Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features
The rapid melt of snow and sea ice during the Arctic summer provides a significant source of low-salinity meltwater to the surface ocean on the local scale. The accumulation of this meltwater on, under, and around sea ice floes can result in relatively thin meltwater layers in the upper ocean. Due t...
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University of California Press
2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025 https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025/789011/elementa.2023.00025.pdf |
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crunicaliforniap:10.1525/elementa.2023.00025 2024-06-23T07:49:13+00:00 Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features Smith, Madison M. Angot, Hélène Chamberlain, Emelia J. Droste, Elise S. Karam, Salar Muilwijk, Morven Webb, Alison L. Archer, Stephen D. Beck, Ivo Blomquist, Byron W. Bowman, Jeff Boyer, Matthew Bozzato, Deborah Chierici, Melissa Creamean, Jessie D’Angelo, Alessandra Delille, Bruno Fer, Ilker Fong, Allison A. Fransson, Agneta Fuchs, Niels Gardner, Jessie Granskog, Mats A. Hoppe, Clara J. M. Hoppema, Mario Hoppmann, Mario Mock, Thomas Muller, Sofia Müller, Oliver Nicolaus, Marcel Nomura, Daiki Petäjä, Tuukka Salganik, Evgenii Schmale, Julia Schmidt, Katrin Schulz, Kirstin M. Shupe, Matthew D. Stefels, Jacqueline Thielke, Linda Tippenhauer, Sandra Ulfsbo, Adam van Leeuwe, Maria Webster, Melinda Yoshimura, Masaki Zhan, Liyang 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025 https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025/789011/elementa.2023.00025.pdf en eng University of California Press http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Elem Sci Anth volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2325-1026 journal-article 2023 crunicaliforniap https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025 2024-06-06T04:18:57Z The rapid melt of snow and sea ice during the Arctic summer provides a significant source of low-salinity meltwater to the surface ocean on the local scale. The accumulation of this meltwater on, under, and around sea ice floes can result in relatively thin meltwater layers in the upper ocean. Due to the small-scale nature of these upper-ocean features, typically on the order of 1 m thick or less, they are rarely detected by standard methods, but are nevertheless pervasive and critically important in Arctic summer. Observations during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition in summer 2020 focused on the evolution of such layers and made significant advancements in understanding their role in the coupled Arctic system. Here we provide a review of thin meltwater layers in the Arctic, with emphasis on the new findings from MOSAiC. Both prior and recent observational datasets indicate an intermittent yet long-lasting (weeks to months) meltwater layer in the upper ocean on the order of 0.1 m to 1.0 m in thickness, with a large spatial range. The presence of meltwater layers impacts the physical system by reducing bottom ice melt and allowing new ice formation via false bottom growth. Collectively, the meltwater layer and false bottoms reduce atmosphere-ocean exchanges of momentum, energy, and material. The impacts on the coupled Arctic system are far-reaching, including acting as a barrier for nutrient and gas exchange and impacting ecosystem diversity and productivity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic ice pack Sea ice University of California Press Arctic Elem Sci Anth 11 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California Press |
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crunicaliforniap |
language |
English |
description |
