Impact of the greenhouse effect on sea‐ice characteristics and snow accumulation in the polar regions

• Published in: International Journal of Climatology
• Main Authors: Hunt, B. G., Gordon, H. B., Davies, H. L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1995
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.3370150104; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.3370150104; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.3370150104

Abstract An extensive analysis has been made of the simulated sea‐ice behaviour for current and doubled carbon dioxide levels for both polar regions. The sea‐ice variations were computed as a component of the overall performance of a global climatic model. This model simulated the major climatic processes, but used an elementary oceanic representation known as the Q ‐flux parameterization. For simplicity, dynamical processes were omitted from the sea‐ice formulation. For current conditions the sea‐ice extent, thickness, seasonal and interannual variability were reasonably simulated, particularly for the Northern Hemisphere. The major deficiency was the lack of regions with very thick sea‐ice, which is known to be generated in the real world by dynamical interactions. Very substantial reductions occurred in the sea‐ice thickness, and to a lesser extent in sea‐ice area, under greenhouse conditions, with the major impact being in summer. Water mass accumulation over the great ice‐sheets agreed moderately well with limited observations for control conditions. An increase in accumulation rate was simulated for both polar regions in the greenhouse experiment. The results indicate that, overall, a first‐order representation of sea‐ice behaviour is obtainable with a thermodynamics‐only sea‐ice parameterization.