Recent Arctic Summer Sea Ice Albedo Trend and its Relationship to

• Main Author: Sea Ice Conditions
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; albedo; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.595.3409; http://alaska.usgs.gov/geography/conference/abstracts/tschudi_abstract.pdf

Sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean has been decreasing an estimated 2-4 % per decade over the course of the satellite record and has reached minimum coverage in recent years. Recent evidence suggests that the ice has also been thinning. The reduction of sea ice extent and thickness is enhanced by the ice-albedo feedback, accelerating the rate of ice melt in the Arctic summer. An assessment of trend in sea ice albedo is therefore critical to determine the processes involved with the recent reduction in sea ice cover. AVHRR Polar Pathfinder (APP) data is utilized to determine how sea ice albedo varies over the course of the 30-year satellite record. It is observed that Arctic sea ice albedo has been decreasing over this period. This trend is noted for latitudes above 73°N and between 55 and 73°N, although a greater negative trend exists in the farther north latitude region. Recent monthly albedo differences are also observed for April and August, suggesting an increase in the duration of the melt season. The decrease in albedo may is linked to a reduction of multiyear ice concentration, which has also been observed in the APP data, as multiyear ice is generally observed to have a higher albedo than first-year ice. The variability of open water has a weak inverse relationship with observed albedo.