Global Fiducials Program - Arctic Buoy Sea Ice Studies

The U.S. Geological Survey has utilized remotely sensed imagery to analyze Arctic Sea Ice since 1997, and has collected and created thousands of Literal Image Derived Products (LIDPS) at one meter resolution for public distribution. From 1997-2012, six static sea ice sites located in the Arctic Basin were selected and added to the Global Fiducial Library (GFL), to create an annual series of geographically referenced images to allow scientists to study seasonal changes in Arctic ice. In early 2009, a scientific group known as MEDEA (Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis) requested additional collections to track ice floe movements during the course of an entire summer (April through September), to better understand seasonal changes in the Arctic Sea Ice. In order to track and capture the same ice cover over time, USGS adopted a methodology to utilize buoys deployed at various locations across the Arctic by the International Arctic Buoy Program. The data buoys record and transmit hourly GPS positions, along with meteorologic and climatologic data associated with the sea ice in which they are anchored. Repeated imaging of the ice cover is guided by the data buoy GPS to help estimate travel direction and speed of the ice cover. Imagery is referenced by the MEDEA scientists to study ice fracture patterns, sea ice ridge heights, ice cover percentages, seasonal development and coverage of melt ponds, evolution of ice concentrations, floe size distribution, lateral melting, and other variables that are used for input to refine and develop climate models. These same ice floe images have been added to the GFL for various buoy locations from 2009 through 2011, and are being acquired for the 2012 summer season.