The objective of N-ICE2015 is to understand how the rapid shift to a younger and thinner sea ice regime in the Arctic affects energy fluxes, sea ice dynamics and the ice-associated ecosystem, as well as local and global climate.
Many of the results from the experiment are published in a dedicated special issue in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres and Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

  • Area: The Arctic
  • Type: Research
  • Topic: Climate, Ecology, Marine, Oceanography, Seaice, Biology, Chemistry, Acidification, Atmosphere, Biodiversity, Ecotoxicology, Marine ecosystems, Remote-sensing
  • Leaders: Mats A. Granskog (Norwegian Polar Institute), Harald Steen (Norwegian Polar Institute)

Publications

Peer-reviewed (73)

An improved radiative forcing scheme for better representation of Arctic under-ice blooms

peer-reviewed Gao et al. 2022 - Ocean Modelling

Methane release from open leads and new ice following an Arctic winter storm event

peer-reviewed Silyakova et al. 2022 - Polar Science

Toward a Better Surface Radiation Budget Analysis Over Sea Ice in the High Arctic Ocean: A Comparative Study Between Satellite, Reanalysis, and local‐scale Observations

peer-reviewed Di Biagio et al. 2021 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Sharing wintering grounds does not synchronize annual survival in a high Arctic seabird, the little auk

peer-reviewed Descamps et al. 2020 - Marine Ecology Progress Series

Warm Atlantic Water explains observed sea ice melt rates north of Svalbard

peer-reviewed Duarte et al. 2020 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Environmental drivers of under-ice phytoplankton bloom dynamics in the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Ardyna et al. 2020 - Elem Sci Anth

Effect of frequent winter warming events (storms) and snow on sea-ice growth – a case from the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean during the N-ICE2015 campaign

peer-reviewed Merkouriadi et al. 2020 - Annals of Glaciology

Modeling the Microwave Emission of Snow on Arctic Sea Ice for Estimating the Uncertainty of Satellite Retrievals

peer-reviewed Rostosky et al. 2020 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Snow Property Controls on Modeled Ku-Band Altimeter Estimates of First-Year Sea Ice Thickness: Case Studies From the Canadian and Norwegian Arctic

peer-reviewed Nandan et al. 2020 - IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing

Quantifying the Potential for Snow‐Ice Formation in the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Merkouriadi et al. 2020 - Geophysical Research Letters

A red tide in the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Olsen et al. 2019 - Scientific Reports

Winter storms accelerate the demise of sea ice in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Graham et al. 2019 - Scientific Reports

Evaluation of Six Atmospheric Reanalyses over Arctic Sea Ice from Winter to Early Summer

peer-reviewed Graham et al. 2019 - Journal of Climate

Comparison of ERA5 and ERA-Interim near-surface air temperature, snowfall and precipitation over Arctic sea ice: effects on sea ice thermodynamics and evolution

peer-reviewed Wang et al. 2019 - The Cryosphere

Improved Performance of ERA5 in Arctic Gateway Relative to Four Global Atmospheric Reanalyses

peer-reviewed Graham et al. 2019 - Geophysical Research Letters

Photoacclimation State of an Arctic Underice Phytoplankton Bloom

peer-reviewed Kauko et al. 2019 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Diversity and Composition of Pelagic Prokaryotic and Protist Communities in a Thin Arctic Sea-Ice Regime

peer-reviewed de Sousa et al. 2019 - Microbial Ecology

Decay phase thermodynamics of ice ridges in the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Shestov et al. 2018 - Cold Regions Science and Technology

On the decay of first-year ice ridges: Measurements and evolution of rubble macroporosity, ridge drilling resistance and consolidated layer strength

peer-reviewed Ervik et al. 2018 - Cold Regions Science and Technology

Algal Colonization of Young Arctic Sea Ice in Spring

peer-reviewed Kauko et al. 2018 - Frontiers in Marine Science

CO2 flux over young and snow-covered Arctic pack ice in winter and spring

peer-reviewed Nomura et al. 2018 - Biogeosciences

Spatiotemporal Variability of Barium in Arctic Sea-Ice and Seawater

peer-reviewed Hendry et al. 2018 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Arctic Sea Ice Characterization Using Spaceborne Fully Polarimetric L-, C-, and X-Band SAR With Validation by Airborne Measurements

peer-reviewed Singha et al. 2018 - IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing

