Critical role of snow on sea ice growth in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean

Abstract Wintertime Arctic sea ice extent has been declining since the late twentieth century, particularly over the Atlantic sector that encompasses the Barents–Kara Seas and Baffin Bay. This sea ice decline is attributable to various Arctic environmental changes, such as enhanced downward infrared (IR) radiation, preseason sea ice reduction, enhanced inflow of warm Atlantic water into the Arctic Ocean, and sea ice export. However, their relative contributions are uncertain. Utilizing ERA-Interim and satellite-based data, it is shown here that a positive trend of downward IR radiation accounts for nearly half of the sea ice concentration (SIC) decline during the 1979–2011 winter over the Atlantic sector. Furthermore, the study shows that the Arctic downward IR radiation increase is driven by horizontal atmospheric water flux and warm air advection into the Arctic, not by evaporation from the Arctic Ocean. These findings suggest that most of the winter SIC trends can be attributed to changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulations.

Download Full-text

Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean: Role of shielding and consumption of methane

Atmospheric Environment ◽

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.10.029 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 8-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Xin He ◽

Liguang Sun ◽

Zhouqing Xie ◽

Wen Huang ◽

Nanye Long ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

The Arctic ◽

The Arctic Ocean

Download Full-text

Effect of frequent winter warming events (storms) and snow on sea-ice growth – a case from the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean during the N-ICE2015 campaign

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/aog.2020.25 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 61 (82) ◽

pp. 164-170

Author(s):

Ioanna Merkouriadi ◽

Bin Cheng ◽

Stephen R. Hudson ◽

Mats A. Granskog

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Snow Cover ◽

Critical Role ◽

Arctic Sea Ice ◽

The Arctic ◽

Winter Period ◽

Storm Events ◽

Atlantic Sector ◽

Ice Growth ◽

Arctic Sea

AbstractWe examine the relative effect of warming events (storms) and snow cover on thermodynamic growth of Arctic sea ice in winter. We use a 1-D snow and ice thermodynamic model to perform sensitivity experiments. Observations from the winter period of the Norwegian young sea ICE (N-ICE2015) campaign north of Svalbard are used to initiate and force the model. The N-ICE2015 winter was characterized by frequent storm events that brought pulses of heat and moisture, and a thick snow cover atop the sea ice (0.3–0.5 m). By the end of the winter, sea-ice bottom growth was negligible. We show that the thermodynamic effect of storms to the winter sea-ice growth is controlled by the amount of snow on sea ice. For 1.3 m initial ice thickness, the decrease in ice growth caused by the warming events ranged from −1.4% (for 0.5 m of snow) to −7.5% (for snow-free conditions). The decrease in sea-ice growth caused by the thick snow (0.5 m) was more important, ranging from −17% (with storms) to −23% (without storms). The results showcase the critical role of snow on winter Arctic sea-ice growth.

Download Full-text

The Arctic sea ice cover of 2016: a year of record-low highs and higher-than-expected lows

The Cryosphere ◽

10.5194/tc-12-433-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 433-452 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Alek A. Petty ◽

Julienne C. Stroeve ◽

Paul R. Holland ◽

Linette N. Boisvert ◽

Angela C. Bliss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

North Atlantic ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Arctic Sea Ice ◽

The Arctic ◽

Sea Ice Extent ◽

Atlantic Sector ◽

Arctic Sea ◽

The Arctic Ocean

Abstract. The Arctic sea ice cover of 2016 was highly noteworthy, as it featured record low monthly sea ice extents at the start of the year but a summer (September) extent that was higher than expected by most seasonal forecasts. Here we explore the 2016 Arctic sea ice state in terms of its monthly sea ice cover, placing this in the context of the sea ice conditions observed since 2000. We demonstrate the sensitivity of monthly Arctic sea ice extent and area estimates, in terms of their magnitude and annual rankings, to the ice concentration input data (using two widely used datasets) and to the averaging methodology used to convert concentration to extent (daily or monthly extent calculations). We use estimates of sea ice area over sea ice extent to analyse the relative “compactness” of the Arctic sea ice cover, highlighting anomalously low compactness in the summer of 2016 which contributed to the higher-than-expected September ice extent. Two cyclones that entered the Arctic Ocean during August appear to have driven this low-concentration/compactness ice cover but were not sufficient to cause more widespread melt-out and a new record-low September ice extent. We use concentration budgets to explore the regions and processes (thermodynamics/dynamics) contributing to the monthly 2016 extent/area estimates highlighting, amongst other things, rapid ice intensification across the central eastern Arctic through September. Two different products show significant early melt onset across the Arctic Ocean in 2016, including record-early melt onset in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic. Our results also show record-late 2016 freeze-up in the central Arctic, North Atlantic and the Alaskan Arctic sector in particular, associated with strong sea surface temperature anomalies that appeared shortly after the 2016 minimum (October onwards). We explore the implications of this low summer ice compactness for seasonal forecasting, suggesting that sea ice area could be a more reliable metric to forecast in this more seasonal, “New Arctic”, sea ice regime.

