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> Figure 1. Area of study includes the Ross Sea in the Southern Ocean
Quantifying Sea Ice in the Southern Ocean Using ArcGIS
Figure 2. Ship-based observations as part of five separate voyages in the Ross Sea during 1995 through 2000
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balance
changes
in
the
Southern
Ocean.
These
are
the
National
Ice
Center
weekly
ice
charts
and
a
collection
of
over
20,000 in
situ
ship-based
ice
observations.
A
recent
study
comparing
thickness
estimates
obtained
using
NIC ice
charts
to
ship-based
observations
within
the
Ross
Sea
sector
showed
a
correlation
between
satellite-derived
and in
situ
estimates
(Schellenberg
2002).
These
preliminary
findings
suggest
potential
usefulness
of
the
NIC
data
to
develop
a
continental-
scale
sea-ice
climatology.
This
paper
reports
on
our
sea-ice
comparison
from
conditions
during
two
contrasting
years, 1995 and
1998.
Specifically
we
report
on
the
development
of
the
spatial-
temporal
database
to compare
the
NIC ice
charts
with
the
ship-based
observations,
and
the
tools
used
to
analyze
the
sea-ice
extent
and
thickness.
Problems
encountered
in
using
ArcGIS
in
the
southern
polar
region
along
with
our
solutions
will be
discussed
in
our
presentation.
Data
This
study
focuses on
the
Ross
Sea
sector
(Figure
1) of
the
Southern
Ocean,
which
extends
from
150 E
longitude
to 150 W
longitude.
It
examines
two
different
types
of
sea-ice
thickness
data:
ship-based
observations
and
weekly
ice
chart
information.
Figure
1
.
Area
of
study
includes
the
Ross
Sea
in the Southern
Ocean.
The
Scientific
Committee
on
Antarctic
Research
(SCAR)
developed
the
Antarctic
Sea
Ice
Processes
and
Climate
(ASPeCt)
program
to
compile
and standardize an
extensive
archive
of
ship
observations.
The
ASPeCt
program
has
identified
data
collected
during
80
voyages
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