Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007
During summer 2007 the Arctic sea-ice shrank to the lowest extent ever observed. The role of the atmospheric energy transport in this extreme melt event is explored using the state-of-the-art ERA-Interim reanalysis data. We find that in summer 2007 there was an anomalous atmospheric flow of warm and...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:348353 2023-07-30T03:55:44+02:00 Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 Graversen, Rune G. Mauritsen, Thorsten Drijfhout, Sybren Tjernström, Michael Mårtensson, Sebastian 2011-06 https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/348353/ unknown Graversen, Rune G., Mauritsen, Thorsten, Drijfhout, Sybren, Tjernström, Michael and Mårtensson, Sebastian (2011) Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007. Climate Dynamics, 36 (11-12), 2103-2112. (doi:10.1007/s00382-010-0809-z <http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0809-z>). Article PeerReviewed 2011 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0809-z 2023-07-09T21:44:12Z During summer 2007 the Arctic sea-ice shrank to the lowest extent ever observed. The role of the atmospheric energy transport in this extreme melt event is explored using the state-of-the-art ERA-Interim reanalysis data. We find that in summer 2007 there was an anomalous atmospheric flow of warm and humid air into the region that suffered severe melt. This anomaly was larger than during any other year in the data (1989–2008). Convergence of the atmospheric energy transport over this area led to positive anomalies of the downward longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes. In the region that experienced unusual ice melt, the net anomaly of the surface fluxes provided enough extra energy to melt roughly one meter of ice during the melting season. When the ocean successively became ice-free, the surface-albedo decreased causing additional absorption of shortwave radiation, despite the fact that the downwelling solar radiation was smaller than average. We argue that the positive anomalies of net downward longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes played a key role in initiating the 2007 extreme ice melt, whereas the shortwave-radiation changes acted as an amplifying feedback mechanism in response to the melt. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Arctic Sea ice University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Arctic Pacific Climate Dynamics 36 11-12 2103 2112 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
unknown |
description |
During summer 2007 the Arctic sea-ice shrank to the lowest extent ever observed. The role of the atmospheric energy transport in this extreme melt event is explored using the state-of-the-art ERA-Interim reanalysis data. We find that in summer 2007 there was an anomalous atmospheric flow of warm and humid air into the region that suffered severe melt. This anomaly was larger than during any other year in the data (1989–2008). Convergence of the atmospheric energy transport over this area led to positive anomalies of the downward longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes. In the region that experienced unusual ice melt, the net anomaly of the surface fluxes provided enough extra energy to melt roughly one meter of ice during the melting season. When the ocean successively became ice-free, the surface-albedo decreased causing additional absorption of shortwave radiation, despite the fact that the downwelling solar radiation was smaller than average. We argue that the positive anomalies of net downward longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes played a key role in initiating the 2007 extreme ice melt, whereas the shortwave-radiation changes acted as an amplifying feedback mechanism in response to the melt. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Graversen, Rune G. Mauritsen, Thorsten Drijfhout, Sybren Tjernström, Michael Mårtensson, Sebastian |
spellingShingle |
Graversen, Rune G. Mauritsen, Thorsten Drijfhout, Sybren Tjernström, Michael Mårtensson, Sebastian Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
author_facet |
Graversen, Rune G. Mauritsen, Thorsten Drijfhout, Sybren Tjernström, Michael Mårtensson, Sebastian |
author_sort |
Graversen, Rune G. |
title |
Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
title_short |
Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
title_full |
Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
title_fullStr |
Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
title_sort |
warm winds from the pacific caused extensive arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007 |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/348353/ |
geographic |
Arctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Pacific |
genre |
albedo Arctic Arctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Arctic Sea ice |
op_relation |
Graversen, Rune G., Mauritsen, Thorsten, Drijfhout, Sybren, Tjernström, Michael and Mårtensson, Sebastian (2011) Warm winds from the Pacific caused extensive Arctic sea-ice melt in summer 2007. Climate Dynamics, 36 (11-12), 2103-2112. (doi:10.1007/s00382-010-0809-z <http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0809-z>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0809-z |
container_title |
Climate Dynamics |
container_volume |
36 |
container_issue |
11-12 |
container_start_page |
2103 |
op_container_end_page |
2112 |
_version_ |
1772821317729386496 |