Modelling the influence of snow accumulation and snow-ice formation on the seasonal cycle of the Antarctic sea-ice cover

AbstractSixty-three ice cores were collected in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas in August and September 1993 during a cruise of the R.V. Nathaniel B. Palmer. The structure and stable-isotopic composition (18O/16O) of the cores were investigated in order to understand the growth conditions and to identify the key growth processes, particularly the contribution of snow to sea-ice formation. The structure and isotopic composition of a set of 12 cores that was collected for the same purpose in the Bellingshausen Sea in March 1992 are reassessed. Frazil ice and congelation ice contribute 44% and 26%, respectively, to the composition of both the winter and summer ice-core sets, evidence that the relatively calm conditions that favour congelation-ice formation are neither as common nor as prolonged as the more turbulent conditions that favour frazil-ice growth and pancake-ice formation. Both frazil- and congelation-ice layers have an av erage thickness of 0.12 m in winter, evidence that congelation ice and pancake ice thicken primarily by dynamic processes. The thermodynamic development of the ice cover relies heavily on the formation of snow ice at the surface of floes after sea water has flooded the snow cover. Snow-ice layers have a mean thickness of 0.20 and 0.28 m in the winter and summer cores, respectively, and the contribution of snow ice to the winter (24%) and summer (16%) core sets exceeds most quantities that have been reported previously in other Antarctic pack-ice zones. The thickness and quantity of snow ice may be due to a combination of high snow-accumulation rates and snow loads, environmental conditions that favour a warm ice cover in which brine convection between the bottom and top of the ice introduces sea water to the snow/ice interface, and bottom melting losses being compensated by snow-ice formation. Layers of superimposed ice at the top of each of the summer cores make up 4.6% of the ice that was examined and they increase by a factor of 3 the quantity of snow entrained in the ice. The accumulation of superimposed ice is evidence that melting in the snow cover on Antarctic sea-ice floes ran reach an advanced stage and contribute a significant amount of snow to the total ice mass.

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Thermodynamics of slush and snow–ice formation in the Antarctic sea-ice zone

Deep Sea Research Part II Topical Studies in Oceanography ◽

10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.03.008 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 131 ◽

pp. 75-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Mathilde Jutras ◽

Martin Vancoppenolle ◽

Antonio Lourenço ◽

Frédéric Vivier ◽

Gauthier Carnat ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Ice Formation ◽

Antarctic Sea Ice ◽

The Antarctic

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Snow-ice growth: a fresh-water flux inhibiting deep convection in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756401781818752 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 45-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

V.I. Lytle ◽

S.F. Ackley

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Thermohaline Circulation ◽

Deep Convection ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Snow Accumulation ◽

Heat Fluxes ◽

Weddell Sea ◽

Salt Flux ◽

Ice Formation ◽

Atmospheric Conditions

AbstractDuring a field experiment in July 1994, while the R.V. Nathaniel B. Palmer was moored to a drifting ice floe in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, data were collected on sea-ice and snow characteristics. We report on the evolution of ice which grew in a newly opened lead. As expected with cold atmospheric conditions, congelation ice initially formed in the lead. Subsequent snow accumulation and large ocean heat fluxes resulted in melt at the base of the ice, and enhanced flooding of the snow on the ice surface. This flooded snow subsequently froze, and, 5 days after the lead opened, all the congelation ice had melted and 26 cm of snow ice had formed. We use measured sea-ice and snow salinities, thickness and oxygen isotope values of the newly formed lead ice to calculate the salt flux to the ocean. Although there was a salt flux to the ocean as the ice initially grew, we calculate a small net fresh-wlter input to the upper ocean by the end of the 5 day period. Similar processes of basal melt and surface snow-ice formation also occurred on the surrounding, thicker sea ice. Oceanographic studies in this region of the Weddell Sea have shown that salt rejection by sea-ice formation may enhance the ocean vertical thermohaline circulation and release heat from the deeper ocean to melt the ice cover. This type of deep convection is thought to initiate the Weddell polynya, which was observed only during the 1970s. Our results, which show that an ice cover can form with no salt input to the ocean, provide a mechanism which may help explain the more recent absence of the Weddell polynya.

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Positive Trend in the Antarctic Sea Ice Cover and Associated Changes in Surface Temperature

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-16-0408.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 2251-2267 ◽

Cited By ~ 64

Author(s):

Josefino C. Comiso ◽

Robert A. Gersten ◽

Larry V. Stock ◽

John Turner ◽

Gay J. Perez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Surface Temperature ◽

Climate Models ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Southern Annular Mode ◽

