Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard
Sea ice loss in the Arctic Ocean has up to now been strongest during summer. In contrast, the sea ice concentration north of Svalbard has experienced a larger decline during winter since 1979. The trend in winter ice area loss is close to 10% per decade, and concurrent with a 0.3°C per decade warmin...
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Stockholm University Press
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 https://doaj.org/article/38486de7b97343c2875b193a7624b9e2 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:38486de7b97343c2875b193a7624b9e2 2023-05-15T14:55:44+02:00 Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard Ingrid H. Onarheim Lars H. Smedsrud Randi B. Ingvaldsen Frank Nilsen 2014-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 https://doaj.org/article/38486de7b97343c2875b193a7624b9e2 EN eng Stockholm University Press http://www.tellusa.net/index.php/tellusa/article/download/23933/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/1600-0870 1600-0870 doi:10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 https://doaj.org/article/38486de7b97343c2875b193a7624b9e2 Tellus: Series A, Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, Vol 66, Iss 0, Pp 1-9 (2014) Sea ice Atlantic Water Svalbard heat transport air–ice–sea interactions Oceanography GC1-1581 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 2022-12-30T23:55:00Z Sea ice loss in the Arctic Ocean has up to now been strongest during summer. In contrast, the sea ice concentration north of Svalbard has experienced a larger decline during winter since 1979. The trend in winter ice area loss is close to 10% per decade, and concurrent with a 0.3°C per decade warming of the Atlantic Water entering the Arctic Ocean in this region. Simultaneously, there has been a 2°C per decade warming of winter mean surface air temperature north of Svalbard, which is 20–45% higher than observations on the west coast. Generally, the ice edge north of Svalbard has retreated towards the northeast, along the Atlantic Water pathway. By making reasonable assumptions about the Atlantic Water volume and associated heat transport, we show that the extra oceanic heat brought into the region is likely to have caused the sea ice loss. The reduced sea ice cover leads to more oceanic heat transferred to the atmosphere, suggesting that part of the atmospheric warming is driven by larger open water area. In contrast to significant trends in sea ice concentration, Atlantic Water temperature and air temperature, there is no significant temporal trend in the local winds. Thus, winds have not caused the long-term warming or sea ice loss. However, the dominant winds transport sea ice from the Arctic Ocean into the region north of Svalbard, and the local wind has influence on the year-to-year variability of the ice concentration, which correlates with surface air temperatures, ocean temperatures, as well as the local wind. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography 66 1 23933 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Sea ice Atlantic Water Svalbard heat transport air–ice–sea interactions Oceanography GC1-1581 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
Sea ice Atlantic Water Svalbard heat transport air–ice–sea interactions Oceanography GC1-1581 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Ingrid H. Onarheim Lars H. Smedsrud Randi B. Ingvaldsen Frank Nilsen Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Sea ice Atlantic Water Svalbard heat transport air–ice–sea interactions Oceanography GC1-1581 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Sea ice loss in the Arctic Ocean has up to now been strongest during summer. In contrast, the sea ice concentration north of Svalbard has experienced a larger decline during winter since 1979. The trend in winter ice area loss is close to 10% per decade, and concurrent with a 0.3°C per decade warming of the Atlantic Water entering the Arctic Ocean in this region. Simultaneously, there has been a 2°C per decade warming of winter mean surface air temperature north of Svalbard, which is 20–45% higher than observations on the west coast. Generally, the ice edge north of Svalbard has retreated towards the northeast, along the Atlantic Water pathway. By making reasonable assumptions about the Atlantic Water volume and associated heat transport, we show that the extra oceanic heat brought into the region is likely to have caused the sea ice loss. The reduced sea ice cover leads to more oceanic heat transferred to the atmosphere, suggesting that part of the atmospheric warming is driven by larger open water area. In contrast to significant trends in sea ice concentration, Atlantic Water temperature and air temperature, there is no significant temporal trend in the local winds. Thus, winds have not caused the long-term warming or sea ice loss. However, the dominant winds transport sea ice from the Arctic Ocean into the region north of Svalbard, and the local wind has influence on the year-to-year variability of the ice concentration, which correlates with surface air temperatures, ocean temperatures, as well as the local wind. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ingrid H. Onarheim Lars H. Smedsrud Randi B. Ingvaldsen Frank Nilsen |
author_facet |
Ingrid H. Onarheim Lars H. Smedsrud Randi B. Ingvaldsen Frank Nilsen |
author_sort |
Ingrid H. Onarheim |
title |
Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard |
title_short |
Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard |
title_full |
Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Loss of sea ice during winter north of Svalbard |
title_sort |
loss of sea ice during winter north of svalbard |
publisher |
Stockholm University Press |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 https://doaj.org/article/38486de7b97343c2875b193a7624b9e2 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Svalbard |
op_source |
Tellus: Series A, Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, Vol 66, Iss 0, Pp 1-9 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.tellusa.net/index.php/tellusa/article/download/23933/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/1600-0870 1600-0870 doi:10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 https://doaj.org/article/38486de7b97343c2875b193a7624b9e2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v66.23933 |
container_title |
Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography |
container_volume |
66 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
23933 |
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