scholarly journals The distribution of snow black carbon observed in the Arctic and compared to the GISS-PUCCINI model

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 11245-11274
Author(s):  
T. Dou ◽  
C. Xiao ◽  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
J. Liu ◽  
J. Ming ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Radiative Forcings ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

Abstract. In this study, we focus on the latest NASA GISS composition-climate model to evaluate its performance in simulating the spatial distribution of snow BC (sBC) in the Arctic relative to present observations. The radiative forcing due to BC deposition to the Arctic snow and sea ice is also estimated. Two sets of model simulations have been done in the analysis, where meteorology is linearly relaxed towards National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and towards NASA Modern Era Reanalysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalyses. Results indicate that both of the modeled sBC are in good agreement with present-day observations in and around the Arctic Ocean, except for underestimation at a few sites in the Russian Arctic. The overall ratio of observed to modeled sBC is 1.1. The result from the NCEP run is slightly better than that from the MERRA run. This suggests that the latest GISS-E2-PUCCINI model does not have significant biases in its simulated spatial distribution of BC deposition to the Arctic, and underestimation of biomass burning emissions in Northern Eurasia is preliminarily considered to be the main cause of the simulation biases in the Russian Arctic. The combination of observations and modeling provides a comprehensive distribution of sBC over the Arctic. On the basis of this distribution, we estimate the decrease in snow and sea ice albedo and the resulting radiative forcing. It is concluded that the averaged decrease in snow and sea ice albedo in and around the Arctic Ocean (66–90° N) due to BC deposition is 0.4–0.6% from spring 2007–2009, leading to regional surface radiative forcings of 0.7 W m−2, 1.1 W m−2 and 1.0 W m−2, respectively in spring 2007, 2008 and 2009.

scholarly journals The distribution of snow black carbon observed in the Arctic and compared to the GISS-PUCCINI model

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7995-8007 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Dou ◽  
C. Xiao ◽  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
J. Liu ◽  
K. Eleftheriadis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Current Model ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Radiative Forcings ◽  
Environmental Prediction

Abstract. In this study, we evaluate the ability of the latest NASA GISS composition-climate model, GISS-E2-PUCCINI, to simulate the spatial distribution of snow BC (sBC) in the Arctic relative to present-day observations. Radiative forcing due to BC deposition onto Arctic snow and sea ice is also estimated. Two sets of model simulations are analyzed, where meteorology is linearly relaxed towards National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and towards NASA Modern Era Reanalysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalyses. Results indicate that the modeled concentrations of sBC are comparable with present-day observations in and around the Arctic Ocean, except for apparent underestimation at a few sites in the Russian Arctic. That said, the model has some biases in its simulated spatial distribution of BC deposition to the Arctic. The simulations from the two model runs are roughly equal, indicating that discrepancies between model and observations come from other sources. Underestimation of biomass burning emissions in Northern Eurasia may be the main cause of the low biases in the Russian Arctic. Comparisons of modeled aerosol BC (aBC) with long-term surface observations at Barrow, Alert, Zeppelin and Nord stations show significant underestimation in winter and spring concentrations in the Arctic (most significant in Alaska), although the simulated seasonality of aBC has been greatly improved relative to earlier model versions. This is consistent with simulated biases in vertical profiles of aBC, with underestimation in the lower and middle troposphere but overestimation in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, suggesting that the wet removal processes in the current model may be too weak or that vertical transport is too rapid, although the simulated BC lifetime seems reasonable. The combination of observations and modeling provides a comprehensive distribution of sBC over the Arctic. On the basis of this distribution, we estimate the decrease in snow and sea ice albedo and the resulting radiative forcing. We suggest that the albedo reduction due to BC deposition presents significant space-time variations, with highest mean reductions of 1.25% in the Russian Arctic, which are much larger than those in other Arctic regions (0.39% to 0.64%). The averaged value over the Arctic north of 66° N is 0.4–0.6% during spring, leading to regional surface radiative forcings of 0.7, 1.1 and 1.0 W m−2 in spring 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively.