Positive Trend ◽

Growth Season ◽

Sea Ice Extent ◽

Antarctic Sea Ice ◽

The Antarctic

Abstract The Antarctic sea ice extent has been slowly increasing contrary to expected trends due to global warming and results from coupled climate models. After a record high extent in 2012 the extent was even higher in 2014 when the magnitude exceeded 20 × 106 km2 for the first time during the satellite era. The positive trend is confirmed with newly reprocessed sea ice data that addressed inconsistency issues in the time series. The variability in sea ice extent and ice area was studied alongside surface ice temperature for the 34-yr period starting in 1981, and the results of the analysis show a strong correlation of −0.94 during the growth season and −0.86 during the melt season. The correlation coefficients are even stronger with a one-month lag in surface temperature at −0.96 during the growth season and −0.98 during the melt season, suggesting that the trend in sea ice cover is strongly influenced by the trend in surface temperature. The correlation with atmospheric circulation as represented by the southern annular mode (SAM) index appears to be relatively weak. A case study comparing the record high in 2014 with a relatively low ice extent in 2015 also shows strong sensitivity to changes in surface temperature. The results suggest that the positive trend is a consequence of the spatial variability of global trends in surface temperature and that the ability of current climate models to forecast sea ice trend can be improved through better performance in reproducing observed surface temperatures in the Antarctic region.

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A spurious jump in the satellite record: has Antarctic sea ice expansion been overestimated?

The Cryosphere ◽

10.5194/tc-8-1289-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 1289-1296 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

I. Eisenman ◽

W. N. Meier ◽

J. R. Norris

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Current Data ◽

The Arctic ◽

Sea Ice Extent ◽

Data Set ◽

Antarctic Sea Ice ◽

Ice Retreat ◽

Bootstrap Algorithm ◽

The Antarctic

Abstract. Recent estimates indicate that the Antarctic sea ice cover is expanding at a statistically significant rate with a magnitude one-third as large as the rapid rate of sea ice retreat in the Arctic. However, during the mid-2000s, with several fewer years in the observational record, the trend in Antarctic sea ice extent was reported to be considerably smaller and statistically indistinguishable from zero. Here, we show that much of the increase in the reported trend occurred due to the previously undocumented effect of a change in the way the satellite sea ice observations are processed for the widely used Bootstrap algorithm data set, rather than a physical increase in the rate of ice advance. Specifically, we find that a change in the intercalibration across a 1991 sensor transition when the data set was reprocessed in 2007 caused a substantial change in the long-term trend. Although our analysis does not definitively identify whether this change introduced an error or removed one, the resulting difference in the trends suggests that a substantial error exists in either the current data set or the version that was used prior to the mid-2000s, and numerous studies that have relied on these observations should be reexamined to determine the sensitivity of their results to this change in the data set. Furthermore, a number of recent studies have investigated physical mechanisms for the observed expansion of the Antarctic sea ice cover. The results of this analysis raise the possibility that much of this expansion may be a spurious artifact of an error in the processing of the satellite observations.

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Seasonal variations in the properties and structural composition of sea ice and snow cover in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas, Antarctica

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/s0022143000002902 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 43 (143) ◽

pp. 138-151 ◽

Cited By ~ 69

Author(s):

M. O. Jeffries ◽

K. Morris ◽

W.F. Weeks ◽

A. P. Worby

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Isotopic Composition ◽

Snow Cover ◽

Sea Water ◽

Ice Cores ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Snow Accumulation ◽

Ice Formation ◽

Frazil Ice ◽

Core Sets

AbstractSixty-three ice cores were collected in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas in August and September 1993 during a cruise of the R.V.Nathaniel B. Palmer. The structure and stable-isotopic composition (18O/16O) of the cores were investigated in order to understand the growth conditions and to identify the key growth processes, particularly the contribution of snow to sea-ice formation. The structure and isotopic composition of a set of 12 cores that was collected for the same purpose in the Bellingshausen Sea in March 1992 are reassessed. Frazil ice and congelation ice contribute 44% and 26%, respectively, to the composition of both the winter and summer ice-core sets, evidence that the relatively calm conditions that favour congelation-ice formation are neither as common nor as prolonged as the more turbulent conditions that favour frazil-ice growth and pancake-ice formation. Both frazil- and congelation-ice layers have an av erage thickness of 0.12 m in winter, evidence that congelation ice and pancake ice thicken primarily by dynamic processes. The thermodynamic development of the ice cover relies heavily on the formation of snow ice at the surface of floes after sea water has flooded the snow cover. Snow-ice layers have a mean thickness of 0.20 and 0.28 m in the winter and summer cores, respectively, and the contribution of snow ice to the winter (24%) and summer (16%) core sets exceeds most quantities that have been reported previously in other Antarctic pack-ice zones. The thickness and quantity of snow ice may be due to a combination of high snow-accumulation rates and snow loads, environmental conditions that favour a warm ice cover in which brine convection between the bottom and top of the ice introduces sea water to the snow/ice interface, and bottom melting losses being compensated by snow-ice formation. Layers of superimposed ice at the top of each of the summer cores make up 4.6% of the ice that was examined and they increase by a factor of 3 the quantity of snow entrained in the ice. The accumulation of superimposed ice is evidence that melting in the snow cover on Antarctic sea-ice floes ran reach an advanced stage and contribute a significant amount of snow to the total ice mass.

