Ice Advection Research Articles

Foehn Event Triggered by an Atmospheric River Underlies Record‐Setting Temperature Along Continental Antarctica

AbstractA record‐setting temperature of 17.5°C occurred on 24 March 2015 at the Esperanza station located near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP). We studied the event using surface station data, satellite imagery, reanalysis data, and numerical simulations. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Antarctic Ice Shelf Image Archive provides clear evidence for disintegration and advection of sea ice, as well as the formation of melt ponds on the ice sheet surface at the base of the AP mountain range. A deep low‐pressure center over the Amundsen‐Bellingshausen Sea and a blocking ridge over the southeast Pacific provided favorable conditions for the development of an atmospheric river with a northwest‐southeast orientation, directing warm and moist air toward the AP, and triggering a widespread foehn episode. A control simulation using a regional climate model shows the existence of local topographically induced warming along the northern tip of the AP (∼60% of the full temperature signal) and the central part of the eastern AP (>90% of the full temperature signal) with respect to a simulation without topography. These modeling results suggest that more than half of the warming experienced at Esperanza can be attributed to the foehn effect (a local process), rather than to the large‐scale advection of warm air from the midlatitudes. Nevertheless, the local foehn effect also has a large‐scale advection component, since the atmospheric river provides water vapor for orographic precipitation enhancement and latent heat release, which makes it difficult to completely disentangle the role of local versus large‐scale processes in explaining the extreme event.

A Method of Repeat Photoclinometry for Detecting Kilometer-Scale Ice Sheet Surface Evolution

Small-scale glaciological processes can drive large-scale ice sheet behavior but remain underreported due to a paucity of surface elevation measurements in remote polar regions. Satellite images provide a relatively long record of spatially dense surface observations, which allow us to investigate changes in ice sheet topography on the spatial scales of 1–10 km. Inferring surface topography from satellite images is an established technique, but in previous efforts, strict requirements for illumination conditions and image quality have led to a great quantity of discarded data. Relaxing quality requirements and fitting linear trends to the time series of image-derived surface topography allow inclusion of more total signal and enable blending data from multiple platforms. As a proof of concept, we combine 121 MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer images to develop a 250-m resolution map of surface elevation change at Totten Glacier, Antarctica achieving a 1- $\sigma $ uncertainty of 0.22 $\textrm {m}\,\textrm {a}^{-1}$ for a 15-year period. Our method of repeat photoclinometry agrees with repeat laser altimetry while revealing clear patterns of surface elevation change associated with ice advection, channelized ice shelf basal melt, subglacial lake activity, and possible grounding line migration.

Seasonal and Interannual Variations of Sea Ice Mass Balance From the Central Arctic to the Greenland Sea

AbstractThe seasonal evolution of sea ice mass balance between the Central Arctic and Fram Strait, as well as the underlying driving forces, remain largely unknown because of a lack of observations. In this study, two and three buoys were deployed in the Central Arctic during the summers of 2010 and 2012, respectively. It was established that basal ice growth commenced between mid‐October and early December. Annual basal ice growth, ranging from 0.21 to 1.14 m, was determined mainly by initial ice thickness, air temperature, and oceanic heat flux during winter. An analytic thermodynamic model indicated that climate warming reduces the winter growth rate of thin ice more than for thick ice because of the weak thermal inertia of the former. Oceanic heat flux during the freezing season was 2–4 W m−2, which accounted for 18–31% of the basal ice energy balance. We identified two mechanisms that modified the oceanic heat flux, i.e., solar energy absorbed by the upper ocean during summer, and interaction with warm waters south of Fram Strait; the latter resulted in basal ice melt, even in winter. In summer 2010, ice loss in the Central Arctic was considerable, which led to increased oceanic heat flux into winter and delayed ice growth. The Transpolar Drift Stream was relatively weak in summer 2013. This reduced sea ice advection out of the Arctic Ocean, and it restrained ice melt because of the cool atmospheric conditions, weakened albedo feedback, and relatively small oceanic heat flux in the north.