scholarly journals Recent Sea Ice Decline Did Not Significantly Increase the Total Liquid Freshwater Content of the Arctic Ocean

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Wang ◽  
Claudia Wekerle ◽  
Sergey Danilov ◽  
Dmitry Sidorenko ◽  
Nikolay Koldunov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Sea Ice Decline ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Eurasian Basin ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The freshwater stored in the Arctic Ocean is an important component of the global climate system. Currently the Arctic liquid freshwater content (FWC) has reached a record high since the beginning of the last century. In this study we use numerical simulations to investigate the impact of sea ice decline on the Arctic liquid FWC and its spatial distribution. The global unstructured-mesh ocean general circulation model Finite Element Sea Ice–Ocean Model (FESOM) with 4.5-km horizontal resolution in the Arctic region is applied. The simulations show that sea ice decline increases the FWC by freshening the ocean through sea ice meltwater and modifies upper ocean circulation at the same time. The two effects together significantly increase the freshwater stored in the Amerasian basin and reduce its amount in the Eurasian basin. The salinification of the upper Eurasian basin is mainly caused by the reduction in the proportion of Pacific Water and the increase in that of Atlantic Water (AW). Consequently, the sea ice decline did not significantly contribute to the observed rapid increase in the Arctic total liquid FWC. However, the changes in the Arctic freshwater spatial distribution indicate that the influence of sea ice decline on the ocean environment is remarkable. Sea ice decline increases the amount of Barents Sea branch AW in the upper Arctic Ocean, thus reducing its supply to the deeper Arctic layers. This study suggests that all the dynamical processes sensitive to sea ice decline should be taken into account when understanding and predicting Arctic changes.

scholarly journals The Impact of Arctic Winter Infrared Radiation on Early Summer Sea Ice

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (15) ◽  
pp. 6281-6296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyo-Seok Park ◽  
Sukyoung Lee ◽  
Yu Kosaka ◽  
Seok-Woo Son ◽  
Sang-Woo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Upper Ocean ◽  
Upper Ocean Heat Content ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Arctic Summer

Abstract The Arctic summer sea ice area has been rapidly decreasing in recent decades. In addition to this trend, substantial interannual variability is present, as is highlighted by the recovery in sea ice area in 2013 following the record minimum in 2012. This interannual variability of the Arctic summer sea ice area has been attributed to the springtime weather disturbances. Here, by utilizing reanalysis- and satellite-based sea ice data, this study shows that summers with unusually small sea ice area are preceded by winters with anomalously strong downward longwave radiation over the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean. This anomalous wintertime radiative forcing at the surface is up to 10–15 W m−2, which is about twice as strong than that during the spring. During the same winters, the poleward moisture and warm-air intrusions into the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean are anomalously strong and the resulting moisture convergence field closely resembles positive anomalies in column-integrated water vapor and tropospheric temperature. Climate model simulations support the above-mentioned findings and further show that the anomalously strong wintertime radiative forcing can decrease sea ice thickness over wide areas of the Arctic Ocean, especially over the Eurasian sector. During the winters preceding the anomalously small summer sea ice area, the upper ocean of the model is anomalously warm over the Barents Sea, indicating that the upper-ocean heat content contributes to winter sea ice thinning. Finally, mass divergence by ice drift in the preceding winter and spring contributes to the thinning of sea ice over the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, where radiative forcing and upper-ocean heat content anomalies are relatively weak.

