Model of space-time dynamics of the Japan Sea ice cover

A model of space-time dynamics of the sea ice cover in which individual ice floes undergo a successive change in size is considered. The formation and melting of ice floes, their aggregation, and the formation of hummocks are taken into account. A parametric model identification is done based on a sample of ice cover area and thickness distribution in the Japan Sea.     

Problems in large-scale modeling of sea ice cover evolution

Results of large-scale mathematical modeling of sea ice cover evolution are analyzed. Special attention is given to formalization of the thermal effect of the atmosphere on ice cover evolution. A model of sea ice cover evolution is developed in which thermal effects of the environment on ice cover and aggregation, fragmentation, and hummocking of ice are taken into account. The model adequacy is estimated by sample distribution of area and thickness of ice cover in the Sea of Japan.     

Formation and dynamics of melt waters of the sea ice cover

The model is constructed based on the concepts of the character of thermal evolution of the sea ice cover thickness. The dynamics of the ice thickness and that of the melt water forming in the ice cover are considered at the stage of melting. The space limitation of the marine environment for the ice is taken into account both for the stage of the ice cover formation and for the stage of its melting. The model is investigated analytically. The parametric identification of the model and the estimation of its adequacy are performed based on sampling distributions of the ice cover thickness in the Sea of Japan.     

Satellite Monitoring of Sea Ice Cover and Water Parameters for the Caspian Sea

A number of technologies have been developed in the Planeta Research Center for Space Hydrometeorology to provide the satellite monitoring of sea ice cover and water parameters for the Caspian Sea. These technologies produce maps of sea ice, sea ice drift, tracking of near-surface water fluxes, automated classification of ice and water objects, surface wind, and sea surface temperature. Satellite-based products are used for operational hydrometeorology and climate studies of the Caspian Sea environment. A specialized web service for the preparation and comprehensive analysis of satellite data on hydrometeorological and ice conditions in the Caspian Sea was developed to provide information on ice cover characteristics, surface wind, and sea surface temperature.     

A box model study of the Greenland Sea,Norwegian Sea,and Arctic Ocean

We develop a simple dynamical system model of the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas by applying the Martinson, Killworth and Gordon box model of a high-latitude two-layer ocean to four regions connected together: the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the Greenland Gyre. The latter is a small convective region embedded in the northwest corner of the Norwegian Sea. The model for each region consists of a thermodynamic ice layer that covers two layers of saline water which can, under specific conditions, become statically unstable and hence create a state of active overturning. The system is forced by monthly mean atmospheric temperatures in the four regions, by continental runoffs and by inflows from adjacent oceans. The model predicts the ice thickness, and the temperature and salinity of the water in the upper layer of the four regions. Also determined are the water temperature and salinity of the lower layer in the Arctic Ocean box. The convective state of any given region, i.e. whether it is in an active overturning mode or not, is also determined as a continuous function of time. The different output variables of the model, which are the response to climatological forcing conditions, compare favourably with observed data. In the control run, the Arctic Ocean region is characterized by continuous ice cover, the Greenland Sea and Greenland Gyre have ice cover only during winter, and the Norwegian Sea region never forms an ice cover. Another feature of the control run is the winter time occurrence of convective overturning in the upper 200 m in the Greenland Gyre region. The model is also used for different anomaly experiments: a positive air temperature anomaly which represents a global warming of the earth, a negative salt anomaly in the Norwegian Sea which simulates the great salinity anomaly of the 1960s and 1970s, and an increase in the ice flux through Fram Strait which parameterizes anomalous ice production in the Arctic.     