A tuff cone erupted under frozen-bed ice (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica): linking glaciovolcanic and cosmogenic nuclide data for ice sheet reconstructions

The remains of a small volcanic centre are preserved on a thin bedrock ridge at Harrow Peaks, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The outcrop is interpreted as a monogenetic tuff cone relict formed by a hydrovolcanic (phreatomagmatic) eruption of mafic magma at 642 ± 20 ka (by 40Ar-39Ar), corresponding to the peak of the Marine Isotope Stage 16 (MIS16) glacial. Although extensively dissected and strewn with glacial erratics, the outcrop shows no evidence for erosion by ice. From interpretation of the lithofacies and eruptive mechanisms, the weight of the evidence suggests that eruptions took place under a cold-based (frozen-bed) ice sheet. This is the first time that a tuff cone erupted under cold ice has been described. The most distinctive feature of the lithofacies is the dominance of massive lapilli tuff rich in fine ash matrix and abraded lapilli. The lack of stratification is probably due to repeated eruption through a conduit blasted through the ice covering the vent. The ice thickness is uncertain but it might have been as little as 100 m and the preserved tephra accumulated mainly as a crater (or ice conduit) infill. The remainder of the tuff cone edifice was probably deposited supraglacially and underwent destruction by ice advection and, particularly, collapse during a younger interglacial. Dating using 10Be cosmogenic exposure of granitoid basement erratics indicates that the erratics are unrelated to the eruptive period. The 10Be ages suggest that the volcanic outcrop was most recently exposed by ice decay at c. 20.8 ± 0.8 ka (MIS2) and the associated ice was thicker than at 642 ka and probably polythermal rather than cold-based, which is normally assumed for the period.

Atmospheric forcing of sea ice anomalies in the Ross Sea polynya region

Abstract. We investigate the impacts of strong wind events on the sea ice concentration within the Ross Sea polynya (RSP), which may have consequences on sea ice formation. Bootstrap sea ice concentration (SIC) measurements derived from satellite SSM/I brightness temperatures are correlated with surface winds and temperatures from Ross Ice Shelf automatic weather stations (AWSs) and weather models (ERA-Interim). Daily data in the austral winter period were used to classify characteristic weather regimes based on the percentiles of wind speed. For each regime a composite of a SIC anomaly was formed for the entire Ross Sea region and we found that persistent weak winds near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf are generally associated with positive SIC anomalies in the Ross Sea polynya and vice versa. By analyzing sea ice motion vectors derived from the SSM/I brightness temperatures we find significant sea ice motion anomalies throughout the Ross Sea during strong wind events, which persist for several days after a strong wind event has ended. Strong, negative correlations are found between SIC and AWS wind speed within the RSP indicating that strong winds cause significant advection of sea ice in the region. We were able to partially recreate these correlations using colocated, modeled ERA-Interim wind speeds. However, large AWS and model differences are observed in the vicinity of Ross Island, where ERA-Interim underestimates wind speeds by a factor of 1.7 resulting in a significant misrepresentation of RSP processes in this area based on model data. Thus, the cross-correlation functions produced by compositing based on ERA-Interim wind speeds differed significantly from those produced with AWS wind speeds. In general the rapid decrease in SIC during a strong wind event is followed by a more gradual recovery in SIC. The SIC recovery continues over a time period greater than the average persistence of strong wind events and sea ice motion anomalies. This suggests that sea ice recovery occurs through thermodynamic rather than dynamic processes.

