TANG Shu-lin, QIN Da-he, REN Jia-wen, KANG Jian-cheng
As an important component of global climate system,the Polar sea ice impacts global climate by sea surface radiation balance,mass balance,energy balance,as well as the circulation of sea water temperature and salinity.Sea ice has been studied for a long time.Many correlative sea ice projects were established through extensive international cooperation,from the primary research of strength and bearing capacity of sea ice to the development of sea/ice/air coupled models. Based on these studies,sea ice variations were combined with global climate change.The research fields about sea ice includes: the physical properties and processes of sea ice,together with snow cover,the ecosystem of sea ice regions,albedos of sea ice and its snow cover,mass balance of sea ice regions,sea ice and climate coupled model.A simulation suggests that both the extent and volume of polar sea ice will decrease in the 21st century.With the developing of sea ice researches,more new scientific questions are raised,such as the interaction between sea ice and the other factors of global climate system,the seasonal and regional distributions of Polar sea ice thickness,Polar sea ice boundary and area changing trend,sea ice growth,melt and its influencing factors,the role of the polynya and sea/air interactions.