Remote Imaging and Spectral Characterization of the Cryosphere

The purpose of this project is to initiate and enhance collaboration between Norwegian and US investigators. We anticipate the activities within RISCC be bi-directional whereby knowledge and data from cooperating programs will be readily shared between th e project partners. The following specific activities with the framework of RISCC have been proposed: -- Cooperation with existing US-Funded Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Campaigns (2011) -- Continuous measurements of grain size and Specific Surface Area (2010 & 2011) -- Satellite retrievals and development of ground-truth datasets (2011) -- RISCC Workshop (2012, postponed to 2013) For this reporting period, most of the activities have been completed and reported on in earlier Annual Reports Herein we report on the activities that were conducted specifically in 2013. Publication of Results from 2011 Atmospheric Measurements from UAS On March 11, 2013 we published our manuscript titled 'Measurements of atmospheric aerosol vertical distribu tions above Svalbard, Norway, using unmanned aerial systems (UAS)' in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. This is an open access journal available online. In this manuscript we demonstrate the viability of using UAS for the measurement of atmospheric a erosols. Currently, there are insufficient measurements to evaluate black carbon transport to the Arctic, the vertical distributions of BC over the Arctic, and the induced changes in surface albedo resulting from the deposition of BC to snow/ice surfaces. To date, all assessments of the impact of BC on surface albedo and temperature are model based. The RISCC Project in 2011 initiated the the Coordinated Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere Interactions (CICCI) initiative. The central goal of the initia tive was to improve the understanding of processes controlling the distribution of black carbon (BC) in the Arctic atmosphere, the deposition of BC to snow and ice surfaces, and the resulting climate impacts.  Measurements of the vertical distribution of BC in the atmosphere  over Ny-Ålesund using a new unmanned aerosol system (UAS) equipped with an aerosol measurement package are described here. Measurements were made on Svalbard at the Holtadalfohna Plateau; Kongsfjord fast ice; and the sea ice north of Spitsbergen. During the campaign NOAA flew a Manta UAV with an aerosol sampler on board. The flights were flown in cooperation with the NORUT Cryowing UAS which was measuring snow pack reflectivity. The aerosol measurement package is modular in design and can be quickly installed and removed from the MANTA payload bay. The UAS can provide high quality vertical distributions of aerosol properties that can be used to better understand the transport and distributions of BC in the Arctic. The measure ments during STADS showed that the transport to Ny-Ålesund occurred above the boundary layer and hence were not sampled by ground or mountain stations. Regular UAS measurements in the Arctic could provide the vertical aerosol data needed to test climate models and satellite retrievals. Data from the experiment are available at http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/Field/CICCI/index.html. RISCC Advanced Workshop on Image Analysis and Scientific Programming The RISCC Workshop was held on the 5th and 6th of November, 2013. An invitation for the workshop was sent to the Department of Geosciences community as well as others from Sintef, NILU, and elsewhere. Due to limited space, participation was based on a first-come, first-serve basis. At the end, 18 par ticipants attended the workshop. Interest in gaining tools for optimization of scientific programming routines and image analysis optimization was high. The workshop was generously hosted by Statkraft and held at their headquarter offices in Lilleaker , Norway. Participants were introduced to the RISCC project and the challenges we have been facing with data analysis of such massive datasets and heterogeneous data. We used data collected during the various RISCC-related campaigns to develop exercises f or students to work through and attempt to optimize. Overall it was a great success, and the students seemed to be very engaged and happy to have 'real world' applications and datasets to hone their skills. An outcome of the course was a strong expression of interest from the students for more such activities. A Webpage for RISCC We have developed a web page in the past year that we'll use for continued updates and information on projects and campaigns related to Remote Imaging of the Cryosphere. The new webpage is available at: http://niflheim.nilu.no/riscc We also our working on developing a data portal, but this is not expected to be online before the end of the year.

In response to The Research Council of Norway call for Polar Research (POLRES) and the Norway-USA (NOR-USA) cooperation programme we present a suite of activities focused on improving remote imaging capacity in the cryosphere, with an emphasis on spectral measurements over Svalbard. These activities are intended to go well beyond a one-time collaboration, but rather have a principal objective of bringing scientific expertise to Norway that will contribute broadly to issues regarding climate change and hyd rologic security. Initially the collaboration proposed here is intended to bring significant added value to the NFR NORKLIMA Variability of Albedo Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (VAUUAV) Project. The goals of this project are directly relevant to Annex I of the NSF-RCN Statement of Cooperation. The cooperation will enhance the field measurements during the campaigns to address significant in situ processes influencing the spectral measurements. We propose to deploy additional instrumentation in paralle l with our ground stations to measure through remote sensing techniques the continuous evolution of grain size during our measurements. With this data we can quantify a significant factor controlling variability in order to help elucidate the slight but p otentially significant aerosol driven effect. From a broader perspective, this proposal brings together international expertise in remote sensing of the cryosphere both in the evaluation of albedo feedback processes on climate in the Arctic as well as th e application of remotely sensed data in Alpine environments for the management of water resources through the measurement of snow-water-equivalence (SWE). While the data collected will provide valuable products in order to refine satellite algorithms for the spectral characterization of the cryosphere, an enduring objective of RISCC is to establish Norway as an ideal location for satellite based validation experiments for the cryosphere.