The large‐scale energy budget of the Arctic

Serreze, Mark C.; Barrett, A. P.; Slater, A. G.; Steele, Michael; Zhang, Jinlun; Trenberth, Kevin E.

doi:10.1029/2006jd008230

Cited by 243 publications

(299 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Derived from an ensemble of GCMs for recent climate conditions (1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999), a total melt of 1.1 m and an export of 0.2 m is balanced by 1.3 m of ice growth during the winter . These figures largely agree with observation-based estimates derived from an Arctic heat budget combined with assumptions of the latent heat of fusion and sea ice density (Serreze et al, 2007a).…”

Section: Sea Ice Thickness and Volumesupporting

confidence: 80%

Recent advances in understanding the Arctic climate system state and change from a sea ice perspective: a review

2014

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Abstract. Sea ice is the central component and most sensitive indicator of the Arctic climate system. Both the depletion and areal decline of the Arctic sea ice cover, observed since the 1970s, have accelerated since the millennium. While the relationship of global warming to sea ice reduction is evident and underpinned statistically, it is the connecting mechanisms that are explored in detail in this review.Sea ice erodes both from the top and the bottom. Atmospheric, oceanic and sea ice processes interact in nonlinear ways on various scales. Feedback mechanisms lead to an Arctic amplification of the global warming system: the amplification is both supported by the ice depletion and, at the same time, accelerates ice reduction. Knowledge of the mechanisms of sea ice decline grew during the 1990s and This article reviews recent progress in understanding the sea ice decline. Processes are revisited from atmospheric, oceanic and sea ice perspectives. There is strong evidence that decisive atmospheric changes are the major driver of sea ice change. Feedbacks due to reduced ice concentration, surface albedo, and ice thickness allow for additional local atmospheric and oceanic influences and self-supporting feedbacks. Large-scale ocean influences on Arctic Ocean hydrology and circulation are highly evident. Northward heat fluxes in the ocean are clearly impacting the ice margins, especially in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic. There is little indication of a direct and decisive influence of the warming ocean on the overall sea ice cover, due to an isolating layer of cold and fresh water underneath the sea ice.

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Section: Sea Ice Thickness and Volumesupporting

confidence: 80%

Recent advances in understanding the Arctic climate system state and change from a sea ice perspective: a review

2014

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“…Figure 5f shows the energy budget of the polar region (averaged north of 708N). Polar ASR is quantized into in the present-day Arctic (Overland and Turet 1994;Serreze et al 2007;Porter et al 2010). This decrease occurs in spite of increased AHT at its midlatitude peak (Figs.…”

Section: Ridgementioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Oceans and Sea Ice in Abrupt Transitions between Multiple Climate States

2013

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The coupled climate dynamics underlying large, rapid, and potentially irreversible changes in ice cover are studied. A global atmosphere-ocean-sea ice general circulation model with idealized aquaplanet geometry is forced by gradual multi-millennial variations in solar luminosity. The model traverses a hysteresis loop between warm ice-free conditions and cold glacial conditions in response to 65 W m 22 variations in global,annual-mean insolation. Comparison of several model configurations confirms the importance of polar ocean processes in setting the sensitivity and time scales of the transitions. A ''sawtooth'' character is found with faster warming and slower cooling, reflecting the opposing effects of surface heating and cooling on upper-ocean buoyancy and, thus, effective heat capacity. The transition from a glacial to warm, equable climate occurs in about 200 years. In contrast to the ''freshwater hosing'' scenario, transitions are driven by radiative forcing and sea ice feedbacks. The ocean circulation, and notably the meridional overturning circulation (MOC), does not drive the climate change. The MOC (and associated heat transport) collapses poleward of the advancing ice edge, but this is a purely passive response to cooling and ice expansion. The MOC does, however, play a key role in setting the time scales of the transition and contributes to the asymmetry between warming and cooling.

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“…During winter, insolation is low or absent and the atmospheric boundary layer is typically very stable, limiting turbulent heat exchange, so that the surface energy budget is almost entirely governed by longwave radiation [Serreze et al, 2007]. The Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment [Uttal et al, 2002], a yearlong observational campaign which collected data at high temporal resolution at an ice-locked drifting site in the Beaufort Sea, showed that the net surface longwave radiation (NetLW) during the winter of 1997-1998 had a strinkingly bimodal distribution: conditions oscillated between a "radiatively clear" state with rapid surface heat loss (NetLW -40 W m -2 ) and a "moist cloudy" state with NetLW 0 W m -2 [Stramler et al, 2011].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large‐scale circulation associated with moisture intrusions into the Arctic during winter

Woods

Caballero

Svensson

2013

Geophysical Research Letters

232

302

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[1] We examine the poleward transport of water vapor across 70 ı N during boreal winter in the ERA-Interim reanalysis product, focusing on intense moisture intrusion events. We analyze the large-scale circulation patterns associated with these intrusions and the impacts they have at the surface. A total of 298 events are identified between 1990 and 2010, an average of 14 per season, accounting for 28% of the total poleward transport of moisture across 70 ı N. They are concentrated over the main ocean basins at that latitude in the Labrador Sea, North Atlantic, Barents/Kara Sea, and Pacific. Composites of sea level pressure and potential temperature on the 2 potential vorticity unit surface during intrusions show a large-scale blocking pattern to the east of each basin, deflecting midlatitude cyclones and their associated moisture poleward. The interannual variability of intrusions is strongly correlated with variability in winter-mean surface downward longwave radiation and skin temperature averaged over the Arctic. Citation: Woods, C., R. Caballero, and G. Svensson (2013), Large-scale circulation associated with moisture intrusions into the Arctic during winter, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40,[4717][4718][4719][4720][4721]

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The large‐scale energy budget of the Arctic

Cited by 243 publications

References 56 publications

Recent advances in understanding the Arctic climate system state and change from a sea ice perspective: a review

Recent advances in understanding the Arctic climate system state and change from a sea ice perspective: a review

The Role of Oceans and Sea Ice in Abrupt Transitions between Multiple Climate States

Large‐scale circulation associated with moisture intrusions into the Arctic during winter

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