Sea-ice cover anomalies in the Arctic Basin associated with atmospheric variability from multi-decadal trends to intermittent quasi-biennial oscillations

Arctic Ocean sea ice has been diminishing since 1970, as shown by National Snow and Ice Data Center data. In addition to decadal variability, low ice anomalies in the Pacific–Siberian region have been occurring at shorter timescales. The influence of the widely-known Northern Annular Mode...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Author: Motoyoshi Ikeda
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2012
Subjects:
Sea ice
sea-level pressure
Arctic
interannual variability
EOF analysis
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Oceanography
GC1-1581
Arctic Ocean
Canada
Greenland
Pacific
Arctic Basin
laptev
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Polar Research
Siberia
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.18690
https://doaj.org/article/5596b1c7456c446fbd69a7786cb2c2a5
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Summary:Arctic Ocean sea ice has been diminishing since 1970, as shown by National Snow and Ice Data Center data. In addition to decadal variability, low ice anomalies in the Pacific–Siberian region have been occurring at shorter timescales. The influence of the widely-known Northern Annular Mode (NAM) occurs across all seasons. In this study, empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis was applied to sea-level pressure in National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis data for 1960–2007, showing the NAM to be the leading mode of variability and the Arctic Dipole Mode (ADM) to be the second leading mode. The ADM changes markedly across seasons. In autumn–winter, it has a pole over Siberia and a pole over Greenland, at opposite signs at a several-year scale, whereas the spring–summer ADM (ADMSS) has a pole over Europe and a pole over Canada. In the 1980s, the most influential mode shifted from the NAM to the ADM, when the Pacific sector had low ice cover at a 1-year lag from the positive ADM, which was marked by low pressure over Siberia. In years when the ADMSS was pronounced, it was responsible for distinct ice variability over the East Siberian–Laptev seas. The frequency separation in this study identified the contributions of the ADM and ADMSS. Effects of the latter are difficult to predict since it is intermittent and changes its sign biennially. The ADM and ADMSS should be closely watched in relation to the ongoing ice reduction in the Pacific–Siberian region.

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