Snow on Arctic sea ice in a warming climate as simulated in CESM

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Webster ◽  
Alice DuVivier ◽  
Marika Holland ◽  
David Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
System Model ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Community Earth System Model ◽  
Snow Distribution ◽  
Snow Conditions

<p>Snow on Arctic sea ice is important for several reasons: it creates a habitat for microorganisms and mammals, it changes sea-ice growth and melt, and it affects the speed at which ships and people can travel through sea ice. Therefore, investigating how snow on Arctic sea ice may change in a warming climate is useful for anticipating its potential effects on ecosystems, sea ice, and socioeconomic activities. Here, we use experiments from two versions of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to study how snow conditions change over time. Comparison with observations indicates that CESM2 produces an overly-thin, overly-uniform snow distribution, while CESM1-LE produces a variable, excessively-thick snow cover. The 1950-2050 snow depth trend in CESM2 is 75% smaller than in CESM1-LE due to CESM2 having less snow. In CESM1-LE, long-lasting, thick sea ice, cool summers, and excessive summer snowfall facilitate a thicker, longer-lasting snow cover. In a warming climate, CESM2 shows that snow on Arctic sea ice will: (1) have greater, earlier spring melt, (2) accumulate less in summer-autumn, (3) sublimate more, and (4) cause marginally more snow-ice formation. CESM2 reveals that snow-free summers can occur ~30-60 years before an ice-free central Arctic, which may promote faster sea-ice melt.</p>

scholarly journals Snow cover on Arctic sea ice in observations and an Earth System Model

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Blanchard‐Wrigglesworth ◽  
S. L. Farrell ◽  
T. Newman ◽  
C. M. Bitz
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Arctic Sea

scholarly journals Simulating transient ice-ocean Ekman transport in the Regional Arctic System Model and Community Earth System Model

2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (69) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Roberts ◽  
Anthony Craig ◽  
Wieslaw Maslowski ◽  
Robert Osinski ◽  
Alice Duvivier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Ekman Transport ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Inertial Oscillations ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Community Earth System Model

AbstractThis work evaluates the fidelity of the polar marine Ekman layer in the Regional Arctic System Model (RASM) and Community Earth System Model (CESM) using sea-ice inertial oscillations as a proxy for ice-ocean Ekman transport. A case study is presented that demonstrates that RASM replicates inertial oscillations in close agreement with motion derived using the GPS. This result is obtained from a year-long case study pre-dating the recent decline in perennial Arctic sea ice, using RASM with sub-hourly coupling between the atmosphere, sea-ice and ocean components. To place this work in context, the RASM coupling method is applied to CESM, increasing the frequency of oceanic flux exchange from once per day in the standard CESM configuration, to every 30 min. For a single year simulation, this change causes a considerable increase in the median inertial ice speed across large areas of the Southern Ocean and parts of the Arctic sea-ice zone. The result suggests that processes associated with the passage of storms over sea ice (e.g. oceanic mixing, sea-ice deformation and surface energy exchange) are underestimated in Earth System Models that do not resolve inertial frequencies in their marine coupling cycle.

Arctic Sea Ice in the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) over the 20th and 21st Centuries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia DeRepentigny ◽  
Alexandra Jahn ◽  
Marika Holland ◽  
Abigail Smith
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Community Earth System Model ◽  
Emissions Scenario

