Sea-ice distribution and variability in the East Greenland Sea, 2003-13

• Published in: SPIE Proceedings, Remote Sensing of the Ocean, Sea Ice, Coastal Waters, and Large Water Regions 2014
• Main Authors: BOCCOLARI, Mauro, GUERRIERI, Lorenzo, Parmiggiani, Flavio
• Other Authors: Charles R. Bostater, Jr., Stelios P. Mertikas, Xavier Neyt, Boccolari, Mauro, Guerrieri, Lorenzo
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: SPIE 2014
• Subjects: Ghiaccio marino; copertura nuvolosa; temperatura atmosferica; Mare della Groenlandia; AMSR-E; SSM/I; AMSR-2; Antarctic; Arctic; Greenland; Antarc*; East Greenland; Greenland Sea; Groenlandia; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11380/1046514; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2066489

This study presents an analysis of the sea-ice area time series for the East Greenland Sea for the period January 2003 – December 2013. The data used are a subset of the Arctic Sea Ice Concentration data set derived from the observations of the passive microwave sensors AMSR-E and AMSR-2 and produced, on a daily basis, by the Inst. of Environ. Physics of the University of Bremen. The area of interest goes, approximately, from 57◦N to 84◦N and from 53◦W to 15◦E. On the basis of previous studies, the parameter Sea Ice Area as the sum of all pixels whose sea ice concentration is above 70%, was introduced for measuring sea-ice extent. A first survey of the Greenland Sea data set showed a large anomaly in year 2012; this anomaly, clearly linked with the transition period from AMSR-E to AMSR-2 when re-sampled SSM/I data were used, was partially corrected with a linear regression procedure. The correlation between monthly mean Sea Ice Area and other geophysical parameters, like air temperature, surface wind and cloud cover, was further investigated. High anti-correlation coefficients between air temperature, at sea level and in five different tropospheric layers, and observed ice cover is confirmed. Our analysis shows that the strong decline of Arctic sea-ice area in the last 10 years is not observed in the East Greenland Sea; this implies that large reductions have occurred in the Canadian and Russian Arctic. This result confirms a hypothesis recently postulated to explain the different sea-ice decline in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.