Linkages between Arctic sea ice cover,large-scale atmospheric circulation,and weather and ice conditions in the Gulf of Bothnia,Baltic Sea

During years 1980/1981–2012/2013, inter-annual variations in sea ice and snow thickness in Kemi, in the northern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, Baltic Sea, depended on the air temperature, snow fall, and rain. Inter-annual variations in the November—April mean air temperature, accumulated total precipitation, snow fall, and rain, as well as ice and snow thickness in Kemi and ice concentration in the Gulf of Bothnia correlated with inter-annual variations of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO), Arctic Oscillation(AO), North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO), Scandinavian Pattern(SCA), and Polar / Eurasian Pattern(PEU). The strong role of PDO is a new finding. In general, the relationships with PDO were approximately equally strong as those with AO, but rain and sea ice concentration were better correlated with PDO. The correlations with PDO were, however, not persistent; for a study period since 1950 the correlations were much lower. During 1980/1981—2012/2013, also the Pacific / North American Pattern(PNA) and El Nino–Southern Oscillation(ENSO) had statistical connections with the conditions in the Gulf of Bothnia, revealed by analyzing their effects combined with those of PDO and AO. A reduced autumn sea ice area in the Arctic was related to increased rain and total precipitation in the following winter in Kemi. This correlation was significant for the Pan-Arctic sea ice area in September, October, and November, and for the November sea ice area in the Barents / Kara seas.     

Fine-resolution simulation of surface current and sea ice in the Arctic Mediterranean Seas

A fine-resolution model is developed for ocean circulation simulation in the National Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is applied to simulate surface current and sea ice variations in the Arctic Mediterranean Seas. A dynamic sea ice model in elastic-viscous-plastic rheology and a thermodynamic sea ice model are employed. A 200-year simulation is performed and a dimatological average of a 10-year period (141st-150th) is presented with focus on sea ice concentration and surface current variations in the Arctic Mediterranean Seas. The model is able to simulate well the East Greenland Current, Beaufort Gyre and the Transpolar Drift, but the simulated West Spitsbergen Current is small and weak. In the March climatology, the sea ice coverage can be simulated well except for a bit more ice in east of Spitsbergen Island. The result is also good for the September scenario except for less ice concentration east of Greenland and greater ice concentration near the ice margin. The extra ice east of Spitsbergen Island is caused by sea ice current convergence forced by atmospheric wind stress.     

Fabric and crystal characteristics of Bohai and Arctic sea ice

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＢｏｈａｉｏｎｅ ｙｅａｒｉｃｅａｎｄＡｎｔａｒｃｔｉｃｏｎｅｈａｖｅｔｈｅｓｉｍｉｌａｒｓｕｒｆａｃｅ ｆｅａｔｕｒｅｓａｎｄｃｏｒｒｅ ｓｐｏｎｄｉｎｇｆａｂｒｉｃａｎｄｃｒｙｓｔａｌｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｉｓｔｉｃｓ (Ａｌｌｉｓｏｎ 1 997;Ｌｉｅｔａｌ.1 997;Ｑｉｎ 1 991 ) .ＤｕｒｉｎｇｔｈｅＣｈｉｎａＦｉｒｓｔＡｒｃｔｉｃＥｘｐｅｄｉｔｉｏｎ ,ｔｈｅｒｅｓｕｌｔｓｉｎｔｈｅｓｔｕｄｙｏｆｏｎｅ ｙｅａｒｉｃｅｆｒｏｍＢｏｈａｉａｎｄＡｎｔａｒｃｔｉｃｗｅｒｅｕｓｅｄｆｏ…     

Measurements of sea ice thickness and its subice morphology analysis using ice-penetration radar in the Arctic Ocean

1　IntroductionSeaice ,asanimportantcomponentoftheArcticclimatesystem ,hasdrawnsignifi cantscientificinterest.Seaicethicknessanditsmorphologyhavedramaticimpactsono cean atmosphere iceinteractions(Wadhams 1 994;Barryetal.1 993 ;Dickson 1 999;PadhamsandNorman 2 0 0 0 ) ,whichdirectlyaffecttheexchangeprocessandspeedofheatandmassbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere ,dominatethephysicalmechanicsfea turesofseaice ,andaffecttheseaicemovement&deformationaswellasicefreezing&meltingprocess(Hollandetal.1 99…     

Studies on culture condition and extracellular hydrolase of psychrophilic bacteria from Arctic sea ice

Arctic sea ice in the polar region provides a cold habitat for microbial community. Arctic sea ice microorganisms are revealed to be of considerable importance in basic research and potential in biotechnological application. This paper investigated the culture condition and extraceIlular hydrolase of 14 strains of different Arctic sea ice bacteria. The results showed that optimal growth temperature of strains is 15 ℃ or 20 ℃. The optimal pH is about 8.0. They hardly grow at acid condition. 3 % NaCl is necessary for better growth. These strains have different abilities in producing amylase, protease, eellulase and lipase. Pseudoalteronomas sp. Bsi429 and Pseudoalteronomas sp. Bsi539 produced both cellulose, protease and lipase. These results provide a basis for further developing and exploiting the cold adapted marine enzyme resources.     