Dynamic Preconditioning of the Minimum September Sea-Ice Extent

Abstract There has been an increased interest in seasonal forecasting of the Arctic sea ice extent in recent years, in particular the minimum sea ice extent. Here, a dynamical mechanism, based on winter preconditioning, is found to explain a significant fraction of the variance in the anomaly of the September sea ice extent from the long-term linear trend. To this end, a Lagrangian trajectory model is used to backtrack the September sea ice edge to any time during the previous winter and quantify the amount of sea ice advection away from the Eurasian and Alaskan coastlines as well as the Fram Strait sea ice export. The late-winter anomalous sea ice drift away from the coastline is highly correlated with the following September sea ice extent minimum . It is found that the winter mean Fram Strait sea ice export anomaly is also correlated with the minimum sea ice extent the following summer . To develop a hindcast model of the September sea ice extent—which does not depend on a priori knowledge of the minimum sea ice extent—a synthetic ice edge initialized at the beginning of the melt season (1 June) is backtracked. It is found that using a multivariate regression model of the September sea ice extent anomaly based on ice export from the peripheral Arctic seas and Fram Strait ice export as predictors reduces the error by 38%. A hindcast model based on the mean December–April Arctic Oscillation index alone reduces the error by 24%.

Absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic Peninsula consistent with natural variability.

Since the 1950s, research stations on the Antarctic Peninsula have recorded some of the largest increases in near-surface air temperature in the Southern Hemisphere. This warming has contributed to the regional retreat of glaciers, disintegration of floating ice shelves and a 'greening' through the expansion in range of various flora. Several interlinked processes have been suggested as contributing to the warming, including stratospheric ozone depletion, local sea-ice loss, an increase in westerly winds, and changes in the strength and location of low-high-latitude atmospheric teleconnections. Here we use a stacked temperature record to show an absence of regional warming since the late 1990s. The annual mean temperature has decreased at a statistically significant rate, with the most rapid cooling during the Austral summer. Temperatures have decreased as a consequence of a greater frequency of cold, east-to-southeasterly winds, resulting from more cyclonic conditions in the northern Weddell Sea associated with a strengthening mid-latitude jet. These circulation changes have also increased the advection of sea ice towards the east coast of the peninsula, amplifying their effects. Our findings cover only 1% of the Antarctic continent and emphasize that decadal temperature changes in this region are not primarily associated with the drivers of global temperature change but, rather, reflect the extreme natural internal variability of the regional atmospheric circulation.

Holocene accumulation and ice flow near the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core site

AbstractThe West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Core (WDC) provided a high‐resolution climate record from near the Ross‐Amundsen Divide in Central West Antarctica. In addition, radar‐detected internal layers in the vicinity of the WDC site have been dated directly from the ice core to provide spatial variations in the age structure of the region. Using these two data sets together, we first infer a high‐resolution Holocene accumulation‐rate history from 9.2 kyr of the ice‐core timescale and then confirm that this climate history is consistent with internal layers upstream of the core site. Even though the WDC was drilled only 24 km from the modern ice divide, advection of ice from upstream must be taken into account. We evaluate histories of accumulation rate by using a flowband model to generate internal layers that we compare to observed layers. Results show that the centennially averaged accumulation rate was over 20% lower than modern at 9.2 kyr before present (B.P.), increased by 40% from 9.2 to 2.3 kyr B.P., and decreased by at least 10% over the past 2 kyr B.P. to the modern values; these Holocene accumulation‐rate changes in Central West Antarctica are larger than changes inferred from East Antarctic ice‐core records. Despite significant changes in accumulation rate, throughout the Holocene the regional accumulation pattern has likely remained similar to today, and the ice‐divide position has likely remained on average within 5 km of its modern position. Continent‐scale ice‐sheet models used for reconstructions of West Antarctic ice volume should incorporate this accumulation history.

