Atmospheric moisture transport and the decline in Arctic Sea ice

Abstract

This article contains a review of the transport of moisture to the Arctic and its effect on Arctic Sea Ice Extent (SIE). The review includes a synthesis of our knowledge regarding the main sources supplying moisture to the Arctic, the changes experienced over the last few decades due to variations in the transport of moisture, the factors that control interannual variability, and the inherent contrast in the mechanisms related to the effect of changes in moisture transport on SIE in the Arctic. We note that the precise identification of the moisture sources for the Arctic depends both on the definition of the Arctic region itself and on the approach used to identify the sources, with the remote regions over the extratropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans being universally important, as are some continental areas over Siberia and North America. This review also reaffirms the absence of any clear agreement regarding the trends in atmospheric moisture transport to the Arctic, and highlights discrepancies between different data sets and approaches in the quantification of moisture transport, implying that its long‐term impact on the intensification of the hydrological cycle in the Arctic remains unclear. We confirm the influence of the major modes of climate variability, planetary circulation patterns, and the changes in cyclonic activity in the variability of moisture transport to the Arctic. We reaffirm that the effect of moisture transport on the Arctic SIE through changes in humidity, cloud cover, and precipitation over the Arctic is a complex scientific problem that requires further detailed study over the decades to come, and we propose some important challenges for future research. This article is categorized under: Paleoclimates and Current Trends > Modern Climate Change

Baffin Bay sea ice extent and synoptic moisture transport drive water vapor isotope (<i>δ</i><sup>18</sup>O, <i>δ</i><sup>2</sup>H, and deuterium excess) variability in coastal northwest Greenland

“…Annual precipitation is 130 mm water equivalent, with half of this precipitation falling mostly as rain in June-August (USAF, 2019). Moisture in western Greenland is primarily sourced from the North Atlantic, but local sources of moisture, such as Baffin Bay, increase in importance during sea ice retreat in summer and early autumn (Sodemann et al, 2008;Gimeno et al, 2019;Nusbaumer et al, 2019). Although the wind at Thule makes accurate snow measurements difficult and prone to overestimation (Chen et al, 1997), existing records report an average annual snowfall of 900 mm and October-December as the snowiest months (USAF, 2019).…”

“…Greenland is particularly important in our efforts to better understand past, current, and future climate as its immense ice sheet has archived millennia of past climate changes (e.g., Steffensen et al, 2008), and environmental feedbacks from the increasing Greenland ice sheet loss reverberate globally (e.g., Box et al, 2012;Nghiem et al, 2012;Castro de la Guardia et al, 2015). The declining extent and duration of sea ice in its surrounding oceans are altering atmospheric moisture fluxes and transport across the Arctic (Gimeno et al, 2019;Nusbaumer et al, 2019), restructuring marine and terrestrial ecology (Bhatt et al, 2017;Laidre et al, 2020) and harming the health and welfare of indigenous communities (Meier et al, 2006). Northwest Greenland in particular is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, with massive ice loss observed from glacial retreat and surface ablation (van As, 2011;Carr et al, 2013;Noël et al, 2019).…”

Baffin Bay sea ice extent and synoptic moisture transport drive water vapor isotope (<i>δ</i><sup>18</sup>O, <i>δ</i>D, <i>d</i>-<i>excess</i>) variability in coastal northwest Greenland

“…Annual precipitation is 130 mm water equivalent with half of this precipitation falling mostly as rain in June-August (USAF, 2019). Moisture in western Greenland primarily is sourced from the North Atlantic, but local sources of moisture, such as Baffin Bay, increase in importance during sea ice retreat in summer and early fall (Sodemann et al, 2008;Gimeno et al, 2019;Nusbaumer et al, 2019). Although the wind at Thule makes accurate snow measurements difficult and prone to overestimation (Chen et al, 1997), existing records report an average annual snowfall of 900 mm and October-December as the snowiest months (USAF, 2019).…”

“…The declining extent and duration of sea ice in its surrounding oceans are altering atmospheric moisture fluxes and transport across the Arctic (Gimeno et al, 2019;Nusbaumer et al, 2019), restructuring marine and terrestrial ecology (Bhatt et al, 2017;Laidre et al, 2020), and harming the health and welfare of native communities (Meier et al, 2006). Northwest Greenland in particular is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth with massive ice loss observed from glacial retreat and surface ablation (van As, 2011;Carr et al, 2013;Noël et al, 2019).…”

On the Linkage Between Rossby Wave Phase Speed, Atmospheric Blocking, and Arctic Amplification

“…The Arctic is warming more rapidly than the rest of the globe, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification (AA: see Cohen et al, 2018 for a review). This phenomenon is due to the interaction of several processes: the observed reduction in sea ice (Dai et al, 2019; Screen & Simmonds, 2010; Taylor et al, 2018), changes in cloud cover and radiative balance over the Arctic (Bintanja et al, 2011; Gong et al, 2017), and anomalous circulation patterns bringing warm, moist air from lower latitudes to the region (Binder et al, 2017; Gimeno et al, 2019; Gong et al, 2020; Papritz, 2020).…”