Axel Schweiger

Dr. Schweiger’s research focuses on  sea ice, clouds and  radiation in  the Arctic.  He is using satellite data, models and in-situ observations to improve our understanding of sea ice and cloud variability.  He has developed the PSC Arctic Ice Volume Page  which provides monthly updated total Arctic Ice Volume estimates based on the PIOMAS model.  He has worked on the validation, improvements, and applications of PIOMAS to a variety of problems. He is an investigator in the Seasonal Ice Zone Reconnaissance Survey Project (SIZRS) that utilizes US-Coast Guard Arctic Domain Awareness flights make Atmospheric and Oceanographic measurements of the seasonal ice zone of the Beaufort Sea and targets the improved understanding of the changes in the Arctic system as sea ice retreats. Recent interests include the role of the circulation changes in the Arctic in driving sea ice loss.  He has worked on algorithm development for the retrieval of clouds and atmospheric profiles and generated the the TOVS Polar Pathfinder data set, a 20-year data set of polar temperature, humidity profiles and cloud information.  Previous research includes work on microwave-based sea ice concentration algorithms and the application of artificial intelligence methods to remote sensing problems. Dr. Schweiger has been with the Polar Science Center since 1992.  He was the PSC Chair from 2009-2021.

In The News

Selected Projects

  • Response of Cloud Cover to Changes in Sea Ice

    Clouds play a major role in the arctic surface energy balance controlling the growth and melt of sea ice. At the same time the processes involved in the formation, maintenance and dissipation of cloud cover over the Arctic Ocean are thought to be strongly influenced by the sea ice itself. This project will advance the understanding of this interaction and feedback by asking: What is the response of Arctic clouds to diminishing sea ice?

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  • Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly

    The Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly time series is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) developed at APL/PSC.  Updates will be generated at approximately monthly intervals.

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  • Arctic Surface Air Temperatures for the Past 100 Years

    This project will produce authoritative SAT data sets covering the Arctic Ocean from 1901 to present, which will be used to better understand Arctic climate change.

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  • TOVS Polar Pathfinder Path-P Project

    The purpose of this project is to improve satellite retrievals of atmospheric temperature, humidity and clouds.  Retrievals are based on   the physical-statistical retrieval method of Chedin et al. (1985, Improved Iteration Inversion Algorithm, 3I). The method has been improved for use in sea ice-covered areas (Francis 1994) and the data set has been designed to address the particular needs of the Polar research community. The data set represents the so called Path-P as designated by the TOVS Science Working Group.

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Selected Publications

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