scholarly journals Relationship between Winter Precipitation in Barents–Kara Seas and September–October Eastern Siberian Sea Ice Anomalies

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiajun Feng ◽  
Yuanzhi Zhang ◽  
Changqing Ke

In this study, we applied the 1988–2017 monthly average sea ice concentration data from the Met Office Hadley Centre and the 1988–2017 monthly average reanalysis data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/Department of Energy (NCEP/DOE) Reanalysis II to analyze the relationship between the winter precipitation in the Barents and Kara Seas (BKS) and the previous autumn eastern Siberian Sea ice anomalies. Through the correlation analysis, we found that the correlation between eastern Siberian Sea ice and the BKS winter precipitation was strongest in September and weakest in November. The results indicated that, when the eastern Siberian Sea ice extent decreased in September–October, a significant positive geopotential height anomaly would occur in the coming winter (December–February) in the Norwegian–Barents region. This result in turn caused anomalies in the northward meridional wind. Consequently, the anomalous water vapor from the mid-latitude Atlantic to the Arctic passed through the Greenland Sea before finally reaching the BKS. The meridional wind also caused the temperature in said seas to increase and the BKS ice to melt, leading to an increase of winter precipitation. We also found that the increase of the Siberian high (SH) in winter was related to the decrease of autumn East Siberian Sea ice extent and the increase of the winter BKS precipitation anomaly. Further research still needs to be refined for this issue in future studies.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. John R. French ◽  
Andrew R. Klekociuk ◽  
Frank J. Mulligan

Abstract. Observational evidence of a quasi-quadrennial oscillation (QQO) in the polar mesosphere is presented based on the analysis of 24 years of hydroxyl (OH) nightglow rotational temperatures derived from scanning spectrometer observations above Davis Research Station, Antarctica (68° S, 78° E). After removal of long term trend and solar cycle responses, the residual winter mean temperature variability contains an oscillation over an approximately 3.5–4.5 year cycle with an amplitude of 3–4 K. Here we investigate this QQO feature in the context of the global temperature, pressure, wind and surface fields using the Aura/MLS and TIMED/SABER satellite data, ERA5 reanalysis and the Extended-Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature and Optimally-Interpolated sea ice concentration data sets. We find a significant anti-correlation between the QQO and the meridional wind at 86 km altitude measured by a medium frequency spaced antenna radar at Davis. The QQO signal is also correlated with vertical transport as determined from evaluation of carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in the mesosphere. Together this relationship suggesting that a substantial part of the QQO is the result of adiabatic heating and cooling driven by the meridional flow. The presence of quasi-stationary or persistent patterns in the ERA5 data geopotential anomaly and the meridional wind anomaly data during warm and cold phases of the QQO suggests a tidal or planetary wave influence in its formation, which may act on the filtering of gravity waves to drive an adiabatic response in the mesosphere. The QQO signal potentially arises from an ocean-atmosphere response, and appears to have a signature in Antarctic sea ice extent.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1139
Author(s):  
David Llaveria ◽  
Juan Francesc Munoz-Martin ◽  
Christoph Herbert ◽  
Miriam Pablos ◽  
Hyuk Park ◽  
...  

CubeSat-based Earth Observation missions have emerged in recent times, achieving scientifically valuable data at a moderate cost. FSSCat is a two 6U CubeSats mission, winner of the ESA S3 challenge and overall winner of the 2017 Copernicus Masters Competition, that was launched in September 2020. The first satellite, 3Cat-5/A, carries the FMPL-2 instrument, an L-band microwave radiometer and a GNSS-Reflectometer. This work presents a neural network approach for retrieving sea ice concentration and sea ice extent maps on the Arctic and the Antarctic oceans using FMPL-2 data. The results from the first months of operations are presented and analyzed, and the quality of the retrieved maps is assessed by comparing them with other existing sea ice concentration maps. As compared to OSI SAF products, the overall accuracy for the sea ice extent maps is greater than 97% using MWR data, and up to 99% when using combined GNSS-R and MWR data. In the case of Sea ice concentration, the absolute errors are lower than 5%, with MWR and lower than 3% combining it with the GNSS-R. The total extent area computed using this methodology is close, with 2.5% difference, to those computed by other well consolidated algorithms, such as OSI SAF or NSIDC. The approach presented for estimating sea ice extent and concentration maps is a cost-effective alternative, and using a constellation of CubeSats, it can be further improved.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1361-1380 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ono ◽  
H. Tatebe ◽  
Y. Komuro