Non‐annular response of sea ice cover in the Indian sector of the Antarctic during extreme SAM events

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the impact of wind‐induced sea ice drift on sea ice cover over the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean (IOS) in the contrasting Southern Annular Mode (SAM) years during a summer (February) and a winter (July) month. Analysis of reanalysis wind shows that during positive SAM events, westerlies show stronger and more zonal flow over the west IOS (west of 45°E), while a stronger northerly component is seen over the east IOS, to the south of 55°S during both February and July. This is attributed to the zonally asymmetric feature of sea level pressure over the IOS. A coupled ocean–sea ice model was forced with dynamical wind forcing for positive and negative SAM events during above months. The zonal contrast as seen in wind and surface current is transferred to the sea ice drift. A stronger zonal eastward sea ice drift is apparent over the west IOS, suggesting increased transport of sea ice from the Weddell Sea region in July. The eastward advection of sea ice results in piling of sea ice over west IOS and causes an increase in sea ice concentration and thickness. Over east IOS, the sea ice drift shows a strong southeastward anomaly from the sea ice edge towards the coast. This results in a piling of sea ice near the coast and a divergence of sea ice near the edge. This results in a negative anomaly in sea ice concentration and sea ice thickness over east IOS. Thus, the dynamical SAM forcing leads to a non‐annular response in sea ice cover over the IOS.

The influence of a model subglacial lake on ice dynamics and internal layering

Abstract. As ice flows over a subglacial lake, the drop in bed resistance leads to an increase in ice velocities and a draw down of isochrones and cold ice. The ice surface flattens as it adjusts to the lack of resisting forces at the base. The rapid transition in velocity induces changes in ice viscosity and releases deformation energy that can raise the temperature locally. Recent studies of Antarctic subglacial lakes indicate that many lakes experience very fast and possibly episodic drainage, during which the lake size is rapidly reduced as water flows out. Questions that arise are what effect this would have on internal layers within the ice and whether such past drainage events could be inferred from isochrone structures downstream. Here, we study the effect of a subglacial lake on ice dynamics as well as the influence that such short timescale drainage would have on the internal layers of the ice. To this end, we use a full Stokes, polythermal ice flow model. An enthalpy-gradient method is used to account for the evolution of temperature and water content within the ice. We find that a rapid transition between slow-moving ice outside the lake, and full sliding over the lake, can release considerable amounts of deformational energy, with the potential to form a temperate layer at depth in the transition zone. In addition, we provide an explanation for a characteristic surface feature commonly seen at the edges of subglacial lakes, a hummocky surface depression in the transition zone between little to full sliding. We also conclude that rapid changes in the horizontal extent of subglacial lakes and slippery patches, compared to the average ice column velocity, can create a traveling wave at depth within the isochrone structure that transfers downstream with the advection of ice, thus indicating the possibility of detecting past drainage events with ice penetrating radar.

Volume and Freshwater Flux Observations from Nares Strait to the West of Greenland at Daily Time Scales from 2003 to 2009

AbstractTime series observations of velocity, salinity, pressure, and ice draft provide estimates of advective fluxes in Nares Strait from 2003 to 2009 at daily to interannual time scales. Velocity and salinity are integrated across the 36-km-wide and 350-m-deep channel for two distinct multiyear periods of sea ice cover. These observations indicate multiyear mean fluxes that range from 0.71 ± 0.09 to 1.03 ± 0.11 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1 = 31 536 km3 yr−1) for volume and from 32 ± 5.7 to 54 ± 9.3 mSv (1 mSv ≡ 103 m3 s−1) for oceanic freshwater relative to a salinity of 34.8 for the first (2003–06) and second (2007–09) periods, respectively. Advection of ice adds another 8 ± 2 mSv or 260 ± 70 km3 yr−1 to the freshwater export. Flux values are larger when the sea ice is mobile all year. About 75% of the oceanic volume and freshwater flux variability is correlated at daily to interannual time scales. Flux variability peaks at a 20-day time scale and correlates strongly with along-channel pressure gradients (r2 = 0.68). The along-channel pressure gradient peaks in early spring when the sea ice is often motionless with higher sea level in the Arctic that drives the generally southward ocean circulation. Local winds contribute only when the sea ice is mobile, when they explain 60% of its variance (r2 = 0.60). Observed annual to interannual change in the duration of motionless sea ice conditions impacts ocean stratification and freshwater flux, while seasonal variations are small.

