A comprehensive view of Kara Sea polynya dynamics, sea-ice compactness and export from model and remote sensing data

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Kern, S., Harms, I., Bakan, S., Chen, Y.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Arctic; Kara Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-000E-D2FC-5; http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-000E-D2FB-7

The Shelf Seas of the Arctic are known for their large sea-ice production. This paper presents a comprehensive view of the Kara Sea sea-ice cover from high-resolution numerical modeling and space-borne microwave radiometry. As given by the latter the average polynya area in the Kara Sea takes a value of 21.2 x 10(3) km(2) ± 9.1 x 10(3) km(2) for winters (Jan. - Apr.) 1996/97 to 2000/01, being as high as 32.0 x 10(3) km(2) in 1999/2000 and below 12 x 10(3) km(2) in 1998/99. Day-to-day variations of the Kara Sea polynya area can be as high as 50 x 10(3) km(2). For the seasons 1996/ 97 to 2000/01 the modeled cumulative winter ice-volume flux out of the Kara Sea varied between 100 km(3) a(-1) and 350 km(3) a(-1). Modeled high (low) ice export coincides with a high ( low) average and cumulative polynya area, and with a low ( high) sea-ice compactness in the Kara Sea from remote sensing data, and with a high ( low) sea-ice drift speed across its northern boundary derived from independent model data for the winters 1996/ 97 to 2000/01. [References: 15]