Atmosphere-ice-ocean-ecosystem processes in a thinner Arctic sea ice regime: the Norwegian young sea ICE (N-ICE2015) expedition

peer-reviewed Granskog et al. 2018 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

A Distributed Snow Evolution Model for Sea Ice Applications (SnowModel)

peer-reviewed Liston et al. 2018 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Algal Hot Spots in a Changing Arctic Ocean: Sea-Ice Ridges and the Snow-Ice Interface

peer-reviewed Fernández-Méndez et al. 2018 - Frontiers in Marine Science

Contribution of Deformation to Sea Ice Mass Balance: A Case Study From an N‐ICE2015 Storm

peer-reviewed Itkin et al. 2018 - Geophysical Research Letters

Thin Sea Ice, Thick Snow, and Widespread Negative Freeboard Observed During N-ICE2015 North of Svalbard

peer-reviewed Rösel et al. 2018 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Sources, load, vertical distribution, and fate of wintertime aerosols north of Svalbard from combined V4 CALIOP data, ground-based IAOOS lidar observations and trajectory analysis

peer-reviewed Di Biagio et al. 2018 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Comparison of Freeboard Retrieval and Ice Thickness Calculation From ALS, ASIRAS, and CryoSat-2 in the Norwegian Arctic, to Field Measurements Made During the N-ICE2015 Expedition

peer-reviewed King et al. 2018 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Observations of brine plumes below Arctic sea ice

peer-reviewed Peterson 2018 - Ocean Science

X-, C-, and L-band SAR signatures of newly formed sea ice in Arctic leads during winter and spring

peer-reviewed Johansson et al. 2018 - Remote Sensing of Environment

Can we extend local sea-ice measurements to satellite scale? An example from the N-ICE2015 expedition

peer-reviewed Rösel et al. 2017 - Annals of Glaciology

Critical Role of Snow on Sea Ice Growth in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Merkouriadi et al. 2017 - Geophysical Research Letters

Spring snow conditions on Arctic sea ice north of Svalbard, during the Norwegian Young Sea ICE (N‐ICE2015) expedition

peer-reviewed Gallet et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Winter snow conditions on Arctic sea ice north of Svalbard during the Norwegian young sea ICE (N-ICE2015) expedition

peer-reviewed Merkouriadi et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Vertical thermodynamic structure of the troposphere during the Norwegian young sea ICE expedition (N-ICE2015)

peer-reviewed Kayser et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Observations of flooding and snow-ice formation in a thinner Arctic sea-ice regime during the N-ICE2015 campaign: Influence of basal ice melt and storms

peer-reviewed Provost et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Atmospheric components of the surface energy budget over young sea ice: Results from the N-ICE2015 campaign

peer-reviewed Walden et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Extreme cyclone events in the Arctic: Wintertime variability and trends

peer-reviewed Rinke et al. 2017 - Environmental Research Letters

Sea ice cover. Section 5c, in “State of the Climate in 2016”

peer-reviewed Perovich et al. 2017 - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Altered inherent optical properties and estimates of the underwater light field during an Arctic under ice bloom of Phaeocystis pouchetii

peer-reviewed Pavlov et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Meteorological conditions in a thinner Arctic sea ice regime from winter to summer during the Norwegian Young Sea Ice expedition (N-ICE2015)

peer-reviewed Cohen et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Effects of sea-ice and biogeochemical processes and storms on under-ice water fCO2 during the winter-spring transition in the high Arctic Ocean: Implications for sea-air CO2 fluxes

peer-reviewed Fransson et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Sea ice thermohaline dynamics and biogeochemistry in the Arctic Ocean: Empirical and model results