Climate fluctuations of the Weddell Sea and its surroundings in a transient climate change scenario

The response of the Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula to anthropogenic forcing simulated by a global climate model is analyzed. The model, despite its low resolution, is able to capture several aspects of the observed regional pattern of climate change. A strong warming and depletion of the sea ice cover in the western Weddell Sea contrasts with a slight cooling and a sea-ice extension in the eastern Weddell Sea. This simulated long-term climate change is modulated by interdecadal variability but also affected by some abrupt regional changes in the oceanic mixed layer depth. Between 1960 and 2030 a reorganization of the deep convection activity in the Weddell Sea sustains the opposition between the eastern and western Weddell Sea. The deep convection collapses in the western Weddell Sea in the 2030s. The sea ice retreat trend is then followed by an increase of the sea ice cover in the western Weddell Sea. In the eastern Weddell Sea another abrupt collapse of the deep convection activity occurs around 2080. This event is followed by a rapid cooling and sea ice extension during the next 20 years. Most of the surface changes are associated with large-scale atmospheric circulation changes that project on the dominant mode of natural variability but also with oceanic convection and circulation changes.     

Local and remote responses to opposite Ross Sea ice anomalies: a numerical experiment with the CPTEC/INPE AGCM

This work examines the near-surface responses, in the Southern Hemisphere atmosphere, to a reduction and an excess of sea ice cover in the Ross Sea. Large ensembles (60 members) of the Atmospheric General Circulation Model of the Center for Weather Forecast and Climate Studies (AGCM-CPTEC) are used for this purpose. Locally, when the sea ice cover decreases (increases), heat fluxes, temperature, and pressure increase (decreases). A principal component analysis of temperature and geopotential height identifies the potential remote connections. We have found three main results: first, an association between the sea ice cover in the Ross Sea and a wave train that resembles the Pacific South American (PSA) pattern; second, a relationship between temperatures in the Ross Sea and in the southern South America; and third, an apparent correspondence between reduced sea ice cover in the Ross Sea and the subtropical jet over Australia.     

Climatic variations of ice conditions in different regions of the Barents Sea

Presented are the results of studying the regional peculiarities of climatic variations of spatiotemporal distribution of ice in the Barents Sea water area in 1977?C2010. Demonstrated is the dynamics of the interannual and seasonal variability of main elements of the ice regime (ice cover area, ice edge position, and ice period duration). Revealed are the common features and differences in the ice conditions in the water areas under study. It has been found that there is a significant feedback between the specific ice coverage in different areas of the sea. The climatic variations of the total ice coverage of the Barents Sea for the period of 1960?C2010 are analyzed using the electronic database on the Barents Sea ice coverage. It can be supposed that the current warm phase of climatic variations in the Barents Sea is coming to the end.     

Simultaneous winter sea‐ice and atmospheric circulation anomaly patterns

Abstract

This study looks at simultaneous changes in atmospheric circulation and extremes in sea‐ice cover during winter. Thirty‐six years of ice‐cover data and 100‐kPa height and 50–100‐kPa thickness data are used. For the entire Arctic, the study found a general weakening of the Aleutian and Icelandic lows for heavy (i.e. severe) compared with light sea‐ice conditions suggesting reduced surface heating as a possible cause. The weakening of the two lows would also reduce meridional atmospheric circulation and poleward heat transport into the Arctic. The study also looks at three regions of high sea ice and atmospheric variability: the Bering Sea, the Davis Strait/Labrador Sea and the Greenland Sea. For the Bering Sea, heavy sea‐ice conditions were accompanied by weakening and westward displacement of the Aleutian Low again suggesting reduced surface heating and the formation of a secondary low in the Gulf of Alaska. This change in circulation is consistent with increased cold air advection over the Bering Sea and changes in storm tracks and meridional heat transport found in other studies. For the Davis Strait/Labrador Sea, heavy ice‐cover winters were accompanied by intensification of the Icelandic Low suggesting atmospheric temperature and wind advection and associated changes in ocean currents as the main cause of heavy ice. For the Greenland Sea no statistically significant difference was found. It is felt that this may be due to the important role that ice export through Fram Strait and ocean currents play in determining ice extent in this region.     

