Sea-ice retreat in the Sea of Okhotsk and the ice–ocean albedo feedback effect on it

Abstract

Sea-ice retreat processes are examined in the Sea of Okhotsk. A heat budget analysis in the sea-ice zone shows that net heat flux from the atmosphere at the water surface is about 77 W m−2 on average in the active ice melt season (April) due to large solar heating, while that at the ice surface is about 12 W m−2 because of the difference in surface albedo. The temporal variation of the heat input into the upper ocean through the open water fraction corresponds well to that of the latent heat required for ice retreat. These results suggest that heat input into the ice–upper ocean system from the atmosphere mainly occurs at the open water fraction, and this heat input into the upper ocean is an important heat source for ice melting. The decrease in ice area in the active melt season (April) and the geostrophic wind just before the melt season (March) show a correlation: the decrease is large when the offshoreward wind is strong. This relationship can be explained by the following process. Once ice concentration is decreased (increased) by the offshoreward (onshoreward) wind just before the melt season, solar heating of the upper ocean through the increased (decreased) open water fraction is enhanced (reduced), leading to (suppressing) a further decrease in ice concentration. This positive feedback is regarded as the ice–ocean albedo feedback, and explains in part the large interannual variability of the ice cover in the ice melt season.