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

• Main Authors: Jinlun, Zhang, Steele, Mike, Woodgate, Rebecca
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2008
• Subjects: Cryosphere; Oceans; Arctic; Chukchi Sea; Bering Strait; Pacific; Advances in Polar Science; Chukchi; Polar Science; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2352/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2352/1/A200802002.pdf

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 water into the Arctic than the recent (2000-2006) average. This 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 is about 0.5 Sv or 50% above the 2000-2006 average. The strengthened warm Pacific water inflow carries an additional 1.0 x 10(20) 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 0.5 m per month additional ice melting in some area of that region.