Application of a coupled ice‐ocean model to the Labrador Sea

Abstract

The steady, coupled ice‐ocean circulation model of Willmott and Mysak (1989) for a meridional channel is applied to the Labrador Sea for the winter season. The model consists of a thermodynamic reduced‐gravity ocean combined with a variable thickness ice cover that is in thermal equilibrium. Upon specifying the forcing fields of surface air temperature, wind stress and water temperature along the open southern boundary, the winter climatological ice‐edge position, ice thickness, ocean circulation and temperature fields are determined in the channel domain. The sensitivity of the results to the various model parameters is examined. In particular, the optimum heat exchange coefficients for the interfaces of air‐water, ice‐water and air‐ice are found.

The model ice‐edge position compares favourably with the 50% winter climatological ice concentration isoline obtained from an analysis of 32 years (1953–84) of sea‐ice concentration data. The simulations of the ocean temperature and ice thickness are also quite realistic according to the observed records available. The model is also applied to two specific winters (1981 and 1983) during which anomalous sea‐ice and weather conditions prevailed in the Labrador Sea.     

Interannual variability of sea‐ice cover in Hudson bay,Baffin bay and the Labrador sea

Abstract

The spatial and temporal relationships between subarctic Canadian sea‐ice cover and atmospheric forcing are investigated by analysing sea‐ice concentration, sea‐level pressure and surface air temperature data from 1953 to 1988. The sea‐ice anomalies in Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea are found to be related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Southern Oscillation (SO). Through a spatial Student's i‐test and a Monte Carlo simulation, it is found that sea‐ice cover in both Hudson Bay and the Baffin Bay‐Labrador Sea region responds to a Low/Wet episode of the SO (defined as the period when the SO index becomes negative) mainly in summer. In this case, the sea‐ice cover has a large positive anomaly that starts in summer and continues through to autumn. The ice anomaly is attributed to the negative anomalies in the regional surface air temperature record during the summer and autumn when the Low/Wet episode is developing. During strong winter westerly wind events of the NAO, the Baffin Bay‐Labrador Sea ice cover in winter and spring has a positive anomaly due to the associated negative anomaly in surface air temperature. During the years in which strong westerly NAO and Low/Wet SO events occur simultaneously (as in 1972/73 and 1982/83), the sea ice is found to have large positive anomalies in the study region; in particular, such anomalies occurred for a major portion of one of the two years. A spectral analysis shows that sea‐ice fluctuations in the Baffin Bay‐Labrador Sea region respond to the SO and surface air temperature at about 1.7‐, 5‐ and 10‐year periods. In addition, a noticeable sea‐ice change was found (i.e. more polynyas occurred) around the time of the so‐called “climate jump” during the early 1960s. Data on ice thickness and on ice‐melt dates from Hudson Bay are also used to verify some of the above findings.     

Twentieth century simulation of the southern hemisphere climate in coupled models. Part II: sea ice conditions and variability

We examine the representation of the mean state and interannual variability of Antarctic sea ice in six simulations of the twentieth century from coupled models participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fourth assessment report. The simulations exhibit a largely seasonal southern hemisphere ice cover, as observed. There is a considerable scatter in the monthly simulated climatological ice extent among different models, but no consistent bias when compared to observations. The scatter in maximum winter ice extent among different models is correlated to the strength of the climatological zonal winds suggesting that wind forced ice transport is responsible for much of this scatter. Observations show that the leading mode of southern hemisphere ice variability exhibits a dipole structure with anomalies of one sign in the Atlantic sector associated with anomalies of the opposite sign in the Pacific sector. The observed ice anomalies also exhibit eastward propagation with the Antarctic circumpolar current, as part of the documented Antarctic circumpolar wave phenomenon. Many of the models do simulate dipole-like behavior in sea ice anomalies as the leading mode of ice variability, but there is a large discrepancy in the eastward propagation of these anomalies among the different models. Consistent with observations, the simulated Antarctic dipole-like variations in the ice cover are led by sea-level pressure anomalies in the Amundsen/ Bellingshausen Sea. These are associated, to different degrees in different models, with both the southern annular mode and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). There are indications that the magnitude of the influence of ENSO on the southern hemisphere ice cover is related to the strength of ENSO events simulated by the different models.     