Expected change of hydrologic cycle in Northern Eurasia due to disappearance of multiyear sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 735-746
Author(s):  
V. P. Meleshko ◽  
V. M. Kattsov ◽  
A. V. Baidin ◽  
T. V. Pavlova ◽  
V. A. Govorkova
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Hydrologic Cycle ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

scholarly journals An Assessment of Sea Ice Motion Products in the Robeson Channel Using Daily Sentinel-1 Images

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Tingting Liu ◽  
Zihan Wang ◽  
Mohammed Shokr ◽  
Ruibo Lei ◽  
Zhaoru Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Tidal Forcing ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Essential Parameter ◽  
Ice Regime ◽  
Ice Floes

Sea ice motion is an essential parameter when determining sea ice deformation, regional advection, and the outflow of ice from the Arctic Ocean. The Robeson Channel, which is located between Ellesmere Island and northwest Greenland, is a narrow but crucial channel for ice outflow. Only three Eulerian sea ice motion products derived from ocean/sea ice reanalysis are available: GLORYS12V1, PSY4V3, and TOPAZ4. In this study, we used Lagrangian ice motion in the Robeson Channel derived from Sentinel-1 images to assess GLORYS12V1, PSY4V3, and TOPAZ4. The influence of the presence of ice arches, and wind and tidal forcing on the accuracies of the reanalysis products was also investigated. The results show that the PSY4V3 product performs the best as it underestimates the motion the least, whereas TOPAZ4 grossly underestimates the motion. This is particularly true in regimes of free drift after the formation of the northern arch. In areas with slow ice motion or grounded ice floes, the GLORYS12V1 and TOPAZ4 products offer a better estimation. The spatial distribution of the deviation between the products and ice floe drift is also presented and shows a better agreement in the Robeson Channel compared to the packed ice regime north of the Robeson Channel.

scholarly journals The Influence of Cloud and Surface Properties on the Arctic Ocean Shortwave Radiation Budget in Coupled Models*

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 866-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina V. Gorodetskaya ◽  
L-Bruno Tremblay ◽  
Beate Liepert ◽  
Mark A. Cane ◽  
Richard I. Cullather
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Arctic Clouds ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

Abstract The impact of Arctic sea ice concentrations, surface albedo, cloud fraction, and cloud ice and liquid water paths on the surface shortwave (SW) radiation budget is analyzed in the twentieth-century simulations of three coupled models participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report. The models are the Goddard Institute for Space Studies Model E-R (GISS-ER), the Met Office Third Hadley Centre Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere GCM (UKMO HadCM3), and the National Center for Atmosphere Research Community Climate System Model, version 3 (NCAR CCSM3). In agreement with observations, the models all have high Arctic mean cloud fractions in summer; however, large differences are found in the cloud ice and liquid water contents. The simulated Arctic clouds of CCSM3 have the highest liquid water content, greatly exceeding the values observed during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) campaign. Both GISS-ER and HadCM3 lack liquid water and have excessive ice amounts in Arctic clouds compared to SHEBA observations. In CCSM3, the high surface albedo and strong cloud SW radiative forcing both significantly decrease the amount of SW radiation absorbed by the Arctic Ocean surface during the summer. In the GISS-ER and HadCM3 models, the surface and cloud effects compensate one another: GISS-ER has both a higher summer surface albedo and a larger surface incoming SW flux when compared to HadCM3. Because of the differences in the models’ cloud and surface properties, the Arctic Ocean surface gains about 20% and 40% more solar energy during the melt period in the GISS-ER and HadCM3 models, respectively, compared to CCSM3. In twenty-first-century climate runs, discrepancies in the surface net SW flux partly explain the range in the models’ sea ice area changes. Substantial decrease in sea ice area simulated during the twenty-first century in CCSM3 is associated with a large drop in surface albedo that is only partly compensated by increased cloud SW forcing. In this model, an initially high cloud liquid water content reduces the effect of the increase in cloud fraction and cloud liquid water on the cloud optical thickness, limiting the ability of clouds to compensate for the large surface albedo decrease. In HadCM3 and GISS-ER, the compensation of the surface albedo and cloud SW forcing results in negligible changes in the net SW flux and is one of the factors explaining moderate future sea ice area trends. Thus, model representations of cloud properties for today’s climate determine the ability of clouds to compensate for the effect of surface albedo decrease on the future shortwave radiative budget of the Arctic Ocean and, as a consequence, the sea ice mass balance.

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