<p>Over the past decades, Arctic sea ice has declined in thickness and extent and is shifting toward a seasonal ice regime. These rapid changes have widespread implications for ecological and human activities as well as the global climate, and accurate predictions could benefit a wide range of stakeholders, from local residents to governmental policy makers. However, many aspects of the polar transient climate response remain poorly understood, particularly in regard to the response of Arctic sea ice to increasing atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration and warming temperatures. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) provides a useful framework for understanding this response, and the participating climate model simulations are a powerful tool for advancing our understanding of present and future changes in the Arctic climate system.</p><p>Here we explore the current and future states of Arctic sea ice in the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2), the latest generation of the CESM and NCAR’s contribution to CMIP6. We analyze changes in Arctic sea ice cover in two CESM2 configurations with differing atmospheric components: the “low-top” configuration with limited chemistry (CESM2-CAM) and the “high-top” configuration with interactive chemistry (CESM2-WACCM). We find that the two experiments show large differences in their simulation of Arctic sea ice over the historical period. The CESM2-CAM winter ice thickness distribution is skewed thin, with an insufficient amount of ice thicker than 3 m. This leads to a lower summer ice extent compared to the CESM2-WACCM and observations. In both experiments, the timing of first ice-free conditions is insensitive to the choice of future emissions scenario (known as the shared socioeconomic pathways, or SSPs, in CMIP6), an alarming result that points to the current vulnerable state of Arctic sea ice. However, if global warming stays below 1.5°C, the probability of an ice-free summer remains low, consistent with other recent studies. By the end of the 21<sup>st</sup> century, both experiments exhibit an accelerated decline in winter ice extent under the high emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5), leading to ice-free conditions for up to 8 months and an open-water period of 220 days or more depending on the region. Initial results show that the CESM2 simulates less ocean heat loss during the fall months compared to its previous version, delaying the formation of sea ice and leading to lower winter ice extent. Given that the CESM2 reaches a higher atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration and thus warmer global and Arctic temperatures by 2100, these results suggest the presence of emerging processes associated with a state of the Arctic climate that has never been sampled before.</p>

Unexpectedly high dimethyl sulfide concentration in high-latitude Arctic sea ice melt ponds

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1642-1649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyhong Park ◽  
Intae Kim ◽  
Jung-Ok Choi ◽  
Youngju Lee ◽  
Jinyoung Jung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Dimethyl Sulfide ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Sulfide Concentration ◽  
Sea Ice Concentration ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Melt Ponds ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Ice Concentration

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production in the northern Arctic Ocean has been considered to be minimal because of high sea ice concentration and extremely low productivity.

scholarly journals Physical and optical characteristics of heavily melted “rotten” Arctic sea ice

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 775-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carie M. Frantz ◽  
Bonnie Light ◽  
Samuel M. Farley ◽  
Shelly Carpenter ◽  
Ross Lieblappen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Light Scattering ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Total Porosity ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Micro Computed Tomography ◽  
Structural Anisotropy ◽  
Scattering Coefficients ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Arctic Sea

Abstract. Field investigations of the properties of heavily melted “rotten” Arctic sea ice were carried out on shorefast and drifting ice off the coast of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska, during the melt season. While no formal criteria exist to qualify when ice becomes rotten, the objective of this study was to sample melting ice at the point at which its structural and optical properties are sufficiently advanced beyond the peak of the summer season. Baseline data on the physical (temperature, salinity, density, microstructure) and optical (light scattering) properties of shorefast ice were recorded in May and June 2015. In July of both 2015 and 2017, small boats were used to access drifting rotten ice within ∼32 km of Utqiaġvik. Measurements showed that pore space increased as ice temperature increased (−8 to 0 ∘C), ice salinity decreased (10 to 0 ppt), and bulk density decreased (0.9 to 0.6 g cm−3). Changes in pore space were characterized with thin-section microphotography and X-ray micro-computed tomography in the laboratory. These analyses yielded changes in average brine inclusion number density (which decreased from 32 to 0.01 mm−3), mean pore size (which increased from 80 µm to 3 mm), and total porosity (increased from 0 % to > 45 %) and structural anisotropy (variable, with values of generally less than 0.7). Additionally, light-scattering coefficients of the ice increased from approximately 0.06 to > 0.35 cm−1 as the ice melt progressed. Together, these findings indicate that the properties of Arctic sea ice at the end of melt season are significantly distinct from those of often-studied summertime ice. If such rotten ice were to become more prevalent in a warmer Arctic with longer melt seasons, this could have implications for the exchange of fluid and heat at the ocean surface.