Status of the Recent Declining of Arctic Sea Ice Studies

In the past 30 years, a large-scale change occurred in the Arctic climatic system, which had never been observed before 1980s. At the same time, the Arctic sea ice experienced a special evolution with more and more rapidly dramatic declining. In this circumstance, the Arctic sea ice became a new focus of the Arctic research. The recent advancements about abrupt change of the Arctic sea ice are reviewed in this paper .The previous analyses have demonstrated the accelerated declining trend of Arctic sea ice extent in the past 30 years, based on in-situ and satellite-based observations of atmosphere, as well as the results of global and regional climate simulations. Especially in summer, the rate of decrease for the ice extents was above 10% per decade. In present paper, the evolution characteristics of the arctic sea ice and its possible cause are discussed in three aspects, i.e. the sea ice physical properties, the interaction process of sea ice, ocean and atmosphere and its response and feedback mechanism to global and arctic climate system.     

The progress in the study of Arctic pack ice ecology

The sea ice community plays an important role in the Arctic marine ecosystem. Because of the predicted environmental changes in the Arctic environment and specifically related to sea ice, the Arctic pack ice biota has received more attention in recent years using modem ice-breaking research vessels. Studies show that the Arctic pack ice contains a diverse biota and besides ice algae, the bacterial and protozoan biomasses can be high. Surprisingly high primary production values were observed in the pack ice of the central Arctic Ocean. Occasionally biomass maximum were discovered in the interior of the ice floes, a habitat that had been ignored in most Arctic studies. Many scientific questions, which deserve special attention, remained unsolved due to logistic limitations and the sea ice characteristics. Little is know about the pack ice community in the central Arctic Ocean. Almost no data exists from the pack ice zone for the winter season. Concerning the abundance of bacteria and protozoa, more studies are needed to understand the microbial network within the ice and its role in material and energy flows. The response of the sea ice biota to global change will impact the entire Arctic marine ecosystem and a long-term monitoring program is needed. The techniques, that are applied to study the sea ice biota and the sea ice ecology, should be improved.     

Snow and sea ice thermodynamics in the Arctic： Model validation and sensitivity study against SHEBA data

Evolution of the Arctic sea ice and its snow cover during the SHEBA year were simulated by applying a high-resolution thermodynamic snow/ice model （HIGHTSI）. Attention was paid to the impact of albedo on snow and sea ice mass balance, effect of snow on total ice mass balance, and the model vertical resolution. The SHEBA annual simulation was made applying the best possible external forcing data set created by the Sea Ice Model Intercomparison Project. The HIGHTSI control run reasonably reproduced the observed snow and ice thickness. A number of albedo schemes were incorporated into HIGHTSI to study the feedback processes between the albedo and snow and ice thickness. The snow thickness turned out to be an essential variable in the albedo parameterization. Albedo schemes dependent on the surface temperature were liable to excessive positive feedback effects generated by errors in the modelled surface temperature. The superimposed ice formation should be taken into account for the annual Arctic sea ice mass balance.     

Relationship of Arctic sea ice and Northern Hemispheric 500 hPa Polar vortices

Using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis monthly 500 hPa height data on a 2.5 latitude-longitude grid and 1°×1° sea ice data,the polar vortex area,intensity index and arctic sea ice area index are calculated respectively,and the meridional distribution,period variation and the abrupts in the long range trend are analyzed to study their relationship.The results show that the meridional distribution of sea ice and polar vortex h-ave distinctive difference,the relative positions of them are different in the eastern and western hemispheres,and exept they have periods of 4 months,quasi half year,quasi year,4-5 years and 10 years commonly,and each of them has its own respective variation as well.The sea ice area is decreasing apparently since 1980's,so is the polar vortex area,but their abrupt changge time are different totally.The area of sea ice and polar vortex has prominent positive correlation,but the relationship of sea ice intensity,polar vortex intensity,polar vortex area is complicated.     

