Biggest IPY project to study flaw leads

The Circumpolar Flaw Lead (CFL) System Study — the largest research project approved under the International Polar Year program — has been launched with $25.5 million in funding. The project – led by Dr David Barber of the Univ of Manitoba – will generate scientific knowledge on the interactions between climate change and the ocean ecosystem and will be based aboard the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, CCGCS Amundsen. The CFL study is designed to examine how changes in the physical system affect biological processes . It involves a field program, an observatory and modeling. The CFL is a perennial characteristic of the central Arctic. A CFL system is formed when the central ice pack moves away from coastal fast ice, opening a flaw lead, resulting in reduced ice cover which is sensitive to physical forcing from the ocean and atmosphere. Funding for the project is being provided by the Government of Canada ($20.5 million — $6 million in research funding, $14.5 million in logistical ship support), the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Manitoba Research and Innovation Fund ($4.2 million), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council ($768,000). FMI: www.umanitoba.ca/ceos....