The response of the Goddard general circulation model to sea ice boundary conditions

• Main Authors: Herman, G., Johnson, W. T.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: 47; Arctic; Barents Sea; Bering Sea; Okhotsk; Gulf of Alaska; Pacific; Davis Strait; Iceland; North Atlantic; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19800019434

The effect of variation in the location of Arctic sea ice boundaries on the model's mean monthly climatology was examined. When sea ice boundaries were at their maximum extent the differences resulted in the January-February climatology. Sea level pressure was higher over the Barents Sea, in the Davis Strait, and in the Sea of Okhotsk. Pressure was lower by as much as 8 mb in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the British Isles, and in the Gulf of Alaska. Pressure rises in the eastern subtropical regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific accompanied pressure falls in the Gulf of Alaska and Icelandic region. Geopotential heights at 500 mb were more than 100 gpm lower in the Bering Sea, and more than 120 gpm lower in the Icelandic region. Zonally averaged temperatures were cooler by 4 deg C below 3800 mb between 50 deg and 70 deg N with little change elsewhere. Zonally averaged geopotentials were lower by as much as 70 gpm in the mid-troposphere between 50/-70 deg N and zonal winds increased by as much as 3 m s in the mid-troposphere between 35/-50 deg N.