Daily polynya area and ice production in circumpolar polynya regions in the Arctic for 2002/2003 to 2014/2015

• Main Authors: Preußer, Andreas, Heinemann, Günther, Willmes, Sascha, Paul, Stephan
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2016
• Subjects: Area; Beaufort shelf; BSH; CAA; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Cape Bathurst Polynya; CBP; CHU; Chukchi Sea; DATE/TIME; derived from MODIS remote sensing data; East-Siberian Fast-ice; East Siberian Sea; ESF; ESS; Event label; FJL; Franz Josef Land; GLN; Greenland North; KAR; Kara Sea; LAP; Laptev Sea; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Nares Strait/Lincoln Sea; NEWP; North-East Water polynya; North Water polynya; NOW; NSL; Optional event label; Sea ice production; Severnaya Zemlya North; STO; Storfjorden polynya; SVA; Svalbard archipelago; System Laptev-Sea: Transdrift; SZN; TRANSDRIFT; Western Novaya Zemlya; WNZ; Arctic; Arctic Archipelago; Arctic Basin; Chukchi; Greenland; laptev; Lincoln Sea; Nares strait; Novaya Zemlya; Sea ice; Severnaya Zemlya; Storfjorden; Svalbard; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.869294; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.869294

High-resolution MODIS thermal infrared satellite data are used to infer spatial and temporal characteristics of 17 prominent coastal polynya regions over the entire Arctic basin. Thin-ice thickness distributions (< 20 cm) are calculated from MODIS ice-surface temperatures, combined with ECMWF ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis data in an energy balance model for 13 winter-seasons (2002/2003 to 2014/2015; November to March). From all available MODIS swath-data, (quasi-) daily thin-ice thickness composites are computed in order to derive quantities such as polynya area and total thermodynamic (i.e., potential) ice production. A gap-filling approach is applied to account for cloud and data gaps in the MODIS composites. All polynya regions combined cover an average thin-ice area of 226.6 ± 36.1 x10³ km² in winter. This allows for an average total wintertime accumulated ice production of about 1811 ± 293 km³, whereby the Kara Sea region, the North Water polynya (both 15%), polynyas at the western side of Novaya Zemlya (20%) as well as scattered smaller polynyas in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (all combined 12%) are the main contributors. Other well-known sites of polynya formation (Laptev Sea, Chukchi Sea) show smaller contributions and range between 2 and 5%. We notice distinct differences to earlier studies on pan-Arctic polynya characteristics, originating in some part from the use of high-resolution MODIS data, as the capability to resolve small-scale (> 2km) polynyas and also large leads is increased. Despite the short record of 13 winter seasons, positive trends in ice production are detected for several regions of the eastern Arctic (most significantly in the Laptev Sea region with an increase of 6.8 km³/yr) and the North Water polynya, while other polynyas in the western Arctic show a more pronounced variability with varying trends. We emphasize the role of the Laptev Sea polynyas as being a major influence on Transpolar Drift characteristics through a distinct relation between increasing ice ...