Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming
Climate model projections of future climate change exhibit a robust increase in Arctic precipitation, which invokes an array of climate effects. Idealized climate model simulations with artificially increased Arctic precipitation rates exhibit cooling of near-surface atmospheric temperatures and sea...
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Online Access: | http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:546007af-6b0e-48e9-9e87-7e2708077bb6 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 |
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fttudelft:oai:tudelft.nl:uuid:546007af-6b0e-48e9-9e87-7e2708077bb6 2024-04-28T07:53:37+00:00 Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming Bintanja, Richard (author) Katsman, C.A. (author) Selten, Frank M. (author) 2018 http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:546007af-6b0e-48e9-9e87-7e2708077bb6 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 en eng http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:546007af-6b0e-48e9-9e87-7e2708077bb6 Oceanography--1042-8275--3adcbd71-7ea1-42ac-bd43-f302c17a32f4 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 © 2018 Richard Bintanja, C.A. Katsman, Frank M. Selten journal article 2018 fttudelft https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 2024-04-09T23:45:06Z Climate model projections of future climate change exhibit a robust increase in Arctic precipitation, which invokes an array of climate effects. Idealized climate model simulations with artificially increased Arctic precipitation rates exhibit cooling of near-surface atmospheric temperatures and sea ice expansion. We show here that this cooling cannot be attributed to increased surface albedo from fresh snow and less absorption of solar radiation by sea ice, but rather to a reduction in upward oceanic heat flux. This reduction in heat flux is due to increased precipitation that leads to fresher ocean surface waters and, hence, to more stable stratification of the upper Arctic Ocean. This stratification results in cooling of the ocean surface and warming of deeper ocean layers. The simulations show that sea ice expansion and surface cooling peak in the Barents Sea, a region that is very sensitive to changes in mixed layer depth, which decreases considerably there. In the context of a warming Arctic, with concurrent 50% increases in precipitation in 2100, this negative feedback is estimated to slow down projected RCP8.5 Arctic warming by up to 2.0°C in winter and sea ice retreat by a maximum of 11% in autumn, although seasonal variations are considerable. Environmental Fluid Mechanics Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Climate change Sea ice Delft University of Technology: Institutional Repository Oceanography 31 2 |
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Open Polar |
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Delft University of Technology: Institutional Repository |
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fttudelft |
language |
English |
description |
Climate model projections of future climate change exhibit a robust increase in Arctic precipitation, which invokes an array of climate effects. Idealized climate model simulations with artificially increased Arctic precipitation rates exhibit cooling of near-surface atmospheric temperatures and sea ice expansion. We show here that this cooling cannot be attributed to increased surface albedo from fresh snow and less absorption of solar radiation by sea ice, but rather to a reduction in upward oceanic heat flux. This reduction in heat flux is due to increased precipitation that leads to fresher ocean surface waters and, hence, to more stable stratification of the upper Arctic Ocean. This stratification results in cooling of the ocean surface and warming of deeper ocean layers. The simulations show that sea ice expansion and surface cooling peak in the Barents Sea, a region that is very sensitive to changes in mixed layer depth, which decreases considerably there. In the context of a warming Arctic, with concurrent 50% increases in precipitation in 2100, this negative feedback is estimated to slow down projected RCP8.5 Arctic warming by up to 2.0°C in winter and sea ice retreat by a maximum of 11% in autumn, although seasonal variations are considerable. Environmental Fluid Mechanics |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bintanja, Richard (author) Katsman, C.A. (author) Selten, Frank M. (author) |
spellingShingle |
Bintanja, Richard (author) Katsman, C.A. (author) Selten, Frank M. (author) Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming |
author_facet |
Bintanja, Richard (author) Katsman, C.A. (author) Selten, Frank M. (author) |
author_sort |
Bintanja, Richard (author) |
title |
Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming |
title_short |
Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming |
title_full |
Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming |
title_fullStr |
Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increased Arctic Precipitation Slows Down Sea Ice Melt and Surface Warming |
title_sort |
increased arctic precipitation slows down sea ice melt and surface warming |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:546007af-6b0e-48e9-9e87-7e2708077bb6 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 |
genre |
albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Climate change Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Climate change Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:546007af-6b0e-48e9-9e87-7e2708077bb6 Oceanography--1042-8275--3adcbd71-7ea1-42ac-bd43-f302c17a32f4 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 |
op_rights |
© 2018 Richard Bintanja, C.A. Katsman, Frank M. Selten |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.204 |
container_title |
Oceanography |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1797572670895685632 |