scholarly journals Spring snow conditions on Arctic sea ice north of Svalbard, during the Norwegian Young Sea ICE (N-ICE2015) expedition

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (20) ◽  
pp. 10,820-10,836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Charles Gallet ◽  
Ioanna Merkouriadi ◽  
Glen E. Liston ◽  
Chris Polashenski ◽  
Stephen Hudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Snow Conditions

Multi-frequency polarimetric microwave observations of snow cover on first-year Arctic sea ice

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishnu Nandan ◽  
John J. Yackel ◽  
Jagvijay P. S. Gill ◽  
Torsten Geldsetzer ◽  
Mark C. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
First Year ◽  
Arctic Sea

scholarly journals The Community Climate System Model Version 4

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (19) ◽  
pp. 4973-4991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Gent ◽  
Gokhan Danabasoglu ◽  
Leo J. Donner ◽  
Marika M. Holland ◽  
Elizabeth C. Hunke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Climate System ◽  
System Model ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Community Climate System Model ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
Arctic Sea

The fourth version of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM4) was recently completed and released to the climate community. This paper describes developments to all CCSM components, and documents fully coupled preindustrial control runs compared to the previous version, CCSM3. Using the standard atmosphere and land resolution of 1° results in the sea surface temperature biases in the major upwelling regions being comparable to the 1.4°-resolution CCSM3. Two changes to the deep convection scheme in the atmosphere component result in CCSM4 producing El Niño–Southern Oscillation variability with a much more realistic frequency distribution than in CCSM3, although the amplitude is too large compared to observations. These changes also improve the Madden–Julian oscillation and the frequency distribution of tropical precipitation. A new overflow parameterization in the ocean component leads to an improved simulation of the Gulf Stream path and the North Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation. Changes to the CCSM4 land component lead to a much improved annual cycle of water storage, especially in the tropics. The CCSM4 sea ice component uses much more realistic albedos than CCSM3, and for several reasons the Arctic sea ice concentration is improved in CCSM4. An ensemble of twentieth-century simulations produces a good match to the observed September Arctic sea ice extent from 1979 to 2005. The CCSM4 ensemble mean increase in globally averaged surface temperature between 1850 and 2005 is larger than the observed increase by about 0.4°C. This is consistent with the fact that CCSM4 does not include a representation of the indirect effects of aerosols, although other factors may come into play. The CCSM4 still has significant biases, such as the mean precipitation distribution in the tropical Pacific Ocean, too much low cloud in the Arctic, and the latitudinal distributions of shortwave and longwave cloud forcings.

Development of Arctic sea-ice organisms under graded snow cover

1991 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROLF GRADINGER ◽  
MICHAEL SPINDLER ◽  
DETLEV HENSCHEL
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Sea

scholarly journals Meltwater sources and sinks for multiyear Arctic sea ice in summer

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 4517-4525
Author(s):  
Don Perovich ◽  
Madison Smith ◽  
Bonnie Light ◽  
Melinda Webster
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Heat Budget ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Melt Ponds ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Ice Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Heat Budget

Abstract. On Arctic sea ice, the melt of snow and sea ice generate a summertime flux of fresh water to the upper ocean. The partitioning of this meltwater to storage in melt ponds and deposition in the ocean has consequences for the surface heat budget, the sea ice mass balance, and primary productivity. Synthesizing results from the 1997–1998 SHEBA field experiment, we calculate the sources and sinks of meltwater produced on a multiyear floe during summer melt. The total meltwater input to the system from snowmelt, ice melt, and precipitation from 1 June to 9 August was equivalent to a layer of water 80 cm thick over the ice-covered and open ocean. A total of 85 % of this meltwater was deposited in the ocean, and only 15 % of this meltwater was stored in ponds. The cumulative contributions of meltwater input to the ocean from drainage from the ice surface and bottom melting were roughly equal.

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