Simulation of sea ice and ocean variability in the arctic during 1955–2002 with an intermediate complexity model

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A number of recent sea‐ice and ocean changes in the Arctic and subarctic regions are simulated using the global University of Victoria (UVic) Earth System Climate Model version 2.6. This is an intermediate complexity model which includes a three‐dimensional ocean model (MOM 2.2), an energy‐moisture balance model for the atmosphere with heat and moisture transport, and a dynamic‐thermodynamic sea‐ice model with elastic‐viscous‐plastic rheology. The model is first spun up for 1800 years with monthly wind stress forcing derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) climatology winds and a pre‐industrial atmospheric CO2 concentration of 280 ppm. After a second spin‐up for the period 1800–1947 with daily climatology winds‐tress forcing, and a linearly increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, the model is run with interannually varying wind stresses for the period 1948–2002 with an average forcing interval of 2.5 days and an exponentially increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration varying from 315 to 365 ppm. However, the analysis of the model output is only carried out for the years 1955–2002. The simulated maximum and minimum sea‐ice areas for the Arctic are within 6% of the observed climatologies for the years 1978–2001. The model output also shows a small downward trend in sea‐ice extent, which, however, is smaller than has been observed during the past few decades. In addition, the model simulates a decrease in sea‐ice thickness in the SCICEX (SCientific ICe EXpeditions) measurement area in the central Arctic that is consistent with, but smaller than, that observed from submarine sonar profiling data. The observed variability and magnitude of the export of sea ice through Fram Strait is quite well captured in the simulation. The change in correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the sea‐ice export around 1977 as found in a data study by Hilmer and Jung (2000) is also reproduced. Within the Arctic basin the model simulates well the patterns and the timing of the two major regimes of wind‐forced sea‐ice drift circulation (cyclonic and anticyclonic) as found earlier by Proshutinsky and Johnson (1997). The influence of variations in the Fram Strait ice export on the strength of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation and surface air temperature are also determined. In particular, it is shown that 3–4 years after a large ice export, the maximum meridional overturning streamfunction decreases by more than 10%. The temperature and salinity increase at depths of 200–300 m, as observed in the eastern Arctic by Morison et al. (1998), between the USS Pargo cruise in 1993 and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Joint USRussian Arctic Atlas climatology for the years 1948–87, are just visible in the model simulation. The increases are more noticeable, however, when the ocean model data are averaged over the pentade 1995–2000 and compared with model data averaged over the pentade 1955–60. The fact that these, and some of the other modelled changes, are smaller than the observed changes can likely be attributed to the relatively coarse resolution of the UVic Earth System Climate Model (3.6°E‐W and 1.8°N‐S). Nevertheless, the fact that the model captures qualitatively many of the recent sea‐ice and ocean changes in the Arctic suggests that it can be successfully used to investigate other Arctic‐North Atlantic Ocean climate interactions during past and future eras.