Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice pack—Recent insights on these historically overlooked features

• Published in: Elem Sci Anth
• Main Authors: 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
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Extreme Environments Research Laboratory (EERL), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Arctic sea ice; MOSAiC expedition; Meltwater; Atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions; Air-sea gas exchange; Arctic ecosystem; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Arctic; ice pack; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04382670; https://hal.science/hal-04382670/document; https://hal.science/hal-04382670/file/Smith%20et%20al.%20-%202023%20-%20Thin%20and%20transient%20meltwater%20layers%20and%20false%20bott.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00025

International audience 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