PERIOD: OCTOBER - NOVEMBER
The course is designed to give a complete background on the physics of sea ice and its role in the climate system, also including ice mechanics, icebergs and the physics of oil-ice interaction. Climate risks associated with sea ice changes are specially described and analysed.
PERIOD: OCTOBER - NOVEMBER
The course is designed to give a complete background on the physics of sea ice and its role in the climate system, also including ice mechanics, icebergs and the physics of oil-ice interaction. Climate risks associated with sea ice changes are specially described and analysed.
The course comprises 24 lectures, divided into 12 modules, as shown in the syllabus. There are example-discussion classes included.
SYLLABUS
Module 1 (23/10 14.00-17.00). The physics of sea ice and ice formation
Oceanographic background – Arctic and Antarctic
What happens when sea water cools
Growth of ice crystals
Brine cells and brine rejection
Salinity structure
Summer melt processes
First- and multi-year ice
2. (24/10 10.00-13.00) Ice growth and decay
Thermodynamic model
Equilibrium thickness
Sensitivity of thickness to changes in forcing
Sensitivity to albedo.
3. (30/10 14.00-17.00) Ice dynamics
Ice motion - driving forces
Free drift solution
Ice interaction
The dynamics of polynyas
4.(31/10 10.00-13.00) The ice thickness distribution
Ridge and lead formation
Geometry of pressure ridges
The probability density of ice thickness and its evolution
Mathematical form of ridges and leads distributions
The ridging and rafting process
Ridge evolution and decay
Ice interaction with structures
Ice interaction with the seabed
5. (6/11 14.00-17.00) The marginal ice zone
Ice floes
Waves in ice
Modelling development of floe size distribution
Eddies
6. (7/11 10.00-13.00) Icebergs and ice islands
Sources
Distribution in Arctic and Antarctic
Physical properties
Dynamics
Decay and breakup
Role in the oceans and in sediment transport
Iceberg scouring – depths, incidence, seabed interaction
Mechanics of iceberg and ice island interaction with structures
Upstream detection of ice islands
Towing icebergs - a source of fresh water?
7. (13/11 14.00-17.00) Oil spills under ice
Scope of the under ice blowout problem
Other sources of spills under and in ice
Physical behaviour of crude oil in very cold water
Dynamics of a rising oil-infested bubble plume
Incorporation of oil in rough sea ice – containment factors
Ice growth under an oil layer
Oil penetration into brine drainage channels
Oil transport by ice
The melt process and mode of final oil release
Oil behaviour in pancake ice and the marginal ice zone
8. (14/11 10.00-13.00) Two important ice regions – Greenland Sea and Beaufort Sea
East Greenland waters
Greenland Sea convection zone
South Greenland and the Storis
Baffin Bay and Nares Strait ice conditions
The Lincoln Sea and waters north of Greenland
The Beaufort Gyre and its variability
Changes in ice conditions in central Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea coastal zone
The summer Beaufort Sea as a new MIZ
Methane release from seabed
9. (20/11 14.00-17.00) Thinning and retreat of sea ice in response to global change
Satellite data on retreat
Parkinson - retreat in sectors, Arctic and Antarctic
What is found in Antarctic
Thinning - the submarine and other evidence
Model predictions of a future seasonal Arctic ice cover
10. (21/11 10.00-13.00) Arctic feedbacks and acceleration of global change
Albedo change and snowline retreat
Greenland ice sheet melt and global sea level rise
Offshore methane release and its threat to climate
Changes in thermohaline circulation
Extreme weather events and the jet stream
11. (27/11 14.00-17.00) Saving planet Earth from climate change
Ice ages and their causes
The coming of the anthropocene
Exponential growth of greenhouse gases
Geoengineering as a way of delaying warming
Marine cloud brightening and other techniques
12. (28/11 10.00-13.00) The need for direct air capture
Paris climate agreement and its defects
Need for CO2 removal
Possible techniques
Direct air capture methods currently in use
The course comprises 24 lectures, divided into 12 modules, as shown in the syllabus. There are example-discussion classes included.
SYLLABUS
Module 1 (23/10 14.00-17.00). The physics of sea ice and ice formation
Oceanographic background – Arctic and Antarctic
What happens when sea water cools
Growth of ice crystals
Brine cells and brine rejection
Salinity structure
Summer melt processes
First- and multi-year ice
2. (24/10 10.00-13.00) Ice growth and decay
Thermodynamic model
Equilibrium thickness
Sensitivity of thickness to changes in forcing
Sensitivity to albedo.
3. (30/10 14.00-17.00) Ice dynamics
Ice motion - driving forces
Free drift solution
Ice interaction
The dynamics of polynyas
4.(31/10 10.00-13.00) The ice thickness distribution
Ridge and lead formation
Geometry of pressure ridges
The probability density of ice thickness and its evolution
Mathematical form of ridges and leads distributions
The ridging and rafting process
Ridge evolution and decay
Ice interaction with structures
Ice interaction with the seabed
5. (6/11 14.00-17.00) The marginal ice zone
Ice floes
Waves in ice
Modelling development of floe size distribution
Eddies
6. (7/11 10.00-13.00) Icebergs and ice islands
Sources
Distribution in Arctic and Antarctic
Physical properties
Dynamics
Decay and breakup
Role in the oceans and in sediment transport
Iceberg scouring – depths, incidence, seabed interaction
Mechanics of iceberg and ice island interaction with structures
Upstream detection of ice islands
Towing icebergs - a source of fresh water?
7. (13/11 14.00-17.00) Oil spills under ice
Scope of the under ice blowout problem
Other sources of spills under and in ice
Physical behaviour of crude oil in very cold water
Dynamics of a rising oil-infested bubble plume
Incorporation of oil in rough sea ice – containment factors
Ice growth under an oil layer
Oil penetration into brine drainage channels
Oil transport by ice
The melt process and mode of final oil release
Oil behaviour in pancake ice and the marginal ice zone
8. (14/11 10.00-13.00) Two important ice regions – Greenland Sea and Beaufort Sea
East Greenland waters
Greenland Sea convection zone
South Greenland and the Storis
Baffin Bay and Nares Strait ice conditions
The Lincoln Sea and waters north of Greenland
The Beaufort Gyre and its variability
Changes in ice conditions in central Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea coastal zone
The summer Beaufort Sea as a new MIZ
Methane release from seabed
9. (20/11 14.00-17.00) Thinning and retreat of sea ice in response to global change
Satellite data on retreat
Parkinson - retreat in sectors, Arctic and Antarctic
What is found in Antarctic
Thinning - the submarine and other evidence
Model predictions of a future seasonal Arctic ice cover
10. (21/11 10.00-13.00) Arctic feedbacks and acceleration of global change
Albedo change and snowline retreat
Greenland ice sheet melt and global sea level rise
Offshore methane release and its threat to climate
Changes in thermohaline circulation
Extreme weather events and the jet stream
11. (27/11 14.00-17.00) Saving planet Earth from climate change
Ice ages and their causes
The coming of the anthropocene
Exponential growth of greenhouse gases
Geoengineering as a way of delaying warming
Marine cloud brightening and other techniques
12. (28/11 10.00-13.00) The need for direct air capture
Paris climate agreement and its defects
Need for CO2 removal
Possible techniques
Direct air capture methods currently in use
Modalità di esame:
Exam:
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Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.
Exam:
In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.