A multilayer sigma‐coordinate thermodynamic sea ice model: Validation against Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA)/Sea Ice Model Intercomparison Project Part 2 (SIMIP2) data

Abstract

[1] A new multilayer sigma-coordinate thermodynamic sea ice model is presented. The model employs a coordinate transformation which maps the thickness of the snow and ice slabs onto unity intervals and thus enables automatic relayering when the snow or ice thickness changes. This is done through an advection term which naturally appears in the transformed energy equation. Unlike previous approaches, the model conserves the total energy per layer (Jm À2 as opposed to Jm À3 ), which takes into account the changes in internal energy associated with thickness changes. This model was then tested against observational data from the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment in the context of the Sea Ice Model Intercomparison Project, Part 2, Thermodynamics (SIMIP2). In general, the model reproduces the observed internal snowice temperature and the ice thickness evolution very well. Results show that the ice thickness evolution is very sensitive to the ocean heat flux (F ocn ) and the thickness of the snow cover in winter. Given that the spatial variability in snow depth at small scale is large, the specification of the snow depth temporal evolution is crucial for an intercomparison project. Since F ocn in SIMIP2 is calculated as a residual of the observed basal growth rates and heat conduction, the salinity of newly formed ice used in the simulations must be consistent with that used to derive F ocn . Simulated and observed snow surface and snow-ice interface temperatures suggest that not enough heat is conducted through the snow layer even when using a snow thermal conductivity as large as 0.50 Wm À1 K À1 (value derived from observed snow and ice internal temperature profiles). A surface energy budget of simulated and observed energy fluxes confirms this finding.

Sigma transformation and ALE formulation for three‐dimensional free surface flows

“…For all these reasons, it has been gaining popularity and is used for a very large range of ocean and coastal applications (see, for instance, [4][5][6]), and has also been applied more recently to basin-scale problems [7,8,12,13] and even sea-ice models [14]. The simplest and most commonly used -coordinate system is the one introduced by Phillips [3], to which we will refer to as the classical sigma transform.…”

A 1-D modelling study of Arctic sea-ice salinity

“…In contrast to the thermodynamic models derived from Maykut and Untersteiner (1971), such as Bitz and Lipscomb (1999) and Huwald et al (2005b), surface melt in SAMSIM is implemented as a two-stage process. The first stage is the conversion of snow to slush followed by the second stage of surface ablation by meltwater runoff.…”

Development and Testing of Polar Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. Part I: Greenland Ice Sheet Meteorology*

“…Unfortunately, the Arctic is an especially challenging region for numerical modeling, though several recent observational studies have provided invaluable insight [e.g., Curry, 2001;. Several other studies have addressed the thermodynamics and rheology of Arctic sea ice with prognostic models [e.g., Huwald et al, 2005;Zhang and Rothrock, 2005;DeWeaver and Bitz, 2006]. The current study, however, will consider numerical simulations of the Arctic atmosphere, including the boundary layer adjacent to sea ice.…”