Snow Loss Into Leads in Arctic Sea Ice: Minimal in Typical Wintertime Conditions, but High During a Warm and Windy Snowfall Event

Abstract The amount of snow on Arctic sea ice impacts the ice mass budget. Wind redistribution of snow into open water in leads is hypothesized to cause significant wintertime snow loss. However, there are no direct measurements of snow loss into Arctic leads. We measured the snow lost in four leads...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: David Clemens‐Sewall, Chris Polashenski, Markus M. Frey, Christopher J. Cox, Mats A. Granskog, Amy R. Macfarlane, Steven W. Fons, Julia Schmale, Jennifer K. Hutchings, Luisa vonAlbedyll, Stefanie Arndt, Martin Schneebeli, Don Perovich
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023
Subjects:
Arctic sea ice
snow loss into leads
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL102816
https://doaj.org/article/4206156023c94f63ad073a6f1e9f7d9f
Description
Summary:Abstract The amount of snow on Arctic sea ice impacts the ice mass budget. Wind redistribution of snow into open water in leads is hypothesized to cause significant wintertime snow loss. However, there are no direct measurements of snow loss into Arctic leads. We measured the snow lost in four leads in the Central Arctic in winter 2020. We find, contrary to expectations, that under typical winter conditions, minimal snow was lost into leads. However, during a cyclone that delivered warm air temperatures, high winds, and snowfall, 35.0 ± 1.1 cm snow water equivalent (SWE) was lost into a lead (per unit lead area). This corresponded to a removal of 0.7–1.1 cm SWE from the entire surface—∼6%–10% of this site's annual snow precipitation. Warm air temperatures, which increase the length of time that wintertime leads remain unfrozen, may be an underappreciated factor in snow loss into leads.

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