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A 40-y record reveals gradual Antarctic sea ice increases followed by decreases at rates far exceeding the rates seen in the Arctic

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1906556116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (29) ◽

pp. 14414-14423 ◽

Cited By ~ 79

Author(s):

Claire L. Parkinson

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Arctic Sea Ice ◽

The Arctic ◽

Antarctic Sea Ice ◽

Ice Coverage ◽

Yearly Average ◽

Precipitous Decline ◽

The One ◽

The Antarctic

Following over 3 decades of gradual but uneven increases in sea ice coverage, the yearly average Antarctic sea ice extents reached a record high of 12.8 × 106 km2 in 2014, followed by a decline so precipitous that they reached their lowest value in the 40-y 1979–2018 satellite multichannel passive-microwave record, 10.7 × 106 km2, in 2017. In contrast, it took the Arctic sea ice cover a full 3 decades to register a loss that great in yearly average ice extents. Still, when considering the 40-y record as a whole, the Antarctic sea ice continues to have a positive overall trend in yearly average ice extents, although at 11,300 ± 5,300 km2⋅y−1, this trend is only 50% of the trend for 1979–2014, before the precipitous decline. Four of the 5 sectors into which the Antarctic sea ice cover is divided all also have 40-y positive trends that are well reduced from their 2014–2017 values. The one anomalous sector in this regard, the Bellingshausen/Amundsen Seas, has a 40-y negative trend, with the yearly average ice extents decreasing overall in the first 3 decades, reaching a minimum in 2007, and exhibiting an overall upward trend since 2007 (i.e., reflecting a reversal in the opposite direction from the other 4 sectors and the Antarctic sea ice cover as a whole).

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Sensitivity of the Antarctic sea ice distribution to its advection in a general circulation model

Antarctic Science ◽

10.1017/s0954102097000588 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 445-455 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Xingren Wu ◽

W.F. Budd ◽

Ian Simmonds

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Seasonal Cycle ◽

General Circulation ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Coupled System ◽

Atmospheric Conditions ◽

Atmospheric Forcing ◽

Antarctic Sea Ice ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Ice Model

A dynamic-thermodynamic sea ice model is used and coupled with an atmospheric general circulation model to simulate the seasonal cycle of the global sea ice distribution. We have run the coupled system and obtain a creditable seasonal simulation of the Antarctic sea ice. To understand the role of ice advection on the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice in the coupled system, results from the thermodynamiconly (T) sea ice model have been compared with those from the dynamic thermodynamic (DT) sea ice model. The seasonal cycle of sea ice differs between the two models. When ice motion is eliminated sea ice becomes more compact and thinner, and sea ice is more extensive in summer. A number of previous studies have examined the effect of ice dynamics on sea ice simulations with prescribed atmospheric conditions. Here experiments have been performed with a fully coupled atmosphere sea ice system and also using prescribed daily atmospheric forcing and monthly mean atmospheric forcing, to examine the differences of the sensitivity of the ice advection between the coupled and forcing models. Similar differences have been observed between DT and T in the forcing models but the magnitude is smaller than in the fully coupled model, and with monthly mean atmospheric forcing the difference is least. These differences highlight the importance of the inclusion of ice advection when undertaking studies using a fully interactive atmosphere sea ice model, or using prescribed daily/monthly atmospheric conditions to force a sea ice model for the Antarctic.

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Interannual and regional variability of Southern Ocean snow on sea ice

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756406781811475 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 53-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Thorsten Markus ◽

Donald J. Cavalieri

Keyword(s):

Southern Ocean ◽

Sea Ice ◽

Snow Depth ◽

Critical Role ◽

Ice Cover ◽

Insulation Property ◽

Regional Variability ◽

Indirect Measure ◽

Antarctic Sea Ice ◽

The Antarctic

AbstractSnow depth on sea ice plays a critical role in the heat exchange between ocean and atmosphere because of its thermal insulation property. Furthermore, a heavy snow load on the relatively thin Southern Ocean sea-ice cover submerges the ice floes below sea level, causing snow-to-ice conversion. Snowfall is also an important freshwater source into the weakly stratified ocean. Snow-depth on sea-ice information can be used as an indirect measure of solid precipitation. Satellite passive microwave data are used to investigate the interannual and regional variability of the snow cover on sea ice. In this study we make use of 12 years (1992–2003) of Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) radiances to calculate average monthly snow depth on the Antarctic sea-ice cover. For the Antarctic sea-ice region as a whole, we find that September snow depth and sea-ice area are negatively correlated, which is not the case for individual regions. An analysis of the snow depth around Antarctica was undertaken. The results show an overall increase in snow depth for each of the five Antarctic sectors and the region as a whole, but only the Indian Ocean sector and the entire Southern Ocean show a statistically significant increase. There is a partial eastward propagation of maximum snow depths, which may be related to the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave. The overall trend and the variability of regional snow-depth distributions are also in agreement with cyclone density.

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