Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice
Recent years have seen a rapid reduction in the summer Arctic sea ice extent. To both understand this trend and project the future evolution of the summer Arctic sea ice, a better understanding of the physical processes that drive the seasonal loss of sea ice is required. The marginal ice zone, here...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2020
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/403/2020/tc-14-403-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/1b3a0cb2c21e4cd4a8e36394a2f8e0cc |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:1b3a0cb2c21e4cd4a8e36394a2f8e0cc 2023-05-15T14:58:00+02:00 Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice A. W. Bateson D. L. Feltham D. Schröder L. Hosekova J. K. Ridley Y. Aksenov 2020-02-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/403/2020/tc-14-403-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/1b3a0cb2c21e4cd4a8e36394a2f8e0cc en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/403/2020/tc-14-403-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/1b3a0cb2c21e4cd4a8e36394a2f8e0cc undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 403-428 (2020) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2020 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 2023-01-22T17:50:10Z Recent years have seen a rapid reduction in the summer Arctic sea ice extent. To both understand this trend and project the future evolution of the summer Arctic sea ice, a better understanding of the physical processes that drive the seasonal loss of sea ice is required. The marginal ice zone, here defined as regions with between 15 % and 80 % sea ice cover, is the region separating pack ice from the open ocean. Accurate modelling of this region is important to understand the dominant mechanisms involved in seasonal sea ice loss. Evolution of the marginal ice zone is determined by complex interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, and ocean surface waves. Therefore, this region presents a significant modelling challenge. Sea ice floes span a range of sizes but sea ice models within climate models assume they adopt a constant size. Floe size influences the lateral melt rate of sea ice and momentum transfer between atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean, all important processes within the marginal ice zone. In this study, the floe size distribution is represented as a power law defined by an upper floe size cut-off, lower floe size cut-off, and power-law exponent. This distribution is also defined by a new tracer that varies in response to lateral melting, wave-induced break-up, freezing conditions, and advection. This distribution is implemented within a sea ice model coupled to a prognostic ocean mixed-layer model. We present results to show that the use of a power-law floe size distribution has a spatially and temporally dependent impact on the sea ice, in particular increasing the role of the marginal ice zone in seasonal sea ice loss. This feature is important in correcting existing biases within sea ice models. In addition, we show a much stronger model sensitivity to floe size distribution parameters than other parameters used to calculate lateral melt, justifying the focus on floe size distribution in model development. We also find that the attenuation rate of waves propagating under the sea ice cover ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere Unknown Arctic The Cryosphere 14 2 403 428 |
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geo envir A. W. Bateson D. L. Feltham D. Schröder L. Hosekova J. K. Ridley Y. Aksenov Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Recent years have seen a rapid reduction in the summer Arctic sea ice extent. To both understand this trend and project the future evolution of the summer Arctic sea ice, a better understanding of the physical processes that drive the seasonal loss of sea ice is required. The marginal ice zone, here defined as regions with between 15 % and 80 % sea ice cover, is the region separating pack ice from the open ocean. Accurate modelling of this region is important to understand the dominant mechanisms involved in seasonal sea ice loss. Evolution of the marginal ice zone is determined by complex interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, and ocean surface waves. Therefore, this region presents a significant modelling challenge. Sea ice floes span a range of sizes but sea ice models within climate models assume they adopt a constant size. Floe size influences the lateral melt rate of sea ice and momentum transfer between atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean, all important processes within the marginal ice zone. In this study, the floe size distribution is represented as a power law defined by an upper floe size cut-off, lower floe size cut-off, and power-law exponent. This distribution is also defined by a new tracer that varies in response to lateral melting, wave-induced break-up, freezing conditions, and advection. This distribution is implemented within a sea ice model coupled to a prognostic ocean mixed-layer model. We present results to show that the use of a power-law floe size distribution has a spatially and temporally dependent impact on the sea ice, in particular increasing the role of the marginal ice zone in seasonal sea ice loss. This feature is important in correcting existing biases within sea ice models. In addition, we show a much stronger model sensitivity to floe size distribution parameters than other parameters used to calculate lateral melt, justifying the focus on floe size distribution in model development. We also find that the attenuation rate of waves propagating under the sea ice cover ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. W. Bateson D. L. Feltham D. Schröder L. Hosekova J. K. Ridley Y. Aksenov |
author_facet |
A. W. Bateson D. L. Feltham D. Schröder L. Hosekova J. K. Ridley Y. Aksenov |
author_sort |
A. W. Bateson |
title |
Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice |
title_short |
Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice |
title_full |
Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice |
title_sort |
impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of arctic sea ice |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/403/2020/tc-14-403-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/1b3a0cb2c21e4cd4a8e36394a2f8e0cc |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 403-428 (2020) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/403/2020/tc-14-403-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/1b3a0cb2c21e4cd4a8e36394a2f8e0cc |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
403 |
op_container_end_page |
428 |
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1766330097263968256 |