The seasonal foot printing mechanism of spring Arctic sea ice in the Bergen climate models

The influence of spring Arctic sea ice variability on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO) like sea surface temperature(SST) variability is established and investigated using an Atmosphere Ocean General Circulation Model(AOGCM) of the Bergen Climate Model version 2(BCM2). The spring Arctic sea ice variability affects the mid-latitudes and tropics through the propagation of the anomalous Eliassen-Palm(E-P) flux from the polar region to mid- and low-latitudes during boreal spring. The pathway includes anomalous upward wave activity, which propagates to the high troposphere from near the surface of the polar region, turns southward between 500 h Pa and 200 h Pa and extends downward between 50°N and 70°N, influencing the near surface atmospheric circulation. The alteration of the near surface atmospheric circulation then causes anomalous surface ocean circulation. These circulation changes consequently leads to the SST anomalies in the North Pacific which may persist until the following summer, named seasonal "foot printing" mechanism(SFPM).     

Phylogenetic analysis of bacteria in sea ice brine sampled from the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean

Bacterial diversity in sea ice brine samples which collected from four stations located at the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean was analyzed by PCR-DGGE. Twenty-three 16S rDNA sequences of bacteria obtained from DGGE bands were cloned and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis clustered these sequences within γ-proteobacteria, Cytophaga-Flexlbacter-Bacteroides （CFB） group, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria. The phylotype of Pseudoalteromonas in the γ-proteobacteria was predominant and members of the CFB group and γ-proteobacteria were highly abundant in studied sea ice brine samples.     

Crystals and fabrics analysis of an Arctic thermal growth multi-year ice sample

One of sea ice core samples was taken from Arctic by the First Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition Team in 1999. 20 vertical and 2 horizontal ice sections were cut out of the ice core sample 2.22 m in length, which covered the ice sheet from surface to bottom except losses for during sampling and section cutting. From the observation and analysis of the fabrics and crystals along the depth of the ice core sample, followings were found. Whole ice sheet consists of columnar, refrozen clastic pieces, granular, columnar, refrozen clastic pieces, granular, columnar and refrozen clastic pieces. This indicates that the ice core sample was 3-year old, and the ice sheet surface thawed and the melt water flowed into ice sheet during summer. Hence, the annual energy balance in Arctic can be determined by the ice sheet surface thawing in summer, and bottom growth in winter. The thickness of the ice sheet is kept constantly at a certain position based on the corresponding climate and ocean conditions; A new     

Solar radiation penetrating through sea ice under very low solar altitude

Based on the optical data for transmitted radiation through sea ice in the Arctic during the late autumn and early winter of 2007,the authors studied the arriving solar radiation,reflected radiation and transmitted radiation under very low solar altitude.Through the atmosphere,the light of the arriving solar radiation at short wavelength was weakened,with the spectral distribution of double peaks centered at 490 nm and 683 nm.The magnitude of the peak at 683 nm even exceeded that at 490 nm under the very low solar radiation condition.The reflection was lower than that in summertime because of the thin thicknesses of ice and snow,allowing higher ratio of heat to enter the sea ice and snow.When higher ratio of solar radiation entered sea ice in late autumn,the new ice freezing would be affected.The spectral reflectivity from snow surface was almost a constant,but the reflection without snow decreased at longer wavelengths.In the transmission spectrum,the light of 490nm was dominant.It indicates that the radiation at longer wavelength was weakened by sea ice.Therefore,under the condition of low solar altitude,the radiation at shorter wavelength was weakened by the atmosphere while the radiation at longer wavelength was weakened by the sea ice.The combined effect of atmosphere and sea ice made the solar radiation under sea ice much weaker.The absorption of sea ice for the longer-wavelength radiation allowed the sea ice to gain more heat to slow down the freezing process.     

The role of Pacific water in the dramatic retreat of arctic sea ice during summer 2007

A model study is conducted to examine the role of Pacific water in the dramatic retreat of arctic sea ice during summer 2007. The model generally agrees with the observations in showing considerable seasonal and interannual variability of the Pacific water inflow at Bering Strait in response to changes in atmospheric circulation. During summer 2007 anomalously strong southerly winds over the PaCific sector of the Arctic Ocean strengthen the ocean circulation and bring more Pacific water into the Arctic than the recent （2000-2006） average. The simulated summer （3 months ） 2007 mean Pacific water inflow at Bering Strait is 1.2 Sv, which is the highest in the past three decades of the simulation and is 20% higher than the recent average. Particularly, the Pacific water inflow in September 2007 is about 0.5 Sv or 50% above the 2000-2006 average. The strengthened warm Pacific water inflow carries an additional 1.0 x 1020 Joules of heat into the Arctic, enough to melt an additional 0.5 m of ice over the whole Chukchi Sea. In the model the extra summer oceanic heat brought in by the Pacific water mainly stays in the Chukchi and Beaufort region, contributing to the warming of surface waters in that region. The heat is in constant contact with the ice cover in the region in July through September. Thus the Pacific water plays a role in ice melting in the Chukchi and Beaufort region all summer long in 2007, likely contributing to up to O. 5 m per month additional ice melting in some area of that region.     

