Article
Oceanography
Samuel Brenner, Jim Thomson, Luc Rainville, Laura Crews, Craig M. Lee
Summary: Observations of sea ice and the upper ocean from moorings in the Beaufort Sea show that sea ice damps momentum transfer from wind to the ocean, resulting in minimal strength of inertial oscillations under sea ice cover. The presence of sea ice does not impact the net Ekman transport. A simplified one-dimensional ice-ocean coupled model reveals that both sea ice internal stress and ocean mixed layer depth contribute to the seasonal variability of inertial surface currents and drift, while under-ice roughness has no effect. The importance of internal stress in damping inertial oscillations varies at different moorings.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Oceanography
Angelina Cassianides, Camille Lique, Anne-Marie Treguier, Gianluca Meneghello, Charly De Marez
Summary: In this study, comprehensive data sets from Ice Tethered Profilers and moorings were analyzed to understand the dynamics of the ocean under sea ice in the Arctic Basin. It was found that the surface dynamics in seasonally ice-covered regions were greatly influenced by the presence of sea ice, while the influence of sea ice conditions on first order dynamics beyond these regions was less clear. The analysis also revealed a large variety of regimes in the sea ice pack, independent of time and space variations of sea ice conditions. The study highlighted the presence of hundreds of eddies in the subsurface layer, with potential impacts on sea ice locally.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2023)
Article
Oceanography
Kaylie Cohanim, Ken X. Zhao, Andrew L. Stewart
Summary: The interaction between the atmosphere and ocean in sea ice-covered regions mainly occurs in leads, long, narrow openings between sea ice floes. This study investigates the spread of lead-injected buoyancy anomalies by mixed layer and eddy processes, using idealized numerical simulations and dynamical theories. It shows that the intermittent opening of leads can efficiently populate the polar halocline with submesoscale coherent vortices, impacting the horizontal redistribution of salinity anomalies.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
S. Allende, T. Fichefet, H. Goosse, A. M. Treguier
Summary: We assessed the ability of ocean-sea ice general circulation models in simulating the ocean mixed layer depth and its seasonal cycle in the Arctic region. The models consistently underestimate the mixed layer depth during summer months and exhibit significant variability in fall and winter. The differences between models are primarily attributed to the accuracy of reproducing vertical salinity profiles.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yanpei Zhuang, Haiyan Jin, Wei-Jun Cai, Hongliang Li, Meibing Jin, Di Qi, Jianfang Chen
Summary: The rapid warming and sea-ice loss in the Arctic Ocean have led to a decrease in nutrient concentrations, especially nitrate and phosphate, in surface waters over the past three decades. This phenomenon may be attributed to the decreased resupply of nutrients from subsurface waters and increased biological consumption of nutrients due to changes in light availability caused by sea-ice loss.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Oceanography
Kalyan Shrestha, Georgy E. Manucharyan
Summary: The commonly used parameterization of mixed layer instabilities in general circulation models does not account for the presence of sea ice. Idealized simulations show that sea ice can dramatically suppress the eddy-driven overturning in the mixed layer by dissipating the eddy kinetic energy. An improvement to the existing parameterization is developed, explicitly accounting for sea ice concentration. These findings suggest that climate projection models may be overestimating restratification processes under sea ice.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Oceanography
Yusuke Kawaguchi, Zoe Koenig, Daiki Nomura, Mario Hoppmann, Jun Inoue, Ying-Chih Fang, Kirstin Schulz, Michael Gallagher, Christian Katlein, Marcel Nicolaus, Benjamin Rabe
Summary: This study examines the mixing processes and sea ice drift in the ice-ocean boundary layer (IOBL) near the geographic North Pole. Measurements of ice motion, currents, hydrography, and turbulence were conducted to quantify the transport of momentum, heat, and salt in the IOBL. The study provides important insights into Arctic climate change.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Bing Qing Huang, Xiao-Ming Li
