Baffin Bay ice drift and export : 2002–2007

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Author: Kwok, Ron
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: the American Geophysical Union. 2008
• Subjects: sea ice; Artic Oceanography; mass balance; remote sensing; Baffin Bay; Baffin Island; Greenland; Jones Sound; Lancaster Sound; Nares; Baffin; Davis Strait; Fram Strait; Nares strait; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2014/41000

Multiyear estimates of sea ice drift in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait are derived for the first time from the 89 GHz channel of the AMSR-E instrument. Uncertainties in the drift estimates, assessed with Envisat ice motion, are ~2–3 km/day. A persistent atmospheric trough, between the coast of Greenland and Baffin Island, drives the prevailing southward drift pattern with average daily displacements in excess of 18–20 km during winter. Over the 5-year record, the ice export ranges between 360 and 675 × 103 km2, with an average of 530 × 103 km2. Sea ice area inflow from the Nares Strait, Lancaster Sound and Jones Sound potentially contribute up to a third of the net area outflow while ice production at the North Water Polynya contributes the balance. Rough estimates of annual volume export give ~500–800 km3. Comparatively, these are ~70% and ~30% of the annual area and volume exports at the Fram Strait. NASA/JPL