Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice
ABSTRACT The Arctic marine environment is undergoing a transition from thick multi-year to first-year sea-ice cover with coincident lengthening of the melt season. Such changes are evident in the Baffin Bay-Davis Strait-Labrador Sea (BDL) region where melt onset has occurred ~8 days decade −1 earlie...
Published in: | Annals of Glaciology |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.30 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305517000301 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aog.2017.30 2024-06-23T07:45:36+00:00 Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice Ballinger, Thomas J. Hanna, Edward Hall, Richard J. Cropper, Thomas E. Miller, Jeffrey Ribergaard, Mads H. Overland, James E. Høyer, Jacob L. 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.30 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305517000301 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Annals of Glaciology volume 59, issue 76pt2, page 181-190 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 journal-article 2017 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.30 2024-06-12T04:05:12Z ABSTRACT The Arctic marine environment is undergoing a transition from thick multi-year to first-year sea-ice cover with coincident lengthening of the melt season. Such changes are evident in the Baffin Bay-Davis Strait-Labrador Sea (BDL) region where melt onset has occurred ~8 days decade −1 earlier from 1979 to 2015. A series of anomalously early events has occurred since the mid-1990s, overlapping a period of increased upper-air ridging across Greenland and the northwestern North Atlantic. We investigate an extreme early melt event observed in spring 2013. (~6 σ below the 1981–2010 melt climatology), with respect to preceding sub-seasonal mid-tropospheric circulation conditions as described by a daily Greenland Blocking Index (GBI). The 40-days prior to the 2013 BDL melt onset are characterized by a persistent, strong 500 hPa anticyclone over the region (GBI >+1 on >75% of days). This circulation pattern advected warm air from northeastern Canada and the northwestern Atlantic poleward onto the thin, first-year sea ice and caused melt ~50 days earlier than normal. The episodic increase in the ridging atmospheric pattern near western Greenland as in 2013, exemplified by large positive GBI values, is an important recent process impacting the atmospheric circulation over a North Atlantic cryosphere undergoing accelerated regional climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Climate change Davis Strait Greenland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Sea ice Cambridge University Press Arctic Baffin Bay Canada Greenland Annals of Glaciology 59 76pt2 181 190 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT The Arctic marine environment is undergoing a transition from thick multi-year to first-year sea-ice cover with coincident lengthening of the melt season. Such changes are evident in the Baffin Bay-Davis Strait-Labrador Sea (BDL) region where melt onset has occurred ~8 days decade −1 earlier from 1979 to 2015. A series of anomalously early events has occurred since the mid-1990s, overlapping a period of increased upper-air ridging across Greenland and the northwestern North Atlantic. We investigate an extreme early melt event observed in spring 2013. (~6 σ below the 1981–2010 melt climatology), with respect to preceding sub-seasonal mid-tropospheric circulation conditions as described by a daily Greenland Blocking Index (GBI). The 40-days prior to the 2013 BDL melt onset are characterized by a persistent, strong 500 hPa anticyclone over the region (GBI >+1 on >75% of days). This circulation pattern advected warm air from northeastern Canada and the northwestern Atlantic poleward onto the thin, first-year sea ice and caused melt ~50 days earlier than normal. The episodic increase in the ridging atmospheric pattern near western Greenland as in 2013, exemplified by large positive GBI values, is an important recent process impacting the atmospheric circulation over a North Atlantic cryosphere undergoing accelerated regional climate change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ballinger, Thomas J. Hanna, Edward Hall, Richard J. Cropper, Thomas E. Miller, Jeffrey Ribergaard, Mads H. Overland, James E. Høyer, Jacob L. |
spellingShingle |
Ballinger, Thomas J. Hanna, Edward Hall, Richard J. Cropper, Thomas E. Miller, Jeffrey Ribergaard, Mads H. Overland, James E. Høyer, Jacob L. Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
author_facet |
Ballinger, Thomas J. Hanna, Edward Hall, Richard J. Cropper, Thomas E. Miller, Jeffrey Ribergaard, Mads H. Overland, James E. Høyer, Jacob L. |
author_sort |
Ballinger, Thomas J. |
title |
Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
title_short |
Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
title_full |
Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Anomalous blocking over Greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
title_sort |
anomalous blocking over greenland preceded the 2013 extreme early melt of local sea ice |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.30 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305517000301 |
geographic |
Arctic Baffin Bay Canada Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay Canada Greenland |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Climate change Davis Strait Greenland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Climate change Davis Strait Greenland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Sea ice |
op_source |
Annals of Glaciology volume 59, issue 76pt2, page 181-190 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.30 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
76pt2 |
container_start_page |
181 |
op_container_end_page |
190 |
_version_ |
1802641427822280704 |