Additional Arctic observations improve weather and sea-ice forecasts for the Northern Sea Route.

During ice-free periods, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) could be an attractive shipping route. The decline in Arctic sea-ice extent, however, could be associated with an increase in the frequency of the causes of severe weather phenomena, and high wind-driven waves and the advection of sea ice could make ship navigation along the NSR difficult. Accurate forecasts of weather and sea ice are desirable for safe navigation, but large uncertainties exist in current forecasts, partly owing to the sparse observational network over the Arctic Ocean. Here, we show that the incorporation of additional Arctic observations improves the initial analysis and enhances the skill of weather and sea-ice forecasts, the application of which has socioeconomic benefits. Comparison of 63-member ensemble atmospheric forecasts, using different initial data sets, revealed that additional Arctic radiosonde observations were useful for predicting a persistent strong wind event. The sea-ice forecast, initialised by the wind fields that included the effects of the observations, skilfully predicted rapid wind-driven sea-ice advection along the NSR.

Channelization of plumes beneath ice shelves

We study a simplified model of ice–ocean interaction beneath a floating ice shelf, and investigate the possibility for channels to form in the ice shelf base due to spatial variations in conditions at the grounding line. The model combines an extensional thin-film description of viscous ice flow in the shelf, with melting at its base driven by a turbulent ocean plume. Small transverse perturbations to the one-dimensional steady state are considered, driven either by ice thickness or subglacial discharge variations across the grounding line. Either forcing leads to the growth of channels downstream, with melting driven by locally enhanced ocean velocities, and thus heat transfer. Narrow channels are smoothed out due to turbulent mixing in the ocean plume, leading to a preferred wavelength for channel growth. In the absence of perturbations at the grounding line, linear stability analysis suggests that the one-dimensional state is stable to initial perturbations, chiefly due to the background ice advection.

Spatial and year-to-year patterns in new and primary productivity in sea ice melt regions of the eastern Bering Sea

Four years of data on for new (nitrate), regenerated (ammonium), and primary (carbon) productivity (2007 through 2010) confirm the elevated productivity associated with the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) in spring. The greatest levels of productivity were associated with ice-melt regions along the western edge of the ice pack. Population seeding and the shallowing of the mixed-layer depth near the ice edge were less important in the development of elevated MIZ productivity than was the amount of ice melt entering surface water, suggesting that ice contributed substances stimulating phytoplankton growth. Based on ice melt as an index of bloom development, primary productivity continued to increase after new productivity peaked. At the MIZ environments with optimal growth conditions, new productivity averaged 18.6mmolNm−2d−1, with a ƒ-ratio of 0.61 and primary productivity averaged 492mmolCm−2d−1. Although these features were consistently recorded in late April/early May, they varied with the dynamics of ice cover, whose retreat was later in 2008 relative to 2007 and 2009. The intense but localized MIZ blooms appear to be under-sampled in ocean-color imagery. Under ice productivity was generally low (ave. ρNO3=0.45mmolNm−2d−1; ave. primary prod.=4.16mmolCm−2d−1), although larger values were measured under the western edge of the ice pack and in the St. Lawrence polynya region. The advection of ice and water may contribute to the large values under the western ice edge and the highly transparent new ice may play a role in the polynya. New and primary productivity rates of under-ice samples were significantly inhibited when exposed to ice-free irradiance levels. In situ productivity could be estimated to ±35% from rates measured on-deck by adjusting for the impact of ice on submarine light. The carbon to nitrate uptake ratio was closely related to specific carbon production in the in situ incubations.