Response of the Dominant Modes of Atmospheric Circulation in the Northern Hemisphere to a Projected Arctic Sea Ice Loss in 2007

This study revisits the Arctic sea ice extent(SIE) for the extended period of 1979-2015 based on satellite measurements and finds that the Arctic SIE experienced three different periods: a moderate sea ice decline period for 1979-1996, an accelerated sea ice decline period from 1997 to 2006, and large interannual variation period after 2007, when Arctic sea ice reached its tipping point reported by Livina and Lenton(2013). To address the response of atmospheric circulation to the lowest sea ice conditions with a large interannual variation, we investigated the dominant modes for large atmospheric circulation responses to the projected 2007 Arctic sea ice loss using an atmospheric general circulation model(ECHAM5). The response was obtained from two 50-yr simulations: one with a repeating seasonal cycle of specified sea ice concentration for the period of 1979-1996 and one with that of sea ice conditions in 2007. The results suggest more occurrences of a negative Arctic Oscillation(AO) response to the 2007 Arctic sea ice conditions, accompanied by an North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO)-type atmospheric circulation response under the largest sea ice loss, and more occurrences of the positive Arctic Dipole(AD) mode under the 2007 sea ice conditions, with an across-Arctic wave train pattern response to the largest sea ice loss in the Arctic. This study offers a new perspective for addressing the response of atmospheric circulation to sea ice changes after the Arctic reached the tipping point in 2007.     

Advancing the understanding of variations of Arctic sea ice optical and thermal behaviors through an international research and mobility project

In recent decades, significant changes of Arctic sea ice have taken place. These changes are expected to influence the surface energy balance of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. To quantify this energy ba...     

Sea ice thickness and concentration in Arctic obtaining from remote sensing images

1　Introduction TheArcticOceanisoneoftheimportantcoldregionsontheearth,whichcanaffect globalclimateandoceancirculationseriously.Itsinteractionwiththeglobalclimatesystem isrepresentedbyseaice,whichisthemainfeatureonthesurfaceoftheArcticOcean(Aa gaardandCarmack1989).First,seaiceplaysapivotalroleintheheatandmassbalance onthesurfaceoftheArcticOcean.Seaicenotonlyobstructstheheatexchangebetweenat mosphereandocean,butalsoreflectsmostsolarradiationbacktotheatmospherebecause ofitshighalbedo(Gre…     

Modeling seasonal variations of ocean and sea ice circulation in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas： A model-data fusion study

A 3.8-kin Coupled Ice-Ocean Model （C1OM） was implemented to successfully reproduce many observed phenomena in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, including the Bering-inflow-originated coastal current that splits into three branches： Alaska Coastal Water （ACW） , Central Channel, and Herald Valley branches. Other modeled phenomena include the Beaufort Slope Current （BSC） , the Beaufort Gyre, the East Siberian Current （ ESC）, mesoscale eddies, seasonal landfast ice, sea ice ridging, shear, and deformation. Many of these downscaling processes can only be captured by using a high-resolution CIOM, nested in a global climate model. The seasonal cycles for sea ice concentration, thickness, velocity, and other variables are well reproduced with Solid validation by satellite measurements. The seasonal cycles for upper ocean dynamics and thermodynamics are also well reproduced, which include the formation of the cold saline layer due to the injection of salt during sea ice formation, the BSC, and the subsurface upwelling in winter that brings up warm, even more saline Atlantic Water along the shelfbreak and shelf along the Beaufort coast.     

Definition of Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Variation Index

1　Introduction Itiswellknownthatseaiceinthepolarregionplaysanimportantroleintheglobal climatechangesasapartofclimatesystem(Carleton1989;YuanandMartinson2000, 2001;ChengandBian2002;LiuandMartinson2002;LiuandZhang2004;Gigorand Wallace2002etal).Infact,numerousmodelingstudiessuggestanimportantinfluence throughtheseaicefieldsalone(Grumbine1994,Meehl1990,Rindetal.1995).Inor dertounderstandthevariabilityofArcticandAntarcticseaicealongwiththepossiblecon nectionswithclimaticanomaliesindetail…     

Seasonal changes in sea ice conditions along the Northeast Passage in 2007 and 2012

Remote sensing data from passive microwave and satellite-based altimeters, associated with the data measured underway, were used to characterize seasonal and spatial changes in sea ice conditions along...