peer-reviewed Duarte et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

Increasing frequency and duration of Arctic winter warming events

peer-reviewed Graham et al. 2017 - Geophysical Research Letters

Windows in Arctic sea ice: Light transmission and ice algae in a refrozen lead

peer-reviewed Kauko et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

The seeding of ice algal blooms in Arctic pack ice: The multiyear ice seed repository hypothesis

peer-reviewed Olsen et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

Small-scale sea ice deformation during N-ICE2015: From compact pack ice to marginal ice zone

peer-reviewed Oikkonen et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

A comparison of the two Arctic atmospheric winter states observed during N-ICE2015 and SHEBA

peer-reviewed Graham et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Thin ice and storms: Sea ice deformation from buoy arrays deployed during N-ICE2015

peer-reviewed Itkin et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Bio-optical properties of Arctic drift ice and surface waters north of Svalbard from winter to spring

peer-reviewed Kowalczuk et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Mixing rates and vertical heat fluxes north of Svalbard from Arctic winter to spring

peer-reviewed Meyer et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Turbulent Upper-Ocean Mixing Affected by Meltwater Layers during Arctic Summer

peer-reviewed Randelhoff et al. 2017 - Journal of Physical Oceanography

Snow contribution to first-year and second-year Arctic sea ice mass balance north of Svalbard

peer-reviewed Granskog et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

A Combination of Feature Tracking and Pattern Matching with Optimal Parametrization for Sea Ice Drift Retrieval from SAR Data

peer-reviewed Korosov et al. 2017 - Remote Sensing

One-dimensional evolution of the upper water column in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean in winter

peer-reviewed Fer et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Turbulent heat and momentum fluxes in the upper ocean under Arctic sea ice

peer-reviewed Peterson et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Atlantic Waters inflow north of Svalbard: Insights from IAOOS observations and Mercator Ocean global operational system during N-ICE2015

peer-reviewed Koenig et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Improved forecasts of winter weather extremes over midlatitudes with extra Arctic observations

peer-reviewed Sato et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Leads in Arctic pack ice enable early phytoplankton blooms below snow-covered sea ice

peer-reviewed Assmy et al. 2017 - Scientific Reports

IAOOS microlidar-on-buoy development and first atmospheric observations obtained during 2014 and 2015 arctic drifts

peer-reviewed Mariage et al. 2017 - Optics Express

Effects of an Arctic under-ice bloom on solar radiant heating of the water column

peer-reviewed Taskjelle et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Winter to summer oceanographic observations in the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard

peer-reviewed Meyer et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Combined observations of Arctic sea ice with near-coincident colocated X-band, C-band, and L-band SAR satellite remote sensing and helicopter-borne measurements

peer-reviewed Johansson et al. 2017 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Winter ocean-ice interactions under thin sea ice observed by IAOOS platforms during N-ICE2015: Salty surface mixed layer and active basal melt

peer-reviewed Koenig et al. 2016 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Vertical fluxes of nitrate in the seasonal nitracline of the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean

peer-reviewed Randelhoff et al. 2016 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Arctic research on thin ice: Consequences of Arctic sea ice loss

peer-reviewed Granskog et al. 2016 - Eos Transactions AGU

Virtual radar ice buoys – a method for measuring fine-scale sea ice drift

peer-reviewed Karvonen 2016 - The Cryosphere

Regional patterns in current and future export production in the central Arctic Ocean quantified from nitrate fluxes

peer-reviewed Randelhoff et al. 2016 - Geophysical Research Letters

Hybrid-Polarity and Reconstruction Methods for Sea Ice With L- and C-Band SAR

peer-reviewed Espeseth et al. 2016 - IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters

Investigation into Different Polarimetric Features for Sea Ice Classification Using X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar

peer-reviewed Ressel et al. 2016 - IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing

