The interplay of recent vegetation and sea ice dynamics : results from a regional Earth system model over the Arctic

Recent accelerated warming over the Arctic coincides with sea ice reduction and shifting patterns of land cover. We use a state‐of‐the‐art regional Earth system model, RCAO‐GUESS, which comprises a dynamic vegetation model (LPJ‐GUESS), a regional atmosphere model (RCA), and an ocean sea ice model (R...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Zhang, Wenxin, Doscher, Ralf, Koenigk, Torben, Miller, Paul, Jansson, Christer, Samuelsson, Patrick, Wu, Minchao, Smith, Benjamin (R19508)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: U.S., Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 2020
Subjects:
XXXXXX - Unknown
sea ice
plants
global warming
Arctic regions
Arctic
Global warming
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085982
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:55597
Description
Summary:Recent accelerated warming over the Arctic coincides with sea ice reduction and shifting patterns of land cover. We use a state‐of‐the‐art regional Earth system model, RCAO‐GUESS, which comprises a dynamic vegetation model (LPJ‐GUESS), a regional atmosphere model (RCA), and an ocean sea ice model (RCO), to explore the dynamic coupling between vegetation and sea ice during 1989–2011. Our results show that RCAO‐GUESS captures recent trends in observed sea ice concentration and extent, with the inclusion of vegetation dynamics resulting in larger, more realistic variations in summer and autumn than the model that does not account for vegetation dynamics. Vegetation feedbacks induce concomitant changes in downwelling longwave radiation, near‐surface temperature, mean sea level pressure, and sea ice reductions, suggesting a feedback chain linking vegetation change to sea ice dynamics. This study highlights the importance of including interactive vegetation dynamics in modeling the Arctic climate system, particularly when predicting sea ice dynamics.

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