About Bonnie Light My principal research interest is the study of how solar radiation interacts with Earth’s cryosphere. In particular, my focus is on understanding relationships between the physical and optical properties of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The relative amounts of sunlight incident on sea ice that are backscattered to the atmosphere, absorbed by the ice, and transmitted to the ocean depend strongly on the physical properties of the ice. This partitioning of energy in turn controls a significant part of the heat budget of the polar oceans and may influence how sea ice drives and responds to changes in climate. One aspect of my work involves the development of theoretical radiative transfer models for snow and ice. I also conduct laboratory experiments within a walk-in freezer using samples of natural and laboratory-grown sea ice. Such experiments give insight into relationships between the ice structure and its optical properties. In particular, they have been instrumental in helping us understand the importance of sea ice microstructure in determining the radiative properties of ice covers. I am also actively engaged in making field observations of the optical properties of snow and sea ice. This work includes investigation of the optical properties of melting ice covers as well as sediment laden sea ice in the Arctic Basin. Curriculum Vitae

Projects

• Collaborative Research on Sunlight and the Arctic Atmosphere-Ice-Ocean System
• Ocean Surfaces on Snowball Earth
• Producing an Updated Synthesis of the Arctic's Marine Primary Production Regime and its Controls
• HOTRAX: Healy Oden TRand Arctic EXpedition

Publications

Light, B., R. E. Brandt, and S. G. Warren, "Hydrohalite in cold sea ice: Laboratory observations of single crystals, surface accumulations, and migration rates under a temperature gradient, with application to 'Snowball Earth'", J. Geophys. Res., 114, C07018, doi:10.1029/2008JC005211., 2009.

Perovich, D. K., T. C. Grenfell, B. Light, B. C. Elder, J. Harbeck, C. Polashenski, W. B. Tucker, III, and C. Stelmach, "Transpolar observations of the morphological properties of Arctic sea ice", J. Geophys. Res., 114, C00A04, doi:10.1029/2008JC004892, 2009.

Light, B., T. C. Grenfell, and D. K. Perovich, "Transmission and absorption of solar radiation by Arctic sea ice during the melt season", J. Geophys. Res., 113, C03023, doi:10.1029/2006JC003977, 2008.

Perovich, D. K., J. A. Richter-Menge, K. F. Jones, and B. Light, "Sunlight, water, and ice: Extreme Arctic sea ice melt during the summer of 2007", Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L11501, doi:10.1029/2008GL034007, 2008.

Briegleb, B. P. and B. Light, "A Delta-Eddington Multiple Scattering Parameterization for Solar Radiation in the Sea Ice Component of the Community Climate System Model", NCAR/TN-472+STR, 100pp, 2007.

Perovich, D. K., B. Light, H. Eicken, K. F. Jones, K. Runciman, and S. V. Nghiem, “Increasing solar heating of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, 1979–2005: Attribution and role in the ice-albedo feedback”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L19505, doi:10.1029/2007GL031480, 2007.

Huck, P., B. Light, H. Eicken, and M. Haller, "Mapping sediment-laden sea ice in the Arctic using AVHRR remote-sensing data: Atmospheric correction and determination of reflectances as a function of ice type and sediment load", Remote Sensing of Environment, 107, 484-495, 2007.

Light, B., G. A. Maykut, and T. C. Grenfell, "A temperature-dependent, structural-optical model of first-year sea ice", J. Geophys. Res., 109, C06013, doi:10.1029/2003JC002164, 2004.

Light, B., G.A. Maykut, and T.C. Grenfell, "A two-dimensional Monte Carlo model of radiative transfer in sea ice", J. Geophys. Res., 108(C7), 3219, doi:10.1029/2002JC001513, 2003.

Light, B., G. A. Maykut, and T. C. Grenfell, "Effects of temperature on the microstructure of first-year Arctic sea ice", J. Geophys. Res., 108(C2), 3051, doi:10.1029/2001JC000887, 2003.

Perovich, D. K., T. C. Grenfell, J. A. Richter-Menge, B. Light, W. B. Tucker III, and H. Eicken, "Thin and thinner: Sea ice mass balance measurements during SHEBA", J. Geophys. Res., 108(C3), 8050, doi: 10.1029/2001JC001079, 2003.

Grenfell, T.C., B. Light, and M. Sturm, "Spatial distribution and radiative effects of soot in the snow and sea ice during the SHEBA experiment", J. Geophys. Res., 107(C10), 8032, 10.1029/2000JC000414, 2002.

Perovich, D.K., T.C. Grenfell, B. Light, and P.V. Hobbs, "Seasonal evolution of the albedo of multiyear Arctic sea ice", J. Geophys. Res., 107(C10), 8044, doi:10.1029/2000JC000438, 2002.

Light, B., H. Eicken, G.A. Maykut, and T. C. Grenfell, "The effect of included particulates on the spectral albedo of sea ice", J. Geophys. Res., 103, 27,739-27,752, 1998.

Maykut, G.A. and B. Light, "Refractive-index measurements in freezing sea-ice and sodium chloride brines", Appl. Opt., 34, 950-961, 1995.