The AIDJEX program was the first major western sea ice experiment
constructed specifically to answer emerging questions about how
sea ice moves and changes in response to the influence of ocean
and atmosphere. A pilot study in 1972 was followed by the AIDJEX
field program in 1975 and 1976.
Researchers maintained four manned camps on ice
floes in the Beaufort Sea. The scientists collected meteorological
and oceanographic data from instruments located
at the camps and on floating data buoys. The experiment was designed
to collect coordinated measurements over at least one year, in
order to have the right combination of data for understanding
atmosphere and ice interactions. The submarine USS
Gurnard participated
by collecting ice draft data from upward-looking acoustical soundings
(sonar). Ice draft (the depth of the ice below the water surface)
is an estimator of ice thickness.
The University of Washington led the logistics and research work
of the program, which was a collaboration between the United States,
Canada and Japan. Norbert Untersteiner was instrumental in the
design of AIDJEX, and served as Project Director from 1971 to 1978.
The Polar Science Center at the University of Washington maintains
an AIDJEX electronic library. It includes downloadable copies of
the contents of all 40 AIDJEX Bulletins, beginning in 1970 and
ending in 1978. Visit the AIDJEX
Electronic Library.
A retrospective, AIDJEX
Revisited: A Look Back at the U.S.-Canadian Arctic Ice Dynamics
Joint Experiment 1970–78 appears
in the September 2007 issue of Arctic. The article's
lead author, Norbert Untersteiner, was AIDJEX Project Director,
1971-1977. |
