Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica
The Ronne Polynya is a coastal polynya, a region of thin ice or open water in sea ice, caused by the offshore transport of the ice by strong winds from the land (Figure 1). As soon as the ice is transported offshore, new ice forms on the exposed ocean surface and is also advected offshore in a conti...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:10499 2023-05-15T13:45:10+02:00 Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica Fielder, Emma K. 2010 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10499/ http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/123221403/PDFSTART unknown Royal Meteorological Society Fielder, Emma K. 2010 Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica. Weather, 65 (1). 16-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.436 <https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.436> Marine Sciences Glaciology Atmospheric Sciences Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2010 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.436 2023-02-04T19:26:45Z The Ronne Polynya is a coastal polynya, a region of thin ice or open water in sea ice, caused by the offshore transport of the ice by strong winds from the land (Figure 1). As soon as the ice is transported offshore, new ice forms on the exposed ocean surface and is also advected offshore in a continual process, earning this type of polynya the nickname ‘ice factory’. These polynyas have an important impact on the regional meteorology and oceanography of the high latitudes as well as on the global ocean circulation. The exposed ocean surface is relatively warm compared to the cold polar atmosphere, and the large temperature and humidity differences result in large sensible and latent heat fluxes from the ocean to the atmosphere. This leads to a warming and moistening of the atmospheric boundary layer above and downwind of the polynya and, through vigorous convective mixing, the formation of a CIBL (convective internal boundary layer) (Figure 1). A decrease in the ocean-atmosphere temperature and humidity gradients is caused by this warming and moistening, which results in a decrease in the surface heat fluxes with fetch from the shore, or ice shelf front (Renfrew and King, 2000). The depth of the CIBL increases with fetch due to the warming and also the entrainment of warm air from above the CIBL (Garratt, 1992). As well as this turbulent heat transfer, polynyas can also influence the balance of radiative heat transfer through the generation of ice fog (Smith et al., 1990) and convective clouds or plumes (Pinto and Curry, 1995). Polynyas, therefore, have the potential to modify and induce mesoscale atmospheric motion, impacting on regional climate (Pinto et al., 1995). High rates of ice production due to the large ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes and the continual removal of the newly formed ice by the wind result in extensive brine rejection, whereby sea water rejects salt on freezing, leaving the sea ice relatively fresh and the modified water column relatively salty and therefore dense. This dense water sinks, as ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Weather 65 1 16 21 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Marine Sciences Glaciology Atmospheric Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Marine Sciences Glaciology Atmospheric Sciences Fielder, Emma K. Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Marine Sciences Glaciology Atmospheric Sciences |
description |
The Ronne Polynya is a coastal polynya, a region of thin ice or open water in sea ice, caused by the offshore transport of the ice by strong winds from the land (Figure 1). As soon as the ice is transported offshore, new ice forms on the exposed ocean surface and is also advected offshore in a continual process, earning this type of polynya the nickname ‘ice factory’. These polynyas have an important impact on the regional meteorology and oceanography of the high latitudes as well as on the global ocean circulation. The exposed ocean surface is relatively warm compared to the cold polar atmosphere, and the large temperature and humidity differences result in large sensible and latent heat fluxes from the ocean to the atmosphere. This leads to a warming and moistening of the atmospheric boundary layer above and downwind of the polynya and, through vigorous convective mixing, the formation of a CIBL (convective internal boundary layer) (Figure 1). A decrease in the ocean-atmosphere temperature and humidity gradients is caused by this warming and moistening, which results in a decrease in the surface heat fluxes with fetch from the shore, or ice shelf front (Renfrew and King, 2000). The depth of the CIBL increases with fetch due to the warming and also the entrainment of warm air from above the CIBL (Garratt, 1992). As well as this turbulent heat transfer, polynyas can also influence the balance of radiative heat transfer through the generation of ice fog (Smith et al., 1990) and convective clouds or plumes (Pinto and Curry, 1995). Polynyas, therefore, have the potential to modify and induce mesoscale atmospheric motion, impacting on regional climate (Pinto et al., 1995). High rates of ice production due to the large ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes and the continual removal of the newly formed ice by the wind result in extensive brine rejection, whereby sea water rejects salt on freezing, leaving the sea ice relatively fresh and the modified water column relatively salty and therefore dense. This dense water sinks, as ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fielder, Emma K. |
author_facet |
Fielder, Emma K. |
author_sort |
Fielder, Emma K. |
title |
Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica |
title_short |
Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica |
title_full |
Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica |
title_sort |
ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the ronne polynya, antarctica |
publisher |
Royal Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10499/ http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/123221403/PDFSTART |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice |
op_relation |
Fielder, Emma K. 2010 Ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes at the Ronne Polynya, Antarctica. Weather, 65 (1). 16-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.436 <https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.436> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.436 |
container_title |
Weather |
container_volume |
65 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
16 |
op_container_end_page |
21 |
_version_ |
1766214140331819008 |