Funds are provided for a comprehensive and quantitative assessment of: (1) the magnitude and variability of the conductive heat flow and the total winter conductive heat loss through lake ice and its snow cover, (2) the proportions of the conductive heat flow and total conductive heat loss that are due to water freezing on the bottom of the ice cover (congelation ice formation) and flooding and freezing of slush at the ice surface (snow ice formation), and (3) how the magnitude and variability of these proportions would be affected by a changing climate manifested by air temperature and precipitation changes. At four sites across Alaska, with different weather and climate conditions, snow depth and density, snow and ice temperatures, snow ice and congelation ice growth, and total ice thickness will be measured during winter 2004-05 and 2005-06 at three ponds. At the three sites that are remote from Fairbanks (Barrow, Nome, and Seward), measurements will be made by teachers and students who are participants in the ALISON (Alaska Lake ice and Snow Observatory Network) project. Contemporary processes and the effects of climate variability and change will be modeled with a one-dimensional numerical model of lake ice growth.
