Abstract
We focus on the Arctic Ocean between Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land in order to elucidate the possible role of Atlantic water (AW) inflow in shaping ice conditions. Ice conditions substantially affect the temperature regime of the Spitsbergen archipelago, particularly in winter. We test the hypothesis that intensive vertical mixing at the upper AW boundary releases substantial heat upwards that eventually reaches the under-ice water layer, thinning the ice cover. We examine spatial and temporal variation of ice concentration against time series of wind, air temperature, and AW temperature. Analysis of 1979–2011 ice properties revealed a general tendency of decreasing ice concentration that commenced after the mid-1990s. AW temperature time series in Fram Strait feature a monotonic increase after the mid-1990s, consistent with shrinking ice cover. Ice thins due to increased sensible heat flux from AW; ice erosion from below allows wind and local currents to more effectively break ice. The winter spatial pattern of sea ice concentration is collocated with patterns of surface heat flux anomalies. Winter minimum sea ice thickness occurs in the ice pack interior above the AW path, clearly indicating AW influence on ice thickness. Our study indicates that in the AW inflow region heat flux from the ocean reduces the ice thickness.
Highlights
Steady reduction of the Arctic sea ice cover throughout 1990s has accelerated in the 2000s [1, 2]
We focus on the Arctic Ocean between Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land in order to elucidate the possible role of Atlantic water (AW) inflow in shaping ice conditions
Analysis of 1979–2011 ice properties revealed a general tendency of decreasing ice concentration that commenced after the mid-1990s
Summary
Steady reduction of the Arctic sea ice cover throughout 1990s has accelerated in the 2000s [1, 2]. On the opposite side of the Arctic Ocean the ice edge deviation from the climatic mean location was substantially smaller, for example, Figure 1 in [7] Such anisotropy indicates that despite the fact that the strongest heat input to the high Arctic is associated with the eastward moving Atlantic cyclones and warm inflow of Atlantic-origin water through the Nordic Seas, the ice cover in the Atlantic sector seems to be rather insensitive to the increased heat impact from the lower latitudes [14]. We focus on the region of the Arctic Ocean between Svalbard and Severnaya Zemlya archipelagos, which is further referred to as the Western Nansen Basin (WNB: 15–60◦E, 81–83◦N) This is an area of complex oceanice-atmosphere interactions resulting in isolation of the inflowing AW from direct contact with ice and atmosphere.
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