The Role of Melting Snow in the Ocean Surface Heat Budget

Abstract

AbstractWe estimate the cooling flux from snow melting in the ocean through CloudSat satellite snowfall retrievals and reanalysis data. For snowfall events with less than 0.01 mm/hr, this flux is inconsequential. Melting snow begins to compete with other ocean surface heat fluxes as snowfall rates increase beyond 0.1 mm/hr, and it may often become the dominant heat flux as snowfall rates approach and exceed 1 mm/hr. The largest monthly average values of the melting snow cooling flux occur in winter months, approaching −10 W/m2 in both hemispheres. To determine the regional influence of melting snow on a seasonal basis, we calculate an impact metric that gauges the cooling flux of melting snow against the net flux in the ocean. This metric can be between 20% and 30% in the Northern Hemisphere during March, April, May; the Southern Ocean during March, April, May and September, October, November; and in high‐latitude polar oceans during sea ice freeze up seasons.