Dr. David Babb

Coordinator of GEOG 7440 - Climate Change and The Arctic Marine System (2015-2022)

I study Arctic sea ice, with a focus on sea ice dynamics, which broadly describes the motion and thickness of an ice cover. I use a combination of field observations, remote sensing products and model output to study sea ice and better understand not only how it is responding to a warming climate, but to also understand how sea ice interacts with the underlying ocean, provides a habitat for everything from ice algae to polar bears, is used by local communities, and affects shipping in Arctic waters. Geographically, my research has mainly focused on the Canadian Arctic (Beaufort Sea and Hudson Bay), though I have worked in the coastal fjords around Greenland, at the southern edge of the ice pack near Newfoundland and also work at the broader pan-Arctic scale. I have served as a scientific editor for the Annals of Glaciology and I coordinate the sea ice seminars in the International Glaciological Societies online Global Seminar Series. I also worked as the Chapter Scientist for a Cross Chapter Paper on the Polar Regions in the recent Sixth Assessment Report from the IPCC where we examined the impacts of climate change in the Polar Regions.   

- Landy, J.C., G.J. Dawson, M. Tsamados, M. Bushuk, J.C. Stroeve, S.E.L. Howell, T. Krumpen, D.G. Babb, A.S. Komarov, H. Heorton, Y. Aksenov (2022), A year-round satellite sea ice thickness record from CryoSat-2, Nature, 609, 517-522, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05058-5
- Babb, D.G., R. Galley, J. Landy, S. Howell, J. Stroeve, D. Barber (2022), Increasing Multiyear Sea Ice Loss in the Beaufort Sea: A New Export Pathway for the Diminishing Multiyear Ice Cover of the Arctic Ocean, Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL097595, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097595
- Babb, D.G., S. Kirillov, Z.Z. Kuzyk, T. Netser, J. Liesch, C.M. Kamula, T. Zagon, D.G. Barber, J.K. Ehn (2022), On the Intermittent Formation of an Ice Bridge (Nunniq) across Roes Welcome Sound, Northwestern Hudson Bay, and Its Use to Local Inuit Hunters, Arctic, https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic74957.
- Babb, D.G., S. Kirillov, R.J. Galley, F. Straneo, J. Ehn, S. Howell, M. Brady, N. Ridenour, D.G. Barber, (2021), Sea Ice Dynamics in Hudson Strait and its Impact on Winter Shipping Operations, J. Geophysical Research Oceans, 126, e2021JC018024, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018024