Abstract
Abstract. Sea ice volume export through the Fram Strait plays an important role in the Arctic freshwater and energy redistribution. The combined model and satellite sea ice thickness (CMST) data set assimilates CryoSat-2 and soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) thickness products together with satellite sea ice concentration. The CMST data set closes the gap of stand-alone satellite-derived sea ice thickness in summer and therefore allows us to estimate sea ice volume export during the melt season. In this study, we first validate the CMST data set using field observations, and then we estimate the continuous seasonal and interannual variations in Arctic sea ice volume flux through the Fram Strait from September 2010 to December 2016. The results show that seasonal and interannual sea ice volume export vary from about -240(±40) to -970(±60) km3 and -1970(±290) to -2490(±280) km3, respectively. The sea ice volume export reaches its maximum in spring and about one-third of the yearly total volume export occurs in the melt season. The minimum monthly sea ice export is −11 km3 in August 2015, and the maximum (−442 km3) appears in March 2011. The seasonal relative frequencies of sea ice thickness and drift suggest that the Fram Strait outlet in summer is dominated by sea ice that is thicker than 2 m with relatively slow seasonal mean drift of about 3 km d−1.
Highlights
The sea ice extent and volume in the Arctic region undergo a decline for the past decades and will likely continue to decrease (Comiso and Hall, 2014; Meier et al, 2014; Stroeve and Notz, 2015)
The field and satellite-based observations are used to evaluate the performance of combined model and satellite sea ice thickness (CMST) sea ice data in the Fram Strait
The mean sea ice thickness is distributed as expected (Tilling et al, 2015; Kwok and Cunningham, 2015); e.g., the relatively thicker ice, which is more than 2.5 m, is mainly distributed in the north of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and the sea ice becomes thinner towards the Eurasian coasts (Fig. 1a)
Summary
The sea ice extent and volume in the Arctic region undergo a decline for the past decades and will likely continue to decrease (Comiso and Hall, 2014; Meier et al, 2014; Stroeve and Notz, 2015). The variability of ice volume, exerts influence on heat, freshwater budget and weather systems in the lower latitudes (Gregory et al, 2002; Tilling et al, 2015). Both the thermodynamic processes and dynamic processes can affect Arctic sea ice mass budget (Ricker et al, 2018). The ice outflow through the strait into the Nordic Seas covers approximately 25 % of the total Arctic freshwater export (Lique et al, 2009; Serreze et al, 2006)
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