Warming in the Nordic Seas, North Atlantic storms and thinning Arctic sea ice

• Published in: Environmental Research Letters
• Main Authors: Vladimir A Alexeev, John E Walsh, Vladimir V Ivanov, Vladimir A Semenov, Alexander V Smirnov
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 2017
• Subjects: Atlantic water; Arctic sea ice; declining winter ice; Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering; TD1-1066; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Science; Q; Physics; QC1-999; Arctic; Barents Sea; Svalbard; Franz Joseph Land; Nordic Seas; North Atlantic; Novaya Zemlya; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7a1d; https://doaj.org/article/7fc57c21319e4d099f49128d7bebdc74

Arctic sea ice over the last few decades has experienced a significant decline in coverage both in summer and winter. The currently warming Atlantic Water layer has a pronounced impact on sea ice in the Nordic Seas (including the Barents Sea). More open water combined with the prevailing atmospheric pattern of airflow from the southeast, and persistent North Atlantic storms such as the recent extremely strong Storm Frank in December 2015, lead to increased energy transport to the high Arctic. Each of these storms brings sizeable anomalies of heat to the high Arctic, resulting in significant warming and slowing down of sea ice growth or even melting. Our analysis indicates that the recently observed sea ice decline in the Nordic Seas during the cold season around Svalbard, Franz Joseph Land and Novaya Zemlya, and the associated heat release from open water into the atmosphere, contributed significantly to the increase in the downward longwave radiation throughout the entire Arctic. Added to other changes in the surface energy budget, this increase since the 1960s to the present is estimated to be at least 10 W m ^−2 , which can result in thinner (up to at least 15–20 cm) Arctic ice at the end of the winter. This change in the surface budget is an important contributing factor accelerating the thinning of Arctic sea ice.