Circumpolar Mapping of Antarctic Coastal Polynyas and Landfast Sea Ice: Relationship and Variability

Abstract Sinking of dense water from Antarctic coastal polynyas produces Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), which is the densest water in the global overturning circulation and is a key player in climate change as a significant sink for heat and carbon dioxide. Very recent studies have suggested that landfast sea ice (fast ice) plays an important role in the formation and variability of the polynyas and possibly AABW. However, they have been limited to regional and case investigations only. This study provides the first coincident circumpolar mapping of Antarctic coastal polynyas and fast ice. The map reveals that most of the polynyas are formed on the western side of fast ice, indicating an important role of fast ice in the polynya formation. Winds diverging from a boundary comprising both coastline and fast ice are the primary determinant of polynya formation. The blocking effect of fast ice on westward sea ice advection by the coastal current would be another key factor. These effects on the variability in sea ice production for 13 major polynyas are evaluated quantitatively. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that a drastic change in fast ice extent, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change, causes dramatic changes in the polynyas and possibly AABW formation that can potentially contribute to further climate change. These results suggest that fast ice and precise polynya processes should be addressed by next-generation models to produce more accurate climate projections. This study provides the boundary and validation data of fast ice and sea ice production for such models.

Sea ice floe size distribution in the marginal ice zone: Theory and numerical experiments

AbstractTo better describe the state of sea ice in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) with floes of varying thicknesses and sizes, both an ice thickness distribution (ITD) and a floe size distribution (FSD) are needed. In this work, we have developed a FSD theory that is coupled to the ITD theory of Thorndike et al. (1975) in order to explicitly simulate the evolution of FSD and ITD jointly. The FSD theory includes a FSD function and a FSD conservation equation in parallel with the ITD equation. The FSD equation takes into account changes in FSD due to ice advection, thermodynamic growth, and lateral melting. It also includes changes in FSD because of mechanical redistribution of floe size due to ice ridging and, particularly, ice fragmentation induced by stochastic ocean surface waves. The floe size redistribution due to ice fragmentation is based on the assumption that wave‐induced breakup is a random process such that when an ice floe is broken, floes of any smaller sizes have an equal opportunity to form, without being either favored or excluded. To focus only on the properties of mechanical floe size redistribution, the FSD theory is implemented in a simplified ITD and FSD sea ice model for idealized numerical experiments. Model results show that the simulated cumulative floe number distribution (CFND) follows a power law as observed by satellites and airborne surveys. The simulated values of the exponent of the power law, with varying levels of ice breakups, are also in the range of the observations. It is found that floe size redistribution and the resulting FSD and mean floe size do not depend on how floe size categories are partitioned over a given floe size range. The ability to explicitly simulate multicategory FSD and ITD together may help to incorporate additional model physics, such as FSD‐dependent ice mechanics, surface exchange of heat, mass, and momentum, and wave‐ice interactions.

Mathematical modeling of ice flow in the north-western Greenland and interpretation of deep drilling data at the NEEM camp

The new ice core obtained from the NEEM site in the north-western Greenland (77.449˚N, 51.056˚W, 2447 m a.s.l) in 2008–2012 was expected to improve our knowledge about the Last interglacial (also known as the Eemian, ca. 115 to 130 kyr before present). A numerical modeling, the overview of which is given in this paper, aims at assistance in interpretation of the NEEM ice core. For this purpose, an area of 400 × 400 km was delineated in northwestern Greenland as the domain for the fine-scale model at 2.5 km resolution. Modeled present-day surface velocity was in good agreement with satellite and GPS measurements. The nested ice-sheet model was run over the last two glacial cycles to reconstruct the flow history relevant for interpreting the NEEM ice core. A Lagrangian backtracing procedure was applied to determine the particle trajectories of the ice drilled at the NEEM site. This provides the places of origin at the time of deposition of NEEM ice, from which the ice chronology and non-climatic biases of the records are determined. The latter biases arise from elevation changes of the ice sheet, advection of higher upstream ice, and from latitudinal contrasts in isotopical composition of the ice. These need to be separated from the isotope records to retrieve the climatic signal. In spite of initial expectations, the segment in the NEEM ice core between 2206 m and 2435 m turned out to be heavily disturbed. The presence of high isotope values below 2206 m depth however reveals that there is ice from the previous warm interglacial. Our model locates the EMBED Equation.DSMT4 maximum of the warmest Eemian ice at the right depth (2400 m). On this basis we suggest that the measured contrast between the present and the Eemian EMBED Equation.DSMT4 must be increased by about 1.5 ‰. Most of this non-climatic bias results from upstream advection over an estimated distance of ~175 km. Except for the disturbed section, we are still confident to be able to provide accurate model-based estimates of the ice chronology and non-climatic biases for the core down to ~87% of relative depth. This requires revision the palaeo-accumulation parameterization to better match thinner annual layer thicknesses observed in the ice core for the last glacial period.

