[1] Recent satellite lidar measurements of cloud properties spanning a period of 5 years are used to examine a possible connection between Arctic sea ice amount and polar cloud fraction and vertical distribution. We find an anticorrelation between sea ice extent and cloud fraction with maximum cloudiness occurring over areas with little or no sea ice. We also find that over ice-free regions, there is greater low cloud frequency and average optical depth. Most of the optical depth increase is due to the presence of geometrically thicker clouds over water. In addition, our analysis indicates that over the last 5 years, October and March average polar cloud fraction has increased by about 7% and 10%, respectively, as year average sea ice extent has decreased by 5%-7%. The observed cloud changes are likely due to a number of effects including, but not limited to, the observed decrease in sea ice extent and thickness. Increasing cloud amount and changes in vertical distribution and optical properties have the potential to affect the radiative balance of the Arctic region by decreasing both the upwelling terrestrial longwave radiation and the downward shortwave solar radiation. Because longwave radiation dominates in the long polar winter, the overall effect of increasing low cloud cover is likely a warming of the Arctic and thus a positive climate feedback, possibly accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice.Citation: Palm, S. P., S. T. Strey, J. Spinhirne, and T. Markus (2010), Influence of Arctic sea ice extent on polar cloud fraction and vertical structure and implications for regional climate,

[1] Over the past several decades, the minimum Northern Hemisphere summer sea ice extent has decreased substantially. We present an analysis of the influence of declining Arctic sea ice cover on the atmosphere, specifically during the autumn/early winter following an extreme summer minimum event. Using ensemble simulations from the Weather Research and Forecast model (v 3.0.1), we compare the atmospheric response for the case of the extreme sea ice minimum of 2007 to the corresponding response for the more typical ice conditions of 1984, the year with median ice extent for the 1979-2008 satellite era. Increased open water enhances heat and moisture flux from the Arctic Ocean to the atmosphere during autumn. We characterize the fluxes both horizontally and vertically and determine the spatial breadth of their influence. The atmospheric response is characterized by a strong increase in 2 m temperature and decrease in sea level pressure locally and by remote responses in the atmospheric circulation throughout the troposphere characterized by a quasi-barotropic ridge/trough signal in North America. The circulation anomalies drive remote anomalies of temperature and precipitation over eastern North America and the North Atlantic. Advectively driven temperature anomalies, in turn, cause surface flux anomalies over remote regions such as the Great Lakes and the Gulf Stream. The maximum response, as measured by difference in 2 m temperatures over the polar cap from 70°N, occurs between 10 September and approximately 15 November. The persistence of the signal over a 2 month period implies the potential for seasonal predictability of the stronger atmospheric response features. In addition, we determine the significance of prominent features, finding 95% significance in some remote features as far away as the North Atlantic.

Impact of Climate Change on Resources, Maritime Transport and Geopolitics in the Arctic and the Svalbard Area; Svalbard, Norway, 21–28 August 2011 Drastic changes in the Arctic climate directly relate to resource and transport development and complex geopolitical challenges in the Arctic. To encourage future interdisciplinary cooperation among political, social, and climate scientists, 30 early‐career researchers from varied backgrounds—including climate change, resources, polar maritime transport, and geopolitics—assembled in Svalbard, Norway. Ola Johannessen, president of the Norwegian Scientific Academy of Polar Research, led this diverse group to highlight the importance of collaboration across disciplines for broadening the terms in which assessments are defined, thus collapsing distinctions between the physical and the human Arctic. He also highlighted the feasibility of conducting effective assessment exercises within short time frames. The group was also mentored by Willy Østreng, author of Science Without Boundaries: Interdisciplinarity in Research, Society, and Politics, who aided participants in understanding the process of interdisciplinary collaboration rather than creating an assemblage of discrete findings.