The rapid melt of snow and sea ice during the Arctic summer provides a significant source of low-salinity meltwater to the surface ocean on the local scale. The accumulation of this meltwater on, under, and around sea ice floes can result in relatively thin meltwater layers in the upper ocean. Due to the small-scale nature of these upper-ocean features, typically on the order of 1 m thick or less, they are rarely detected by standard methods, but are nevertheless pervasive and critically important in Arctic summer. Observations during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition in summer 2020 focused on the evolution of such layers and made significant advancements in understanding their role in the coupled Arctic system. Here we provide a review of thin meltwater layers in the Arctic, with emphasis on the new findings from MOSAiC. Both prior and recent observational datasets indicate an intermittent yet long-lasting (weeks to months) meltwater layer in the upper ocean on the order of 0.1 m to 1.0 m in thickness, with a large spatial range. The presence of meltwater layers impacts the physical system by reducing bottom ice melt and allowing new ice formation via false bottom growth. Collectively, the meltwater layer and false bottoms reduce atmosphere-ocean exchanges of momentum, energy, and material. The impacts on the coupled Arctic system are far-reaching, including acting as a barrier for nutrient and gas exchange and impacting ecosystem diversity and productivity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Madison M. Angot, Hélène Chamberlain, Emelia J. Droste, Elise S. Karam, Salar Muilwijk, Morven Webb, Alison L. Archer, Stephen D. Beck, Ivo Blomquist, Byron W. Bowman, Jeff Boyer, Matthew Bozzato, Deborah Chierici, Melissa Creamean, Jessie D’Angelo, Alessandra Delille, Bruno Fer, Ilker Fong, Allison A. Fransson, Agneta Fuchs, Niels Gardner, Jessie Granskog, Mats A. Hoppe, Clara J. M. Hoppema, Mario Hoppmann, Mario Mock, Thomas Muller, Sofia Müller, Oliver Nicolaus, Marcel Nomura, Daiki Petäjä, Tuukka Salganik, Evgenii Schmale, Julia Schmidt, Katrin Schulz, Kirstin M. Shupe, Matthew D. Stefels, Jacqueline Thielke, Linda Tippenhauer, Sandra Ulfsbo, Adam van Leeuwe, Maria Webster, Melinda Yoshimura, Masaki Zhan, Liyang |
spellingShingle |
Smith, Madison M. Angot, Hélène Chamberlain, Emelia J. Droste, Elise S. Karam, Salar Muilwijk, Morven Webb, Alison L. Archer, Stephen D. Beck, Ivo Blomquist, Byron W. Bowman, Jeff Boyer, Matthew Bozzato, Deborah Chierici, Melissa Creamean, Jessie D’Angelo, Alessandra Delille, Bruno Fer, Ilker Fong, Allison A. Fransson, Agneta Fuchs, Niels Gardner, Jessie Granskog, Mats A. Hoppe, Clara J. M. Hoppema, Mario Hoppmann, Mario Mock, Thomas Muller, Sofia Müller, Oliver Nicolaus, Marcel Nomura, Daiki Petäjä, Tuukka Salganik, Evgenii Schmale, Julia Schmidt, Katrin Schulz, Kirstin M. Shupe, Matthew D. Stefels, Jacqueline Thielke, Linda Tippenhauer, Sandra Ulfsbo, Adam van Leeuwe, Maria Webster, Melinda Yoshimura, Masaki Zhan, Liyang Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
author_facet |
Smith, Madison M. Angot, Hélène Chamberlain, Emelia J. Droste, Elise S. Karam, Salar Muilwijk, Morven Webb, Alison L. Archer, Stephen D. Beck, Ivo Blomquist, Byron W. Bowman, Jeff Boyer, Matthew Bozzato, Deborah Chierici, Melissa Creamean, Jessie D’Angelo, Alessandra Delille, Bruno Fer, Ilker Fong, Allison A. Fransson, Agneta Fuchs, Niels Gardner, Jessie Granskog, Mats A. Hoppe, Clara J. M. Hoppema, Mario Hoppmann, Mario Mock, Thomas Muller, Sofia Müller, Oliver Nicolaus, Marcel Nomura, Daiki Petäjä, Tuukka Salganik, Evgenii Schmale, Julia Schmidt, Katrin Schulz, Kirstin M. Shupe, Matthew D. Stefels, Jacqueline Thielke, Linda Tippenhauer, Sandra Ulfsbo, Adam van Leeuwe, Maria Webster, Melinda Yoshimura, Masaki Zhan, Liyang |
author_sort |
Smith, Madison M. |
title |
Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
title_short |
Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
title_full |
Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
title_fullStr |
Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
title_sort |
thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the arctic sea ice pack—recent insights on these historically overlooked features |
publisher |
University of California Press |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025 https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025/789011/elementa.2023.00025.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic ice pack Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic ice pack Sea ice |
op_source |
Elem Sci Anth volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2325-1026 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025 |
container_title |
Elem Sci Anth |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1802639504097411072 |