The ice factory of Hudson Bay
Within the dynamic seasonal ice cover of Hudson Bay, the Kivalliq Polynya is a large latent heat polynya that forms throughout winter in the northwest as a result of strong northwesterly offshore surface winds. Polynyas are known to be physically, biologically, and geochemically important and contri...
Published in: | Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |
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Language: | English |
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University of California Press
2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168 http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168/477739/elementa.2020.00168.pdf |
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crunicaliforniap:10.1525/elementa.2020.00168 2024-09-15T18:11:02+00:00 The ice factory of Hudson Bay Bruneau, Jennifer Babb, David Chan, Wayne Kirillov, Sergei Ehn, Jens Hanesiak, John Barber, David G. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168 http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168/477739/elementa.2020.00168.pdf en eng University of California Press http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2325-1026 journal-article 2021 crunicaliforniap https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168 2024-08-15T04:15:37Z Within the dynamic seasonal ice cover of Hudson Bay, the Kivalliq Polynya is a large latent heat polynya that forms throughout winter in the northwest as a result of strong northwesterly offshore surface winds. Polynyas are known to be physically, biologically, and geochemically important and contribute to the regional ice mass balance; however, the Kivalliq Polynya has yet to be characterized in terms of spatiotemporal variability and ice production. Using a thin ice algorithm applied to the 16-year record of daily AMSR-E and AMSR-2 passive microwave observations, we examine the interannual variability in the spatial and temporal characteristics of the polynya throughout winter (December–April) over the period 2002–2019. Our study reveals that the polynya is present in some form almost every day but that its daily area is highly variable. On average, 182 km3 of new ice is produced in the Kivalliq Polynya during winter, or approximately 20% of the end of winter ice volume in Hudson Bay. Daily ice production is found to be significantly correlated with the daily polynya area, though large, episodic events can increase annual cumulative ice production during a year of otherwise small polynyas. Annual cumulative ice production is also found to be significantly correlated with seasonally averaged offshore wind speeds, which explain 47.3% of the variance in winter ice production and drive a 46 km3 increase in ice production for every 1.0 m s–1 increase in offshore winds. Ultimately, the highly variable yet persistent Kivalliq Polynya is shown to be driven by offshore winds and significantly contributes to the regional ice mass balance. Article in Journal/Newspaper Hudson Bay Kivalliq University of California Press Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 9 1 |
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Open Polar |
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University of California Press |
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crunicaliforniap |
language |
English |
description |
Within the dynamic seasonal ice cover of Hudson Bay, the Kivalliq Polynya is a large latent heat polynya that forms throughout winter in the northwest as a result of strong northwesterly offshore surface winds. Polynyas are known to be physically, biologically, and geochemically important and contribute to the regional ice mass balance; however, the Kivalliq Polynya has yet to be characterized in terms of spatiotemporal variability and ice production. Using a thin ice algorithm applied to the 16-year record of daily AMSR-E and AMSR-2 passive microwave observations, we examine the interannual variability in the spatial and temporal characteristics of the polynya throughout winter (December–April) over the period 2002–2019. Our study reveals that the polynya is present in some form almost every day but that its daily area is highly variable. On average, 182 km3 of new ice is produced in the Kivalliq Polynya during winter, or approximately 20% of the end of winter ice volume in Hudson Bay. Daily ice production is found to be significantly correlated with the daily polynya area, though large, episodic events can increase annual cumulative ice production during a year of otherwise small polynyas. Annual cumulative ice production is also found to be significantly correlated with seasonally averaged offshore wind speeds, which explain 47.3% of the variance in winter ice production and drive a 46 km3 increase in ice production for every 1.0 m s–1 increase in offshore winds. Ultimately, the highly variable yet persistent Kivalliq Polynya is shown to be driven by offshore winds and significantly contributes to the regional ice mass balance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bruneau, Jennifer Babb, David Chan, Wayne Kirillov, Sergei Ehn, Jens Hanesiak, John Barber, David G. |
spellingShingle |
Bruneau, Jennifer Babb, David Chan, Wayne Kirillov, Sergei Ehn, Jens Hanesiak, John Barber, David G. The ice factory of Hudson Bay |
author_facet |
Bruneau, Jennifer Babb, David Chan, Wayne Kirillov, Sergei Ehn, Jens Hanesiak, John Barber, David G. |
author_sort |
Bruneau, Jennifer |
title |
The ice factory of Hudson Bay |
title_short |
The ice factory of Hudson Bay |
title_full |
The ice factory of Hudson Bay |
title_fullStr |
The ice factory of Hudson Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
The ice factory of Hudson Bay |
title_sort |
ice factory of hudson bay |
publisher |
University of California Press |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168 http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168/477739/elementa.2020.00168.pdf |
genre |
Hudson Bay Kivalliq |
genre_facet |
Hudson Bay Kivalliq |
op_source |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2325-1026 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00168 |
container_title |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1810448626976030720 |