Yanling Yu

Dr. Yu investigates arctic sea ice and its role in the Arctic climate and ocean circulation. Analyzing submarine observations, she and her colleagues examine the long-term changes in mean ice thickness and its distribution. She also uses dynamic and thermodynamic models and statistic methods such as wavelet analysis to search for clues as to why some changes have occurred and how these changes can be characterized in both space and time. She has developed an algorithm to derive arctic thin ice thickness by combining a thermodynamic sea ice model with the satellite observations from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery. This algorithm can be used to study the aggregated sea ice properties dependent on thin ice thickness distribution, such as brine flux from growing young ice and large-scale ice strength. Dr. Yu and her colleagues also investigate the interannual variability of arctic coastal landfast ice, including its contribution to the freshwater budget on the arctic shelves and the responses to the arctic storm activities. She has published a number research papers in geophysical journals. She joined PSC after receiving her Ph.D in Physical Oceanography from the School of Oceanography, University of Washington.

Selected Projects

  • Impacts of Arctic Storms on Landfast Ice Variations

    This project is to examine over 30 years of landfast ice records, cyclone tracks and intensity along with frequency and timing of coastal high wind conditions, nearshore pack ice drift, and coastal weather observations in two representative arctic coastal regions.

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Selected Publications

  • Wang, J, H. Eicken, Y. Yu, X. Bai, H. Hu, K. Mizobata, J. Zhang, M. Ikeda and J. Overland, 2013. Abrupt Arctic Changes and Emerging Ice-Ocean Processes in the Pacific Arctic Region and Bering Sea, In: The Pacific Arctic Region: Ecosystem Status and Trends in a Rapidly Changing Environment, Co-Editors Grebmeier, J.M. and W. Maslowski, Springer Publishing.

  • Yu, Y, H. Stern, C. Fowler, F. Fetterer, J. Maslanik, Interannual variability of arctic landfast ice between 1976 and 2007, J. Climate, 2013 doi: http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00178.1

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