[1] Recent progress in sea ice concentration remote sensing by satellite microwave radiometers has been stimulated by two developments: First, the new sensor Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) offers spatial resolutions of approximately 6 Â 4 km at 89 GHz, nearly 3 times the resolution of the standard sensor SSM/I at 85 GHz (15 Â 13 km). Second, a new algorithm enables estimation of sea ice concentration from the channels near 90 GHz, despite the enhanced atmospheric influence in these channels. This allows full exploitation of their horizontal resolution, which is up to 4 times finer than that of the channels near 19 and 37 GHz, the frequencies used by the most widespread algorithms for sea ice retrieval, the NASA-Team and Bootstrap algorithms. The ASI algorithm used combines a model for retrieving the sea ice concentration from SSM/I 85-GHz data proposed by Svendsen et al. (1987) with an ocean mask derived from the 18-, 23-, and 37-GHz AMSR-E data using weather filters. During two ship campaigns, the correlation of ASI, NASA-Team 2, and Bootstrap algorithms ice concentrations with bridge observations were 0.80, 0.79, and 0.81, respectively. Systematic differences over the complete AMSR-E period (2002AMSR-E period ( -2006 between ASI and NASA-Team 2 are below À2 ± 8.8%, and between ASI and Bootstrap are 1.7 ± 10.8%. Among the geophysical implications of the ASI algorithm are: (1) Its higher spatial resolution allows better estimation of crucial variables in numerical atmospheric and ocean models, for example, the heat flux between ocean and atmosphere, especially near coastlines and in polynyas. (2) It provides an additional time series of ice area and extent for climate studies.

Large freshwater anomalies clearly exist in the Arctic Ocean. For example, liquid freshwater has accumulated in the Beaufort Gyre in the decade of the 2000s compared to 1980-2000, with an extra ≈ 5000 km 3-about 25%-being stored. The sources of freshwater to the Arctic from precipitation and runoff have increased between these periods (most of the evidence comes from models).

The Arctic icescape is rapidly transforming from a thicker multiyear ice cover to a thinner and largely seasonal first-year ice cover with significant consequences for Arctic primary production. One critical challenge is to understand how productivity will change within the next decades. Recent studies have reported extensive phytoplankton blooms beneath ponded sea ice during summer, indicating that satellite-based Arctic annual primary production estimates may be significantly underestimated. Here we present a unique time-series of a phytoplankton spring bloom observed beneath snow-covered Arctic pack ice. The bloom, dominated by the haptophyte algae Phaeocystis pouchetii, caused near depletion of the surface nitrate inventory and a decline in dissolved inorganic carbon by 16 ± 6 g C m−2. Ocean circulation characteristics in the area indicated that the bloom developed in situ despite the snow-covered sea ice. Leads in the dynamic ice cover provided added sunlight necessary to initiate and sustain the bloom. Phytoplankton blooms beneath snow-covered ice might become more common and widespread in the future Arctic Ocean with frequent lead formation due to thinner and more dynamic sea ice despite projected increases in high-Arctic snowfall. This could alter productivity, marine food webs and carbon sequestration in the Arctic Ocean.

[1] We examine the basinwide trends in sea ice circulation and drift speed and highlight the changes between 1982 and 2009 in connection to regional winds, multiyear sea ice coverage, ice export, and the thinning of the ice cover. The polarity of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is used as a backdrop for summarizing the variance and shifts in decadal drift patterns. The 28-year circulation fields show a net strengthening of the Beaufort Gyre and the Transpolar Drift, especially during the last decade. The imprint of the arctic dipole anomaly on the mean summer circulation is evident (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)) and enhances summer ice area export at the Fram Strait. Between 2001 and 2009, the large spatially averaged trends in drift speeds (winter: þ23.6%/decade, summer: þ17.7%/decade) are not explained by the much smaller trends in wind speeds (winter: 1.46%/decade, summer: À3.42%/decade). Notably, positive trends in drift speed are found in regions with reduced multiyear sea ice coverage. Over 90% of the Arctic Ocean has positive trends in drift speed and negative trends in multiyear sea ice coverage. The increased responsiveness of ice drift to geostrophic wind is consistent with a thinner and weaker seasonal ice cover and suggests large-scale changes in the air-ice-ocean momentum balance. The retrieved mean ocean current field from decadal-scale average ice motion captures a steady drift from Siberia to the Fram Strait, an inflow north of the Bering Strait, and a westward drift along coastal Alaska. This mean current is comparable to geostrophic currents from satellite-derived dynamic topography.Citation: Kwok, R., G. Spreen, and S. Pang (2013), Arctic sea ice circulation and drift speed: Decadal trends and ocean currents, J.