Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls
River ice thickness (RIT) directly influences human activities, such as rural transportation and subsistence activities, in addition to ecosystem and hydrology processes in the Arctic. Knowledge of RIT response to the rapid Arctic warming is very limited or essentially lacking. The scientific object...
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 https://doaj.org/article/ff5914e992e54d618ac452388aeef40c |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ff5914e992e54d618ac452388aeef40c 2023-05-15T14:47:08+02:00 Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls Rui-Min Yang Tingjun Zhang 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 https://doaj.org/article/ff5914e992e54d618ac452388aeef40c EN eng KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927822000831 https://doaj.org/toc/1674-9278 1674-9278 doi:10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 https://doaj.org/article/ff5914e992e54d618ac452388aeef40c Advances in Climate Change Research, Vol 13, Iss 5, Pp 623-631 (2022) River ice Global warming Arctic rapid change Alaska Arctic Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Social sciences (General) H1-99 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 2022-12-30T21:33:12Z River ice thickness (RIT) directly influences human activities, such as rural transportation and subsistence activities, in addition to ecosystem and hydrology processes in the Arctic. Knowledge of RIT response to the rapid Arctic warming is very limited or essentially lacking. The scientific objective of this study is to investigate changes and variations in RIT and their response to rapid Arctic warming. We used ground-based measurements of 45 river gauge sites from 1961 through 2015 spanning 12 river basins across Alaska. The results indicate that the long-term mean maximum river ice thickness (MRIT) ranged from 40.3 ± 12.7 cm in the southeast to 187.3 ± 31.9 cm in northwest Alaska. MRIT decreased dramatically from 1961 to 2015, on average, at a rate of −0.26 ± 0.17 cm per year, and RIT declined significantly in all months from October through March, and more rapidly in winter than in autumn and spring. The impacts of air temperature and snowfall on MRIT change were analysed, and their relative influences were 74% and 26%, respectively. Specifically, an increase in air temperature was the primary factor contributing to MRIT decrease, while increasing snowfall, and snow on river ice enhanced MRIT decline. Seasonally, snowfall was the primary regulator for thickness change and higher air temperature resulted in RIT declining in autumn, while ice thickness decrease was mostly driven by warming in spring. However, neither air temperature nor snowfall is the primary control factor for declining RIT in winter, and further work needs to be done to detect the reason. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Global warming Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Advances in Climate Change Research 13 5 623 631 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
River ice Global warming Arctic rapid change Alaska Arctic Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Social sciences (General) H1-99 |
spellingShingle |
River ice Global warming Arctic rapid change Alaska Arctic Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Social sciences (General) H1-99 Rui-Min Yang Tingjun Zhang Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
topic_facet |
River ice Global warming Arctic rapid change Alaska Arctic Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Social sciences (General) H1-99 |
description |
River ice thickness (RIT) directly influences human activities, such as rural transportation and subsistence activities, in addition to ecosystem and hydrology processes in the Arctic. Knowledge of RIT response to the rapid Arctic warming is very limited or essentially lacking. The scientific objective of this study is to investigate changes and variations in RIT and their response to rapid Arctic warming. We used ground-based measurements of 45 river gauge sites from 1961 through 2015 spanning 12 river basins across Alaska. The results indicate that the long-term mean maximum river ice thickness (MRIT) ranged from 40.3 ± 12.7 cm in the southeast to 187.3 ± 31.9 cm in northwest Alaska. MRIT decreased dramatically from 1961 to 2015, on average, at a rate of −0.26 ± 0.17 cm per year, and RIT declined significantly in all months from October through March, and more rapidly in winter than in autumn and spring. The impacts of air temperature and snowfall on MRIT change were analysed, and their relative influences were 74% and 26%, respectively. Specifically, an increase in air temperature was the primary factor contributing to MRIT decrease, while increasing snowfall, and snow on river ice enhanced MRIT decline. Seasonally, snowfall was the primary regulator for thickness change and higher air temperature resulted in RIT declining in autumn, while ice thickness decrease was mostly driven by warming in spring. However, neither air temperature nor snowfall is the primary control factor for declining RIT in winter, and further work needs to be done to detect the reason. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rui-Min Yang Tingjun Zhang |
author_facet |
Rui-Min Yang Tingjun Zhang |
author_sort |
Rui-Min Yang |
title |
Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
title_short |
Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
title_full |
Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
title_fullStr |
Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
title_sort |
dramatic thinning of alaskan river ice and its climatic controls |
publisher |
KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 https://doaj.org/article/ff5914e992e54d618ac452388aeef40c |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Global warming Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Global warming Alaska |
op_source |
Advances in Climate Change Research, Vol 13, Iss 5, Pp 623-631 (2022) |
op_relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927822000831 https://doaj.org/toc/1674-9278 1674-9278 doi:10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 https://doaj.org/article/ff5914e992e54d618ac452388aeef40c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001 |
container_title |
Advances in Climate Change Research |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
623 |
op_container_end_page |
631 |
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1766318267597586432 |