Session organizers welcome studies of the processes (physical, chemical, and biological) that affect the properties of sea ice (e.g., optical properties, permeability, strength) and its mass balance (e.g.,
thickness, extent, concentration). Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, microbial communities, gas exchange, sea ice thermodynamics (including melt ponds and under ice ponds), brine transport, radiative transfer and albedo, snow distribution, interaction with the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers, redistribution of ice in mechanical deformation, mechanical failure and rheological behavior, and the role of tides. Organizers particularly welcome studies that show how observations can lead to improved models of sea ice processes.

Recent years have seen a dramatic reduction in the extent and thickness of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Southern Ocean, with diverse and important implications at regional and global scales. The inability of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) climate models to accurately predict these changes suggests the need for more accurate representation in models of processes affecting sea ice. This session turns attention to sea ice
(including its snow cover), and its close interactions and feedbacks with the atmosphere and ocean. Developing new understanding and improved models of sea ice processes requires input from submarine, field, aerial, and satellite observations; laboratory experiments; numerical modeling and sensitivity studies; and fundamental theory.

The abstract submission deadline for this and all other sessions is Thursday, 3 September 2009, at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time. To submit an abstract, you must enter the first author's current AGU member ID and password. To submit an abstract, please go to:
http://agu-fm09.abstractcentral.com/.

For further information, please contact:
Danny Feltham
Email: dlf@copm.ucl.ac.uk

Jenny Hutchings
Email: jenny@iarc.uaf.edu