Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes
In the high-latitude Arctic, wintertime sea ice and snow insulate the relatively warmer ocean from the colder atmosphere. While the climate warms, wintertime Arctic surface heat fluxes remain dominated by the insulating effects of snow and sea ice covering the ocean until the sea ice thins enough or...
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2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1483/2022/tc-16-1483-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/b9fc4f5dd99d4a39a8846a81dcdb2d10 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:b9fc4f5dd99d4a39a8846a81dcdb2d10 2023-05-15T14:29:14+02:00 Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes L. L. Landrum M. M. Holland 2022-04-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1483/2022/tc-16-1483-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/b9fc4f5dd99d4a39a8846a81dcdb2d10 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1483/2022/tc-16-1483-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/b9fc4f5dd99d4a39a8846a81dcdb2d10 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 1483-1495 (2022) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2022 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 2023-01-22T19:30:33Z In the high-latitude Arctic, wintertime sea ice and snow insulate the relatively warmer ocean from the colder atmosphere. While the climate warms, wintertime Arctic surface heat fluxes remain dominated by the insulating effects of snow and sea ice covering the ocean until the sea ice thins enough or sea ice concentrations decrease enough to allow for direct ocean–atmosphere heat fluxes. The Community Earth System Model version 1 Large Ensemble (CESM1-LE) simulates increases in wintertime conductive heat fluxes in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean by ∼ 7–11 W m−2 by the mid-21st century, thereby driving an increased warming of the atmosphere. These increased fluxes are due to both thinning sea ice and decreasing snow on sea ice. The simulations analyzed here use a sub-grid-scale ice thickness distribution. Surface heat flux estimates calculated using grid-cell mean values of sea ice thicknesses underestimate mean heat fluxes by ∼16 %–35 % and overestimate changes in conductive heat fluxes by up to ∼36 % in the wintertime Arctic basin even when sea ice concentrations remain above 95 %. These results highlight how wintertime conductive heat fluxes will increase in a warming world even during times when sea ice concentrations remain high and that snow and the distribution of snow significantly impact large-scale calculations of wintertime surface heat budgets in the Arctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Basin Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice The Cryosphere Unknown Arctic Arctic Ocean The Cryosphere 16 4 1483 1495 |
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geo envir L. L. Landrum M. M. Holland Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
In the high-latitude Arctic, wintertime sea ice and snow insulate the relatively warmer ocean from the colder atmosphere. While the climate warms, wintertime Arctic surface heat fluxes remain dominated by the insulating effects of snow and sea ice covering the ocean until the sea ice thins enough or sea ice concentrations decrease enough to allow for direct ocean–atmosphere heat fluxes. The Community Earth System Model version 1 Large Ensemble (CESM1-LE) simulates increases in wintertime conductive heat fluxes in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean by ∼ 7–11 W m−2 by the mid-21st century, thereby driving an increased warming of the atmosphere. These increased fluxes are due to both thinning sea ice and decreasing snow on sea ice. The simulations analyzed here use a sub-grid-scale ice thickness distribution. Surface heat flux estimates calculated using grid-cell mean values of sea ice thicknesses underestimate mean heat fluxes by ∼16 %–35 % and overestimate changes in conductive heat fluxes by up to ∼36 % in the wintertime Arctic basin even when sea ice concentrations remain above 95 %. These results highlight how wintertime conductive heat fluxes will increase in a warming world even during times when sea ice concentrations remain high and that snow and the distribution of snow significantly impact large-scale calculations of wintertime surface heat budgets in the Arctic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
L. L. Landrum M. M. Holland |
author_facet |
L. L. Landrum M. M. Holland |
author_sort |
L. L. Landrum |
title |
Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes |
title_short |
Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes |
title_full |
Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes |
title_fullStr |
Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated Arctic winter heat fluxes |
title_sort |
influences of changing sea ice and snow thicknesses on simulated arctic winter heat fluxes |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1483/2022/tc-16-1483-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/b9fc4f5dd99d4a39a8846a81dcdb2d10 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Basin Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic Basin Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 1483-1495 (2022) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1483/2022/tc-16-1483-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/b9fc4f5dd99d4a39a8846a81dcdb2d10 |
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undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1483-2022 |
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The Cryosphere |
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16 |
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4 |
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1483 |
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1495 |
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