Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions
Arctic sea ice has declined in all seasons accompanied by rapid atmospheric warming. Here, the focus lies on the wider Fram Strait region where the connection between trends in observed near-surface variables (temperature, humidity, wind speed) and local sea ice conditions are analyzed. Reanalysis d...
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2023
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f806f9dffaf04207ae745ac10951e1ab 2023-08-27T04:08:14+02:00 Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions A. U. Schmitt C. Lüpkes 2023-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f806f9dffaf04207ae745ac10951e1ab EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/3115/2023/tc-17-3115-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/f806f9dffaf04207ae745ac10951e1ab The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 3115-3136 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023 2023-08-06T00:35:37Z Arctic sea ice has declined in all seasons accompanied by rapid atmospheric warming. Here, the focus lies on the wider Fram Strait region where the connection between trends in observed near-surface variables (temperature, humidity, wind speed) and local sea ice conditions are analyzed. Reanalysis data from ERA5 and MERRA-2 and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager ARTIST Sea Ice (SSM/I-ASI) sea ice concentrations for the winters of 1992 to 2022 are used for the analyses. Two focus regions are identified for which trends are largest. In the western Nansen Basin (WNB), sea ice cover decreased by −10 % per decade with especially large open water areas in 2022, and temperature and humidity increased by up to 3.7 K and 0.29 g kg −1 per decade, respectively. In the Greenland sea region (GRL), trends were slightly smaller, with −4.7 % per decade for sea ice and up to 1.3 K and 0.15 g kg −1 per decade for temperature and humidity. Trends for wind speed were mostly not significant. As a next step, two typical flow directions for this region were studied: cold-air outbreaks with northerly winds originating from ice covered areas (off-ice flow) and warm-air intrusions with southerly winds from open ocean regions (on-ice flow). To identify possible relationships between sea ice changes and atmospheric trends, correlation maps were calculated, and the results for off- and on-ice flow were compared. Up to two thirds of the observed temperature and humidity variability in both regions are related to upstream sea ice variability and an influence of sea ice cover is still present up to 500 km downstream of the ice edge. In the marginal sea ice zone the impact of a decreasing sea ice cover in this region is largest for off-ice flow conditions during cold-air outbreaks. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Fram Strait Greenland Greenland Sea Nansen Basin Sea ice The Cryosphere ice covered areas Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Greenland Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) The Cryosphere 17 8 3115 3136 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 A. U. Schmitt C. Lüpkes Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Arctic sea ice has declined in all seasons accompanied by rapid atmospheric warming. Here, the focus lies on the wider Fram Strait region where the connection between trends in observed near-surface variables (temperature, humidity, wind speed) and local sea ice conditions are analyzed. Reanalysis data from ERA5 and MERRA-2 and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager ARTIST Sea Ice (SSM/I-ASI) sea ice concentrations for the winters of 1992 to 2022 are used for the analyses. Two focus regions are identified for which trends are largest. In the western Nansen Basin (WNB), sea ice cover decreased by −10 % per decade with especially large open water areas in 2022, and temperature and humidity increased by up to 3.7 K and 0.29 g kg −1 per decade, respectively. In the Greenland sea region (GRL), trends were slightly smaller, with −4.7 % per decade for sea ice and up to 1.3 K and 0.15 g kg −1 per decade for temperature and humidity. Trends for wind speed were mostly not significant. As a next step, two typical flow directions for this region were studied: cold-air outbreaks with northerly winds originating from ice covered areas (off-ice flow) and warm-air intrusions with southerly winds from open ocean regions (on-ice flow). To identify possible relationships between sea ice changes and atmospheric trends, correlation maps were calculated, and the results for off- and on-ice flow were compared. Up to two thirds of the observed temperature and humidity variability in both regions are related to upstream sea ice variability and an influence of sea ice cover is still present up to 500 km downstream of the ice edge. In the marginal sea ice zone the impact of a decreasing sea ice cover in this region is largest for off-ice flow conditions during cold-air outbreaks. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. U. Schmitt C. Lüpkes |
author_facet |
A. U. Schmitt C. Lüpkes |
author_sort |
A. U. Schmitt |
title |
Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
title_short |
Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
title_full |
Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
title_fullStr |
Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
title_sort |
attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the fram strait region to regional sea ice conditions |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f806f9dffaf04207ae745ac10951e1ab |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Merra |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Merra |
genre |
Arctic Fram Strait Greenland Greenland Sea Nansen Basin Sea ice The Cryosphere ice covered areas |
genre_facet |
Arctic Fram Strait Greenland Greenland Sea Nansen Basin Sea ice The Cryosphere ice covered areas |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 3115-3136 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/3115/2023/tc-17-3115-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/f806f9dffaf04207ae745ac10951e1ab |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
3115 |
op_container_end_page |
3136 |
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1775348930458943488 |