Simulation of Formation and Melting of Ice in the Kerch Strait

The optimized (all iterative procedures are excluded) local one-dimensional thermody-namic model of the formation and melting of ice is proposed. The numerical computation of ice cover evolution in the Kerch Strait under the influence of thermodynamic factors for the period of 5 months is carried out for the real conditions of winter of 2011/12. Thec results agree well with the available obser-vational data on the timing of ice formation and on ice thickness in the southern part of the Sea of Azov and in the Taman Bay. In combination with the full three-dimensional hydrodynamic model and taking into account diurnal variations in external factors, the model simulates the spatial distribution of ice cover formation.     

渤海海冰单点模式的气候模拟

利用PW1979海冰热力模式，考虑渤海的地理特点和气候特征，假设渤海为薄层海洋，引入二分法求解海冰表面温度。用该地区气候平均的云量、湿度、海平面气压和风速以及附近4站的月平均气温资料作为强迫场，模拟了渤海海冰的气候变化。模拟结果与逐年的海冰级数资料具有一致的变率，表明气温对海冰年际变化有重要影响。     

On the origin and evolution of sea-ice anomalies in the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea

 The origin and space-time evolution of Beaufort-Chukchi Sea ice anomalies are studied using data and a recently developed dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model. First, the relative importance of anomalies of river runoff, atmospheric temperature and wind in creating anomalous sea-ice conditions in the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea is investigated. The results indicate that wind anomalies are the dominant factor responsible for creating interannual variability in the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea ice cover. Temperature anomalies appear to play a major role for longer time scale fluctuations, whereas the effects of runoff anomalies are small. The sea-ice model is then used to track the position of a positive sea-ice anomaly as it is transported by the Beaufort Gyre toward the Transpolar Drift Stream and then exported out of the Arctic Basin into the Greenland Sea via Fram Strait. The model integration shows that sea-ice anomalies originating in the western Beaufort Sea can survive a few seasonal cycles as they propogate through the Arctic Basin and can account for a notable amount of anomalous ice export into the Greenland Sea. These anomalies, however, represent a small contribution to the fresh water budget in this area when compared with sea-ice fluctuations generated by interannually varying local winds. Received: 1 May 1997/Accepted: 22 October 1997     

On the Arctic Ocean ice thickness response to changes in the external forcing

Submarine and satellite observations show that the Arctic Ocean ice cover has undergone a large thickness reduction and a decrease in the areal extent during the last decades. Here the response of the Arctic Ocean ice cover to changes in the poleward atmospheric energy transport, F _wall, is investigated using coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean column models. Two models with highly different complexity are used in order to illustrate the importance of different internal processes and the results highlight the dramatic effects of the negative ice thickness—ice volume export feedback and the positive surface albedo feedback. The steady state ice thickness as a function of F _wall is determined for various model setups and defines what we call ice thickness response curves. When a variable surface albedo and snow precipitation is included, a complex response curve appears with two distinct regimes: a perennial ice cover regime with a fairly linear response and a less responsive seasonal ice cover regime. The two regimes are separated by a steep transition associated with surface albedo feedback. The associated hysteresis is however small, indicating that the Arctic climate system does not have an irreversible tipping point behaviour related to the surface albedo feedback. The results are discussed in the context of the recent reduction of the Arctic sea ice cover. A new mechanism related to regional and temporal variations of the ice divergence within the Arctic Ocean is presented as an explanation for the observed regional variation of the ice thickness reduction. Our results further suggest that the recent reduction in areal ice extent and loss of multiyear ice is related to the albedo dependent transition between seasonal and perennial ice i.e. large areas of the Arctic Ocean that has previously been dominated by multiyear ice might have been pushed below a critical mean ice thickness, corresponding to the above mentioned transition, and into a state dominated by seasonal ice.     

