Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds
During the Arctic melt season, the sea ice surface undergoes a remarkable transformation from vast expanses of snow covered ice to complex mosaics of ice and melt ponds. Sea ice albedo, a key parameter in climate modeling, is determined by the complex evolution of melt pond configurations. In fact,...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc15489 2023-05-15T13:10:36+02:00 Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds Hohenegger, C. Alali, B. Steffen, K. R. Perovich, D. K. Golden, K. M. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1157/2012/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1157/2012/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 2020-07-20T16:25:41Z During the Arctic melt season, the sea ice surface undergoes a remarkable transformation from vast expanses of snow covered ice to complex mosaics of ice and melt ponds. Sea ice albedo, a key parameter in climate modeling, is determined by the complex evolution of melt pond configurations. In fact, ice–albedo feedback has played a major role in the recent declines of the summer Arctic sea ice pack. However, understanding melt pond evolution remains a significant challenge to improving climate projections. By analyzing area–perimeter data from hundreds of thousands of melt ponds, we find here an unexpected separation of scales, where pond fractal dimension D transitions from 1 to 2 around a critical length scale of 100 m 2 in area. Pond complexity increases rapidly through the transition as smaller ponds coalesce to form large connected regions, and reaches a maximum for ponds larger than 1000 m 2 , whose boundaries resemble space-filling curves, with D ≈ 2. These universal features of Arctic melt pond evolution are similar to phase transitions in statistical physics. The results impact sea ice albedo, the transmitted radiation fields under melting sea ice, the heat balance of sea ice and the upper ocean, and biological productivity such as under ice phytoplankton blooms. Text albedo Arctic ice pack Phytoplankton Sea ice Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic The Cryosphere 6 5 1157 1162 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
During the Arctic melt season, the sea ice surface undergoes a remarkable transformation from vast expanses of snow covered ice to complex mosaics of ice and melt ponds. Sea ice albedo, a key parameter in climate modeling, is determined by the complex evolution of melt pond configurations. In fact, ice–albedo feedback has played a major role in the recent declines of the summer Arctic sea ice pack. However, understanding melt pond evolution remains a significant challenge to improving climate projections. By analyzing area–perimeter data from hundreds of thousands of melt ponds, we find here an unexpected separation of scales, where pond fractal dimension D transitions from 1 to 2 around a critical length scale of 100 m 2 in area. Pond complexity increases rapidly through the transition as smaller ponds coalesce to form large connected regions, and reaches a maximum for ponds larger than 1000 m 2 , whose boundaries resemble space-filling curves, with D ≈ 2. These universal features of Arctic melt pond evolution are similar to phase transitions in statistical physics. The results impact sea ice albedo, the transmitted radiation fields under melting sea ice, the heat balance of sea ice and the upper ocean, and biological productivity such as under ice phytoplankton blooms. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hohenegger, C. Alali, B. Steffen, K. R. Perovich, D. K. Golden, K. M. |
spellingShingle |
Hohenegger, C. Alali, B. Steffen, K. R. Perovich, D. K. Golden, K. M. Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds |
author_facet |
Hohenegger, C. Alali, B. Steffen, K. R. Perovich, D. K. Golden, K. M. |
author_sort |
Hohenegger, C. |
title |
Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds |
title_short |
Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds |
title_full |
Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds |
title_fullStr |
Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds |
title_sort |
transition in the fractal geometry of arctic melt ponds |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1157/2012/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic ice pack Phytoplankton Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic ice pack Phytoplankton Sea ice |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1157/2012/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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6 |
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5 |
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1157 |
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1162 |
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1766235903842320384 |