An assessment of the reliability of sea-ice motion and deformation retrieval using SAR images

AbstractThe local mass balance of sea ice is dependent on the advection of ice into and out of an area and on the deformation processes in that area. Sea-ice motion can be observed from space by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and quantified by drift-detection algorithms. Due to the scarcity of field observations, it remains a challenging task to validate the resulting motion fields. We analyse the quality of sea-ice motion fields derived from SAR data, using an example dataset from the Weddell Sea region. We apply a quality indicator for sea-ice motion fields which is independent of field data and evaluate it with reference data obtained from visual analysis of the SAR images. Together with the motion field, sea-ice deformation can also be retrieved from SAR data. Similarly to ice motion, it is very difficult to obtain field data to evaluate the quality of the results. Based on a manually derived reference dataset, we introduce a method to validate the retrieved deformation rates. This procedure requires no additional field data. Our analysis shows that deformation rates derived from SAR data are consistent with results obtained from buoy analysis by previous studies.

Formation and distribution of sea ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence: A process‐oriented study using a coupled ocean‐ice model

AbstractA coupled ocean‐ice model for the eastern Canadian shelf is used to examine main physical processes affecting sea ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) and adjacent waters. The coupled model is based on NEMO and uses OPA9 as the ocean circulation component and LIM2 as the ice model. The coupled model is forced by atmospheric reanalysis fields produced by Large and Yeager (2004). The model results are used to examine the roles of thermodynamics and dynamics on sea ice distributions and patterns of ice production and melting, and the influence of ice capping on the circulation in the study region. Analysis of model results indicates that local production of sea ice is important in shallower areas over the northern and western GSL. Equatorward advection of sea ice from the St. Lawrence Estuary is affected significantly by the Gaspé Current. An index is used to quantify the relative importance of thermodynamic and dynamics of sea ice in the GSL. It is found that both thermodynamics and dynamics are important over most of the GSL, except for waters around Anticosti Island, in the southeastern Gulf, and over the eastern Scotian Shelf, where dynamics (or sea ice movements) are the most important mechanism for the presence of sea ice. The study also demonstrates that ice capping significantly reduces the strength of the winter circulation in the GSL.

A modeling study of coastal circulation and landfast ice in the nearshore Beaufort and Chukchi seas using CIOM

AbstractThis study investigates sea ice and ocean circulation using a 3‐D, 3.8 km CIOM (Coupled Ice‐Ocean Model) under daily atmospheric forcing for the period 1990–2008. The CIOM was validated using both in situ observations and satellite measurements. The CIOM successfully reproduces some observed dynamical processes in the region, including the Bering‐inflow‐originated coastal current that splits into three branches: Alaska Coastal Water (ACW), Central Channel branch, and Herald Valley branch. In addition, the Beaufort Slope Current (BSC), the Beaufort Gyre, the East Siberian Current (ESC), mesoscale eddies, and seasonal landfast ice are well simulated. The CIOM also reproduces reasonable interannual variability in sea ice, such as landfast ice, and anomalous open water (less sea ice) during the positive Dipole Anomaly (DA) years, vice versa during the negative DA years. Sensitivity experiments were conducted with regard to the impacts of the Bering Strait inflow (heat transport), onshore wind stress, and sea ice advection on sea ice change, in particular on the landfast ice. It is found that coastal landfast ice is controlled by the following processes: wind forcing, Bering Strait inflow, and sea ice dynamics.