Estimates of intensity and formation frequency of ice pile-up on the northwestern coast of the Caspian Sea from the results of model computations

The technique and results of computations of statistical parameters of ice pile-up formation on the western coast of the northern Caspian Sea are presented. The dynamic model of ice pile-up formation on the shores is described. The main ice, meteorological, and morphologic factors influencing the shore pile-up formation are analyzed. The test computation enabling to estimate the model adequacy is described. The estimation principle of the probability of the formation of the ice pile-up of certain size is given and the distribution functions of geometrical parameters of the pile-ups on the western coast of the northern Caspian Sea are obtained. The limits of the proposed model are specially stipulated.     

The role of sea ice in the temperature-precipitation feedback of glacial cycles

The response of the hydrological cycle to climate variability and change is a critical open question, where model reliability is still unsatisfactory, yet upon which past climate history can shed some light. Sea ice is a key player in the climate system and in the hydrological cycle, due to its strong albedo effect and its insulating effect on local evaporation and air-sea heat flux. Using an atmospheric general circulation model with specified sea surface temperature and sea-ice distribution, the role of sea ice in the hydrological cycle is investigated under last glacial maximum (LGM) and present day conditions, and by studying its contribution to the “temperature-precipitation feedback”. By conducting a set of sensitivity experiments in which the albedo and thickness of the sea ice are varied, the various effects of sea ice in the hydrological cycle are isolated. It is demonstrated that for a cold LGM like state, a warmer climate (as a result of reduced sea-ice cover) leads to an increase in snow precipitation over the ice sheets. The insulating effect of the sea ice on the hydrological cycle is found to be larger than the albedo effect. These two effects interact in a nonlinear way and their total effect is not equal to summing their separate contribution.     

渤海的海冰数值预报

根据渤海气候和冰情特点,在已有海冰模式研究基础上,提出模拟海冰增长、消融和漂移的动力－热力学模式。模式冰厚分布由开阔水、平整冰和堆积冰三要素表示。该模式已与数值天气预报模式、大气边界层模式、潮流模式联结,并于１９９０年到１９９６年在国家海洋环境预报中心进行渤海和北黄海冰情预报。其数值预报产品包括冰厚、密度集、冰速、冰外缘线、冰脊参数、局地冰厚以及接近石油平台的冰漂移轨迹等,传送到国家海洋预报台和渤海石油公司等有关用户。为了客观评价模式和检验预报结果,在逐日预报后进行统计检验。本文概述渤海冰情、卫星遥感应用、冰模式及其预报结果和检验。     

The Relationship between Melt Season Sea Ice over the Bering Sea and Summer Precipitation over Mid-Latitude East Asia

Independent datasets consistently indicate a significant correlation between the sea ice variability in the Bering Sea during melt season and the summer rainfall variability in the Lake Baikal area and Northeastern China. In this study, four sea ice datasets(Had ISST1, Had ISST2.2, ERA-Interim and NOAA/NSIDC) and two global precipitation datasets(CRU V4.01 and GPCP V2.3) are used to investigate co-variations between melt season(March-April-May-June, MAMJ)Bering Sea ice cover(BSIC) and summer(June-July-August, JJA) East Asian precipitation. All datasets demonstrate a significant correlation between the MAMJ BSIC and the JJA rainfall in Lake Baikal-Northeastern China(Baikal-NEC).Based on the reanalysis datasets and the numerical sensitivity experiments performed in this study using Community Atmospheric Model version 5(CAM5), a mechanism to understand how the MAMJ BSIC influences the JJA Baikal-NEC rainfall is suggested. More MAMJ BSIC triggers a wave train and causes a positive sea level pressure(SLP) anomaly over the North Atlantic during MAMJ. The high SLP anomaly, associated with an anti-cyclonic wind stress circulation anomaly,favors the appearance of sea surface temperature(SST) anomalies in a zonal dipole-pattern in the North Atlantic during summer. The dipole SST anomaly drives a zonally orientated wave train, which causes a high anomaly geopotential height at 500 h Pa over the Sea of Japan. As a result, the mean East Asian trough moves westward and a low geopotential height anomaly occurs over Baikal-NEC. This prevailing regional low pressure anomaly together with enhanced moisture transport from the western North Pacific and convergence over Baikal-NEC, positively influences the increased rainfall in summer.