Data sets

N-ICE2015 data on barium in seawater and sea ice
N-ICE2015 snow thickness from snow stakes
N-ICE2015 total (snow and ice) thickness data from EM31
N-ICE2015 bromoform fluxes with chambers from sea ice
N-ICE2015 under-ice shortwave radiation data
N-ICE2015 total absorption profiles from water column
N-ICE2015 carbon dioxide fluxes with chambers from sea ice
N-ICE2015 atmospheric turbulent fluxes
N-ICE2015 phytoplankton and ice algae taxonomy and abundance
N-ICE2015 Zooplankton taxonomy and abundance
N-ICE2015 nitrate (NO3) data from in situ profiles (ISUS V3)
N-ICE2015 sea ice biogeochemistry
N-ICE2015 turbulent methane fluxes
N-ICE2015 on-ice based conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) from shallow profiles
N-ICE2015 ocean currents from Signature 1000 ADCP
N-ICE2015 methane fluxes with chambers from sea ice
Surface topography of ice camp on Floe 3 during N-ICE2015 drift experiment leg 5 derived from photogrammetric measurements
N-ICE2015 total attenuation and absorption profiles from water column with AC-9
N-ICE2015 surface meteorology
N-ICE2015 ship radar images
N-ICE2015 surface radiation data from transects
N-ICE2015 on-ice based conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) deep profiles
N-ICE2015 snow depth data with Magnaprobe
N-ICE2015 ice core physics: temperature, salinity and density
N-ICE2015 Sea-ice and snow surface elevation from laser leveling exercises
N-ICE2015 Ocean currents: RDI Long Ranger acoustic Doppler current profiler
N-ICE2015 particulate matter absorption spectra
N-ICE2015 sodar wind data
N-ICE2015 ship-based conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data
N-ICE2015 atmospheric profiles from radiosondes
N-ICE2015 bottle data from on-ice water sampler
N-ICE2015 bottle data from ship water sampler
N-ICE2015 surface and under-ice spectral shortwave radiation data
N-ICE2015 data on uranium and iodine in seawater
N-ICE2015 atmospheric turbulent fluxes (KOPRI)
N-ICE2015 water column biogeochemistry
N-ICE2015 sea-ice thickness measurements from helicopter-borne electromagnetic induction sounding
N-ICE2015 Ocean turbulent fluxes from under-ice turbulence cluster (TIC)
N-ICE2015 data on oxygen isotope ratios in seawater and sea ice
N-ICE2015 datasets
N-ICE2015 tethered sonde atmospehric data
N-ICE2015 cloud fraction data
N-ICE2015 ocean temperature data from string moored to ice floe
N-ICE2015 data on salinity in sea ice, snow and seawater
N-ICE2015 snow pit data
N-ICE2015 methane concentrations in new sea ice and under-ice water
N-ICE2015 cloud properties data
N-ICE2015 ocean microstructure profiles (MSS90L)
Surface water under ice fCO2 data during N-ICE2015
N-ICE2015 Ocean currents: Vessel Mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler
N-ICE2015 ocean currents: Ice-mounted 300 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler
N-ICE2015 ice thickness from hot wires
N-ICE2015 ocean microstructure profiles (VMP250)
N-ICE2015 buoy data
N-ICE2015 colored dissolved organic matter absorption spectra
N-ICE2015 surface broadband radiation data
N-ICE2015 Ice thickness, snow thickness, and freeboard from thickness drillings
Båt på is i mørketid med forskningstelt og utstyr på isen
At the core of N-ICE2015 lies a multidisciplinary observational study on drifting Arctic sea ice from winter to summer in early 2015. By making these unique direct observations freely available to the research community, we help bring our knowledge up to speed with the actual situation in the Arctic, and ultimately improve our capacity to model the future.

Background

The past decades have seen rapid change in the Arctic sea ice pack. The ice has become thinner and younger, and the older multi-year ice has been largely replaced by ice that is younger than 2 years old. These changes in the characteristics of the ice could suggests that the entire sea ice system is now functioning differently than before. This poses a fundamental question: Is the knowledge we have from only a decade ago still valid?

In order to predict the future of the Arctic sea ice, and its effects on the climate, ocean and ecosystems, we need good knowledge of the state of the system today, and an understanding of the governing processes of today and tomorrow. However, there’s a gap in our current knowledge: The Arctic sea ice has changed rapidly and dramatically in recent years, while at the same time our understanding is still based largely on observations made during an earlier regime, when thicker and older ice dominated the icescape in the Arctic Ocean.