Abstract The mechanisms for and predictability of a drastic reduction in the Arctic sea ice extent (SIE) are investigated using the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC) version 5.2. Here, a control (CTRL) with forcing fixed at year 2000 levels and perfect-model ensemble prediction (PRED) experiments are conducted. In CTRL, three (model years 51, 56, and 57) drastic SIE reductions occur during a 200-yr-long integration. In year 56, the sea ice moves offshore in association with a positive phase of the summer Arctic dipole anomaly (ADA) index and melts due to heat input through the increased open water area, and the SIE drastically decreases. This provides the preconditioning for the lowest SIE in year 57 when the Arctic Ocean interior is in a warm state and the spring sea ice volume has a large negative anomaly due to drastic ice reduction in the previous year. Although the ADA is one of the key mechanisms behind sea ice reduction, it does not always cause a drastic reduction. Our analysis suggests that wind direction favoring offshore ice motion is a more important factor for drastic ice reduction events. In years experiencing drastic ice reduction events, the September SIE can be skillfully predicted in PRED started from July, but not from April. This is because the forecast errors for the July sea level pressure and those for the sea ice concentration and sea ice thickness along the ice edge are large in PRED started from April.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1971-1984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Rolph ◽  
Daniel L. Feltham ◽  
David Schröder

Abstract. Many studies have shown a decrease in Arctic sea ice extent. It does not logically follow, however, that the extent of the marginal ice zone (MIZ), here defined as the area of the ocean with ice concentrations from 15 % to 80 %, is also changing. Changes in the MIZ extent has implications for the level of atmospheric and ocean heat and gas exchange in the area of partially ice-covered ocean and for the extent of habitat for organisms that rely on the MIZ, from primary producers like sea ice algae to seals and birds. Here, we present, for the first time, an analysis of satellite observations of pan-Arctic averaged MIZ extent. We find no trend in the MIZ extent over the last 40 years from observations. Our results indicate that the constancy of the MIZ extent is the result of an observed increase in width of the MIZ being compensated for by a decrease in the perimeter of the MIZ as it moves further north. We present simulations from a coupled sea ice–ocean mixed layer model using a prognostic floe size distribution, which we find is consistent with, but poorly constrained by, existing satellite observations of pan-Arctic MIZ extent. We provide seasonal upper and lower bounds on MIZ extent based on the four satellite-derived sea ice concentration datasets used. We find a large and significant increase (>50 %) in the August and September MIZ fraction (MIZ extent divided by sea ice extent) for the Bootstrap and OSI-450 observational datasets, which can be attributed to the reduction in total sea ice extent. Given the results of this study, we suggest that references to “rapid changes” in the MIZ should remain cautious and provide a specific and clear definition of both the MIZ itself and also the property of the MIZ that is changing.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 761-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinghua Yang ◽  
Martin Losch ◽  
Svetlana N. Losa ◽  
Thomas Jung ◽  
Lars Nerger ◽  
...  