Download Full-text

Atmospheric Trends Over the Arctic Ocean in Simulations from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) and Their Driving GCMs

10.21203/rs.3.rs-977409/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cathy Reader ◽

Nadja Steiner

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

General Circulation ◽

Climate Models ◽

Circulation Model ◽

The Arctic ◽

Atlantic Sector ◽

Near Surface ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Regional Downscaling

Abstract The Arctic Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (Arctic-CORDEX) uses regional climate models (RCMs) to downscale selected Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) simulations, allowing trend validation and projection on subregional scales. For 1986-2015, the CORDEX seasonal-average near-surface temperature (tas), wind speed (sfcWind), precipitation (pr) and snowfall (prsn) trends are consistent with the ERA5 analysis for the Arctic Ocean regions considered. The projected Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) 2016-2100 subregional annual tas trends range from 0.03 to 0.18 K/year. Projected annual pr and prsn trends have a large inter-model spread centered around approximately 5.0x10−8 mm/s/year and -5.0x10−8 mm/s/year, respectively, while projected sfcWind summer and winter trends range between 0.0 and 0.4 m/s/year. For all variables except prsn, and sometimes total precipitation, the driving general circulation model (GCM) dominates the trends, however there is a tendency for the GCMs to underestimate the sfcWind trends compared to the downscaled simulations. Subtracting the Arctic-Ocean mean from subregional trends reveals a consistent, qualitative anomaly pattern in several variables and seasons characterized by greater-than or average trends in the central and Siberian Arctic Ocean and lesser or average trends in the Atlantic Sector and the Bering Sea, related to summer sea-ice trends. In particular, a strong proportional relationship exists between the summer sea-ice concentration and fall tas and sfcWind trend anomalies. The RCP4.5 annual, multi-model mean trends are 35-55% of the corresponding RCP8.5 trends for most variables and subregions.

Download Full-text

Winter storms accelerate the demise of sea ice in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-45574-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Robert M. Graham ◽

Polona Itkin ◽

Amelie Meyer ◽

Arild Sundfjord ◽

Gunnar Spreen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

The Arctic ◽

Winter Storms ◽

Atlantic Sector ◽

The Arctic Ocean

Download Full-text

The role of entrained sediments in sea ice in the distribution of aluminium and iron in the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean

Marine Chemistry ◽

10.1016/s0304-4203(99)00065-1 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 68 (1-2) ◽

pp. 59-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

C.I Measures

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

Surface Waters ◽

The Arctic ◽

The Arctic Ocean

Download Full-text

Impact of Atlantic water variability on sea ice changes in the Fram Strait and north of Svalbard

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-8142 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Agata Grynczel ◽

Agnieszka Beszczynska-Moeller ◽

Waldemar Walczowski

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Atlantic Water ◽

The Arctic ◽

Fram Strait ◽

Atlantic Sector ◽

The North ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

West Spitsbergen

<p>Recent satellite passive microwave observations indicate significant negative Arctic sea ice extent trends in all months and substantial reduction of winter sea ice in the Atlantic sector. Warm and salty oceanic water masses from the North Atlantic flow towards the Arctic Ocean along the eastern Fram Strait, carried by the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC). Fram Strait, as well as the region north of Svalbard, play a key role in controlling the amount of oceanic heat supplied to the Arctic Ocean and are the place of dynamic interaction between the ocean and sea ice. The north of Svalbard area is one of the regions where the substantial changes in sea ice concentrations are observed both in summer and in winter. One of the possible reasons can be sought in the observed warming of Atlantic water, carried through Fram Strait into the Arctic Ocean. The main goal of this work is to analyse and explain the sea ice variability along main pathways of the Atlantic origin water (AW) in the context of observed warming of Atlantic water layer. Shrinking sea ice cover in the southern part of Nansen Basin (north of Svalbard) and shifting the ice edge in Fram Strait are driven by the interplay between increased advection of oceanic heat in the Atlantic origin water and changes in the local atmospheric conditions that result in the increased ocean-air-sea ice exchange in winter seasons. The basis for this hypothesis is warming of winter mean surface air temperature observed north of Svalbard and withdrawal of the sea ice cover towards the northeast, along with the pathways of water inflow in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean. Hydrographic data from vertical CTD profiles were collected during annual summer expeditions of the research vessel "Oceania", conducted in Fram Strait and the southern part of the Nansen Basin over the past two decades. The measurement strategy of the original research program AREX, which consists of the performance of cross-sections perpendicular to the presumed direction of the West Spitsbergen Current, allowed to observe changes in the properties and transport of the Atlantic Water carried to the Arctic Ocean. The analysis of past and present changes in the sea ice cover in relation to Atlantic water variability and atmospheric forcing employs hydrographic data from the repeated CTD sections, systematically collected since 1996 during annual summer Arctic long-term monitoring program AREX, satellite products of sea ice concentration and drift, and selected reanalysis data sets.</p>

Download Full-text

The role of atmospheric circulation in the growth of sea-ice extent in marginal seas around the Arctic Ocean

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756405781813005 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

pp. 352-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kunio Rikiishi ◽

Hideaki Ohtake ◽

Yurika Katagiri

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Negative Correlation ◽

The Arctic ◽

Aleutian Low ◽

Sea Ice Extent ◽

Ice Growth ◽

Marginal Seas ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Icelandic Low

AbstractSatellite data of weekly sea-ice extent and monthly means of objectively analyzed upper-air observation for the years 1978–95 are analyzed in order to investigate the role of atmospheric circulation in the growth of sea-ice extent in five marginal seas around the Arctic Ocean. It has been found that in all the regions the sea ice advances when a cold wind blows from the land (or from the Arctic ice field) to the region, whereas it hardly advances (or it retreats) when a warm wind blows over the region. Whether the wind is favorable or unfavorable for sea-ice growth depends on the position and intensity of the Icelandic low in the Atlantic sector and of the Aleutian low in the Pacific sector. This leads to a negative correlation in ice growth between the western region (Labrador or Okhotsk Sea) and the eastern region (Barents or Bering Sea). Significant correlations are also found across the continents, that is, positive correlations between the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, and between the Labrador and Bering Seas. These teleconnections of ice growth can be explained by taking into account an observed negative correlation between the activities of the Icelandic low and Aleutian low.

Download Full-text