The N-ICE2015 field campaign aims to address this knowledge gap, by contributing unique and needed direct observations to the global scientific community. Thus, the project is ultimately improving our capacity to model the future.

Main objectives

  • What melts the ice? Warm Atlantic water or solar heat?
  • How does the thinner ice respond to atmospheric forcing, such as storms?
  • How does thinner ice affect ice dynamics, and how can we improve ice drift models?
  • What are the effects of the changed sea ice system on the ice-associated ecosystem?
  • What are the effects on local and global weather systems?
  • Contribute to improved computer models to predict future conditions more accurately.

Highlights of preliminary findings

  • The ice pack had already accumulated nearly 0.5m of snow in January. This is much more than we expected based on climatology.
  • The thick snow cover slowed sea ice growth. Ice formed mainly in leads. The thick heavy snow also contributed positively to the ice mass balance through snow-ice formation.
  • Many storms took place, especially in winter. These brought with them warm and moist air, even in the middle of the polar night, also slowing ice growth.
  • The storms also affected ocean mixing. Heat, nutrients, and CO2 were mixed throughout the upper water column during storms. We saw the ocean heat flux increased twofold during storms.
  • The thinner sea ice was more easily broken up and we saw more ridging and lead formation than previously .
  • Leads caused by storms allowed enough light to reach the water, sufficient to initiate and maintain an algae bloom under thick snow-covered ice that otherwise would have kept the algae community in the dark and unable to grow.
  • The heavy snow load resulted in seawater infiltration at the snow–ice interface. This provided a habitat that supported ample algae growth, resembling conditions in the Antarctic sea ice zone.

The expedition

map showing drift paths

DRIFT PATHS: The 4 drifts undertaken during N-ICE2015 field campaign. The legend gives the start and finish dates for the each of the drifts. The northern tip of Spitsbergen is visible in the bottom. The pale white background is the ice concentration in May 2015 from NSIDC.
Map: Mats Granskog / Norwegian Polar Institute

The expedition was carried out by taking the Norwegian Polar Institute’s research vessel Lance to 83°N 21°E and let her drift with the ice, with the ship as a research base for the personnel and the ice floes surrounding it functioned as a research camp.

Conditions were challenging. The ice drifted faster than expected, and was also very dynamic. As we approached the ice edge, the rapid ice drift and dynamic conditions caused the ice floes carrying the research camp to break up, and we had to evacuate the camp. This happened on four occasions, and every time we had to re-establish the drifting research camp (see map).

The ice pack consisted mainly of first- and second-year sea ice, with a thickness of around 1.3–1.5 m. This is representative of a thinner ice pack than what has been studied earlier in the Arctic. As such, we met the conditions for studying a thinner Arctic sea ice pack, the new Arctic.


Expedition facts

Dates: 12 January – 24 June 2015
Distance covered: 4007 nautical miles (whole expedition)
Operation time: 111 days attached to an ice floe, and with the research camp running
Personnel: 69 researchers, 27 engineers / support crew

Norwegian collaborations:

  • UiT The Arctic University of Norway
  • University of Bergen (UiB)
  • Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway)
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
  • The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS)

International collaborations:

  • Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany
  • British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
  • Cold Regions Research Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), USA
  • Danish Meteorological Institute
  • Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)
  • Finnish Environmental Institute (SYKE)
  • Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI)
  • Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) , Russia
  • Colorado State University, USA
  • Hokkaido University, Japan
  • Washington State University, USA
  • University of Manitoba, Canada
  • Technical University of Denmark
  • University Pierre and Marie Curie, France

Overflights

  • 2 overflights by the Ice, Climate, Economics – Arctic Research on Change (ICE-ARC), an EU Seventh Framework Programme (EU FP7), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and European Space Agency (ESA) collaboration.
  • 1 overflight by NASA’s Operation IceBridge

Outreach

Learn more

Contact

General inquiries

post@npolar.no

Errors or suggestion regarding the website?

web@npolar.no

Infrastructure

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