Changes in sea-surface temperature and atmospheric circulation patterns associated with reductions in Arctic sea ice cover in recent decades

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Yu, Lejiang, Zhong, Shiyuan
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Pacific; North Atlantic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14149-2018; https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/14149/2018/

In recent decades, the Arctic sea ice has been declining at a rapid pace as the Arctic warms at a rate of twice the global average. The underlying physical mechanisms for the Arctic warming and accelerated sea ice retreat are not fully understood. In this study, we apply a relatively novel statistical method called self-organizing maps (SOM) along with composite analysis to examine the trend and variability of autumn Arctic sea ice in the past three decades and their relationships to large-scale atmospheric circulation changes. Our statistical results show that the anomalous autumn Arctic dipole (AD) (Node 1) and the Arctic Oscillation (AO) (Node 9) could explain in a statistical sense as much as 50 % of autumn sea ice decline between 1979 and 2016. The Arctic atmospheric circulation anomalies associated with anomalous sea-surface temperature (SST) patterns over the North Pacific and North Atlantic influence Arctic sea ice primarily through anomalous temperature and water vapor advection and associated radiative feedback.