00_cover_Biennial Report 05-06.qxd - INSTAAR - University of ...

Research Spotlights2006GLACIERS ADDING MORE TO GLOBALSEA RISE THAN ICE SHEETS. Tad Pfeffergave a presentation at the national AmericanGeophysical Union (AGU) meeting titled“Disappearing Glacial Ice: a GlobalSynthesis” based on his work with fellowINSTAARs Mark Meier, Mark Dyurgerov,Robert Anderson, Suzanne Anderson, Shad O’Neel, andUrsula Rick. Their study was based on the several hundredthousand small glaciers and small, pancake-shaped icemasses known as ice caps spread around the world in polarand temperate regions. Because of the challenge in inventoryingeach individual glacier, the researchers used a mathematical“scaling” process to estimate and characterize moreremote glacier volumes, thicknesses, and trends by factoringin data like altitude, climate, and geography. Their researchshows that small glaciers and ice caps have been contributingmore to rising sea levels in recent years than the largeGreenland and Antarctic ice sheets. In total, the small glaciersand ice caps are shedding about 400 billion tons of iceyearly—nearly equal to the volume of Lake Erie. Earth’s sealevel currently is rising at about 3 millimeters per year andcould rise by several feet or more by the end of the centuryif warming on Earth continues, according to recent studies.SKI MOGULS MOVE UPHILL ...REALLY! David Bahr (INSTAAR Affiliate)and Tad Pfeffer have used time-lapse photographyto demonstrate that ski mogulsmove uphill, a counter-intuitive result. Theuphill propagating “kinematic waves” arecreated by skiers that scrape off the downhill side of onemogul and then pile that snow on the uphill side of thenext mogul. The net effect is that each mogul gains materialon top, loses material on the bottom, and thereforemigrates slowly uphill (centimeters a day). Mogul dynamicsresemble other “self-organizing” systems like flocks of birdsand LCD crystals. Furthermore, moguls move along ski trailslike electrons on a wire. By treating each trail junction as alogic gate, a fully functional (albeit very slow) computer canbe constructed from moguls. This research may help skiareas better plan how and where to place gates on trails. Skiracers might also benefit from understanding the physics ofmogul movement. The bumps that the last racer is skiingare compressed toward them compared to the first skier.Bahr and Pfeffer’s research is ongoing at the MaryJane/Winter Park Ski Resort.FIRST SHIP-BORNE MEASUREMENTSOF OZONE FLUXES TO THE OCEAN.Detlev Helmig, Jacques Huber, and other membersof INSTAAR’s Atmospheric Research Labhave worked with colleagues at NOAA andthe Max Planck INstitute in Mainz, Germany,to obtain the first ship-borne direct measurements of ozonefluxes to the ocean. Ozone is a greenhouse gas that canwarm the Earth’s climate by absorbing heat energy from theEarth. While scientists have learned a great deal about howozone is created and destroyed in the atmosphere, there arestill many missing pieces of the puzzle, especially for theoceans. The research team spent several years developingan ozone + NO chemiluminescence instrument that allowscontinuous ozone flux measurement by the eddy correlationtechnique from a sampling tower on the bow of a ship.Jacques Hueber (INSTAAR) andLudovic Bariteau (CIRES/NOAAESRL) installing a new ozone fluxinstrument on the NOAA researchvessel Ron Brown for participationin the TEXas Air Quality Study(TEXAQS 2006), Charleston, SC,July 2006. Photo: Jacques Hueber(INSTAAR).8 | RESEARCH MISSION