, including processes that influenced sea ice melt this year and a review of the differing approaches to predicting the sea ice minimum extent.

Webinar Presenters:
Cecilia Bitz
University of Washington

Julienne Stroeve
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

Walt Meier
NASA - Goddard

Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth
University of Washingtion

François Massonnet
Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels

Jonny Day
University of Reading, United Kingdom

Virginie Guemas
Institut Catala de Ciencies del Clima, Barcelona, Spain

David Schröder
University of Reading, United Kingdom

Questions for Participants

In preparation for the webinar, participants we encouraged to think about the following questions:

• How would you characterize the success of Sea Ice Outlook predictions this year, including relative strengths or weaknesses of different methodologies?
  [Note: On 7 October 2014 NSIDC announced the Arctic sea ice extent averaged for the month of September 2014 was 5.28 million square kilometers (2.04 million square miles), also the 6th lowest in the satellite record. More information is available here.]
• What do you see as the main factors driving this year’s minimum extent?
• If you were a SIO contributor, are there specific datasets or other information that would have been useful to have for your predictions?
• What would you like to see changed (or kept the same) about the SIO?
• What kind of post-season analyses or activities would you like to see?
• Where do we go from here as a sea ice prediction community?