Abstract. Data assimilation experiments that aim at improving summer ice concentration and thickness forecasts in the Arctic are carried out. The data assimilation system used is based on the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) and a local singular evolutive interpolated Kalman (LSEIK) filter. The effect of using sea ice concentration satellite data products with appropriate uncertainty estimates is assessed by three different experiments using sea ice concentration data of the European Space Agency Sea Ice Climate Change Initiative (ESA SICCI) which are provided with a per-grid-cell physically based sea ice concentration uncertainty estimate. The first experiment uses the constant uncertainty, the second one imposes the provided SICCI uncertainty estimate, while the third experiment employs an elevated minimum uncertainty to account for a representation error. Using the observation uncertainties that are provided with the data improves the ensemble mean forecast of ice concentration compared to using constant data errors, but the thickness forecast, based on the sparsely available data, appears to be degraded. Further investigating this lack of positive impact on the sea ice thicknesses leads us to a fundamental mismatch between the satellite-based radiometric concentration and the modeled physical ice concentration in summer: the passive microwave sensors used for deriving the vast majority of the sea ice concentration satellite-based observations cannot distinguish ocean water (in leads) from melt water (in ponds). New data assimilation methodologies that fully account or mitigate this mismatch must be designed for successful assimilation of sea ice concentration satellite data in summer melt conditions. In our study, thickness forecasts can be slightly improved by adopting the pragmatic solution of raising the minimum observation uncertainty to inflate the data error and ensemble spread.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 793-806
Author(s):  
William Gregory ◽  
Michel Tsamados ◽  
Julienne Stroeve ◽  
Peter Sollich

Abstract Reliable predictions of the Arctic sea ice cover are becoming of paramount importance for Arctic communities and industry stakeholders. In this study pan-Arctic and regional September mean sea ice extents are forecast with lead times of up to 3 months using a complex network statistical approach. This method exploits relationships within climate time series data by constructing regions of spatiotemporal homogeneity (i.e., nodes), and subsequently deriving teleconnection links between them. Here the nodes and links of the networks are generated from monthly mean sea ice concentration fields in June, July, and August; hence, individual networks are constructed for each respective month. Network information is then utilized within a linear Gaussian process regression forecast model, a Bayesian inference technique, in order to generate predictions of sea ice extent. Pan-Arctic forecasts capture a significant amount of the variability in the satellite observations of September sea ice extent, with detrended predictive skills of 0.53, 0.62, and 0.81 at 3-, 2-, and 1-month lead times, respectively. Regional forecasts are also performed for nine Arctic regions. On average, the highest predictive skill is achieved in the Canadian Archipelago, Beaufort, Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev, and Kara Seas, although the ability to accurately predict many of these regions appears to be changing over time.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1627-1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Mathiot ◽  
C. König Beatty ◽  
T. Fichefet ◽  
H. Goosse ◽  
F. Massonnet ◽  
...  

Abstract. Short-term and decadal sea-ice prediction systems need a realistic initial state, generally obtained using ice-ocean model simulations with data assimilation. However, only sea-ice concentration and velocity data are currently assimilated. In this work, an Ensemble Kalman Filter system is used to assimilate observed ice concentration and freeboard (i.e. thickness of emerged sea ice) data into a global coupled ocean–sea-ice model. The impact and effectiveness of our data assimilation system is assessed in two steps: firstly, through the assimilation of synthetic data (i.e., model-generated data) and, secondly, through the assimilation of satellite data. While ice concentrations are available daily, freeboard data used in this study are only available during six one-month periods spread over 2005–2007. Our results show that the simulated Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extents are improved by the assimilation of synthetic ice concentration data. Assimilation of synthetic ice freeboard data improves the simulated sea-ice thickness field. Using real ice concentration data enhances the model realism in both hemispheres. Assimilation of ice concentration data significantly improves the total hemispheric sea-ice extent all year long, especially in summer. Combining the assimilation of ice freeboard and concentration data leads to better ice thickness, but does not further improve the ice extent. Moreover, the improvements in sea-ice thickness due to the assimilation of ice freeboard remain visible well beyond the assimilation periods.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Liang ◽  
Jiangyuan Zeng ◽  
Zhen Li