Summary: This study investigates the attenuation of ocean waves in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) in Svalbard and Greenland using spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar. The results show that the attenuation rate is significantly related to wave height and peak wave period. It is found that waves decay faster in areas with thicker ice. Comparing with previous studies, the research reveals a lower attenuation rate, indicating that waves are becoming less attenuated by ice in the Arctic.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ming Li, Jiping Liu, Meng Qu, Zhanhai Zhang, Xi Liang
Summary: This study retrieves the Arctic sea ice lead fraction from AMSR2 data and validates it against MODIS images. The results show no significant trend but moderate interannual variation in the ice lead fraction over the past two decades. While the maximum width and total length of sea ice lead decrease significantly in the Arctic, the mean width does not show a significant change. The lead fraction in the Beaufort Sea varies widely, while in the Greenland Sea, it exhibits a significant increase.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Michael Angelopoulos, Ellen Damm, Patric Simoes Pereira, Katarina Abrahamsson, Dorothea Bauch, Jeff Bowman, Giulia Castellani, Jessie Creamean, Dmitry V. Divine, Adela Dumitrascu, Steven W. Fons, Mats A. Granskog, Nikolai Kolabutin, Thomas Krumpen, Chris Marsay, Marcel Nicolaus, Marc Oggier, Annette Rinke, Torsten Sachs, Egor Shimanchuk, Jacqueline Stefels, Mark Stephens, Adam Ulfsbo, Josefa Verdugo, Lei Wang, Liyang Zhan, Christian Haas
Summary: The increased fraction of first year ice (FYI) at the expense of old ice (SYI and MYI) affects the permeability of the Arctic ice cover and gas exchange at the interfaces with the atmosphere and ocean. Sea ice temperature and salinity time series were analyzed to assess the development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency. The study found that SYI and FYI have different responses to atmospheric warming events and that the projected increase in FYI may favor gas exchange at the atmosphere-ice interface.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Eui-Seok Chung, Kyung-Ja Ha, Axel Timmermann, Malte F. Stuecker, Tamas Bodai, Sang-Ki Lee
Summary: Research suggests that the Arctic amplification is primarily due to the lapse-rate feedback and sea-ice albedo feedback. The Arctic Ocean acts as a heat capacitor, storing heat during summer and releasing it back into the atmosphere in fall and winter, intensifying surface warming and moistening. This process enhances longwave feedback and explains the predominance of Arctic amplification in fall and winter.
Article
Oceanography
Yidongfang Si, Andrew L. Stewart, Ian Eisenman
Summary: The Antarctic Slope Current (ASC) plays a crucial role in redistributing water masses, sea ice, and tracer properties in the Antarctic margins. Recent studies have found that mesoscale eddies and tidal flows are important for momentum transfers in the ASC. Sea ice redistributes wind stress away from the continental slope, resulting in similar sea ice and ocean surface flows in the core of the ASC. Tidal forcing exaggerates this effect and may lead to momentum transfer from the ocean to sea ice.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Igor V. Polyakov, Randi B. Ingvaldsen, Andrey V. Pnyushkov, Uma S. Bhatt, Jennifer A. Francis, Markus Janout, Ronald Kwok, Ostein Skagseth
Summary: This study shows that the atmospheric Arctic Dipole (AD) modulates the inflows of warm subarctic waters, affecting sea ice, oceanic circulation, and heat fluxes in the Nordic Seas. The AD+ phase slows sea-ice loss, while a transition to the AD- phase may accelerate the decline of Arctic sea ice.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
David G. Babb, Ryan J. Galley, Stephen E. L. Howell, Jack C. Landy, Julienne C. Stroeve, David G. Barber
Summary: Research shows that there has been an increasing loss of multiyear sea ice in the Arctic region in recent years. Data from 1997 to 2021 reveals that while the import of multiyear ice into the Beaufort Sea has increased, less of it now survives through the summer and is transported in the Gyre. The annual average loss of multiyear ice has quadrupled over the study period, accounting for about 33% of the annual Fram Strait multiyear ice export. The loss of multiyear ice is attributed to the ice-albedo feedback and the transition towards younger, thinner ice.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Hui Li, Alexey Fedorov, Wei Liu
Summary: This study compares the impacts of Arctic sea ice decline on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in two different configurations of the Community Earth System Model. The results show that in the lower-resolution configuration, the AMOC weakens gradually and approaches a new equilibrium, while in the higher-resolution configuration, the AMOC fully recovers after an initial weakening, driven by deep water formation in the Labrador Sea and adjacent regions.
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
(2021)