Meteorological Factors Affecting Interannual Variability of Summertime lce Extent in the Beaufort Sea

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between meteorological factors, measured at Barrow, Alaska, and summertime Beaufort Sea ice conditions along the shipping route between Pt. Barrow and Prudhoe Bay was investigated using data available from 1953–1975. Light-ice summers are associated with higher than normal sea level pressure (SLP) northeast of the Beaufort Sea (centered on 80°N, 120°W), lower than normal SLP over the east Siberian Sea and with more frequent surface winds primarily from the directions 135–195°. A reversal in this pressure and wind direction pattern occurs during heavy-ice summers. Air temperature, in the form of thawing degree days (TDD's), is the parameter most highly correlated with the summertime ice margin distance (r = 0.815) and it is highly correlated with SLP and wind direction. Correlation coefficients between these meteorological factors and ice margin distance increase during the summer suggesting their increasing importance to melt processes with time. The amount of open water by late ...