<p>Evaluating the performance and consistency of passive microwave (PM) sea ice concentration (SIC) products derived from different algorithms is critical since a good knowledge of the quality of the satellite SIC products is essential for their application and improvement. To comprehensively evaluate the performance of satellite SIC in long time series and the whole polar regions (both Arctic and Antarctic), in the study we examined the spatial and temporal distribution of the discrepancy between four PM satellite SIC products with the ERA-Interim sea ice fraction dataset (ERA SIC) during the period of 2015-2018. The four PM SIC products include the DMSP SSMIS with Arctic Radiation and Turbulence Interaction Study Sea Ice (ASI) algorithm (SSMIS/ASI), the GCOM-W AMSR2 with NASA Bootstrap (BT) algorithm (AMSR2/BT), the Chinese Feng Yun-3B with enhanced NASA Team (NT2) sea ice algorithm (FY3B/NT2), and the Chinese Feng Yun-3C with NT2 (FY3C/NT2) at a spatial resolution of 12.5 km.</p><p>The results show the spatial patterns of PM SIC products are generally in good agreement with ERA SIC. The comparison of monthly and annual SIC shows that the largest bias and root mean square difference (RMSD) for the PM SIC products mainly occur in summer and the marginal ice zone, indicating that there are still many uncertainties in PM SIC products in such period and region. Meanwhile, the daily sea ice extent (SIE) and sea ice area (SIA) derived from the four PM SIC products can generally well reflect the variation trend of SIE and SIA in Arctic and Antarctic. The largest bias of SIE and SIA are above 4×10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup> when the sea ice reaches the maximum and minimum value, and the daily bias of SIE and SIA vary seasonally and regionally, which is mainly concentrated from June to October in Arctic. In general, among the four PM SIC products, the SSMIS/ASI product performs the best compared with ERA SIC though it usually underestimates SIC with a negative bias. The FY3B/NT2 and FY3C/NT2 products show more significant discrepancy with higher RMSD and bias in Arctic and Antarctic compared with the SSMIS/ASI and AMSR2/BT. The AMSR2/BT product performs much better in Antarctic than in Arctic and it always overestimates ERA SIC with a positive bias. The consistency of the four PM products concerning ERA SIC in the Antarctic region is generally superior to that in Arctic region.</p>


2001 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 457-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefino C. Comiso

AbstractRecent observations of a decreasing ice extent and a possible thinning of the ice cover in the Arctic make it imperative that detailed studies of the current Arctic environment are made, especially since the region is known to be highly sensitive to a potential change in climate. A continuous dataset of microwave, thermal infrared and visible satellite data has been analyzed for the first time to concurrently study in spatial detail the variability of the sea-ice cover, surface temperature, albedo and cloud statistics in the region from 1987 to 1998. Large warming anomalies during the last four years (i.e. 1995−98) are indeed apparent and spatially more extensive than previous years. The largest surface temperature anomaly occurred in 1998, but this was confined mainly to the western Arctic and the North American continent, while cooling occurred in other areas. The albedo anomalies show good coherence with the sea-ice concentration anomalies except in the central region, where periodic changes in albedo are observed, indicative of interannual changes in duration and areal extent of melt ponding and snow-free ice cover. The cloud-cover anomalies are more difficult to interpret, but are shown to be well correlated with the expected warming effects of clouds on the sea-ice surface. The results from trend analyses of the data are consistent with a general warming trend and an ice-cover retreat that appear to be even larger during the last dozen years than those previously reported.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Ono ◽  
Hiroaki Tatebe ◽  
Yoshiki Komuro ◽  
Masato I. Nodzu ◽  
Masayoshi Ishii

Abstract. To assess the skill of predictions of the seasonal-to-interannual detrended sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean (SIEAO) and to clarify the underlying physical processes, we conducted ensemble hindcasts, started on January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st for each year from 1980 to 2011, for lead times of up three years, using the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC) version 5 initialized with the observed atmosphere and ocean anomalies and sea ice concentration. Significant skill is found for the winter months: the December SIEAO can be predicted up to 1 year ahead. This skill is attributed to the subsurface ocean heat content originating in the North Atlantic. The subsurface water flows into the Barents Sea from spring to fall and emerges at the surface in winter by vertical mixing, and eventually affects the sea ice variability there. Meanwhile, the September SIEAO predictions are skillful for lead times of up to 3 months, due to the persistence of sea ice in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and East Siberian Seas initialized in July, as suggested by previous studies.


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