Warming in the Nordic Seas, North Atlantic storms and thinning Arctic sea ice

Alexeev, V. A.; Walsh, John E.; Ivanov, Vladimir; Семенов, В. А.; Smirnov, Alexander

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa7a1d

Cited by 48 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Recent studies have found evidence of an increasing trend in poleward moisture transport toward the GrIS (Mattingly et al, —hereafter M16) and the Arctic basin (Alexeev et al, ; Boisvert & Stroeve, ; Cao et al, ; Gong et al, ; Lee et al, ; Park et al, ; Woods & Caballero, ), in accordance with predictions of enhanced moisture transport to the Arctic in a warming climate (Gimeno et al, ; Graversen & Burtu, ; Lavers et al, ; Yoshimori et al, ). In light of these observed and projected trends, and recent case studies suggesting that ARs may play a significant role in determining the evolution of GrIS SMB, an examination of AR trends and impacts on GrIS SMB across a much larger sample of moisture transport events is needed.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Atmospheric River Impacts on Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance

2018

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Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) mass loss has accelerated since the turn of the twenty‐first century. Several recent episodes of rapid GrIS ablation coincided with intense moisture transport over Greenland by atmospheric rivers (ARs), suggesting that these events influence the evolution of GrIS surface mass balance (SMB). ARs likely provide melt energy through several physical mechanisms, and conversely, may increase SMB through enhanced snow accumulation. In this study, we compile a long‐term (1980–2016) record of moisture transport events using a conventional AR identification algorithm as well as a self‐organizing map classification applied to MERRA‐2 data. We then analyze AR effects on the GrIS using melt data from passive microwave satellite observations and regional climate model output. Results show that anomalously strong moisture transport by ARs clearly contributed to increased GrIS mass loss in recent years. AR activity over Greenland was above normal throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, and recent melting seasons with above‐average GrIS melt feature positive moisture transport anomalies over Greenland. Analysis of individual AR impacts shows a pronounced increase in GrIS surface melt after strong AR events. AR effects on SMB are more complex, as strong summer ARs cause sharp SMB losses in the ablation zone that exceed moderate SMB gains induced by ARs in the accumulation zone during summer and in all areas during other seasons. Our results demonstrate the influence of the strongest ARs in controlling GrIS SMB, and we conclude that projections of future GrIS SMB should accurately capture these rare ephemeral events.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Atmospheric River Impacts on Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance

2018

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“…Understanding atmospheric rivers in the Arctic is critical for understanding the local hydrologic regimes, especially as they continue to change due to enhanced warming. There have been few other studies examining the impact of atmospheric rivers in the Arctic (e.g., Alexeev et al, ; Komatsu et al, ; Liu & Barnes, ; Neff et al, ). Similarly, there have been very few studies examining the impact of ARs in Antarctica (e.g., Gorodetskaya et al, ), despite them being critical to local precipitation regimes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Atmospheric Rivers in Extratropical and Polar Hydroclimate

et al. 2018

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Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are narrow, long, transient, water vapor-rich corridors of the atmosphere that are responsible for over 90% of the poleward water vapor transport in and across midlatitudes. However, the role of ARs in modulating extratropical and polar hydroclimate features (e.g., water vapor content and precipitation) has not been fully studied, even though moistening of the polar atmosphere is both a key result and amplifier of Arctic warming and sea ice melt, and precipitation is key to the surface mass balance of polar sea ice and ice sheets. This study uses the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 reanalysis to characterize the roles of AR water vapor transport on the column-integrated atmospheric water vapor budget in the extratropical and polar regions of both hemispheres. Meridional water vapor transport by ARs across a given latitude (examined for 40°, 50°, 60°, and 70°) is strongly related to variations in area-averaged (i.e., over the cap poleward of the given latitude) total water vapor storage and precipitation poleward of that latitude. For the climatological annual cycle, both AR transport (i.e., nonlocal sources) and total evaporation (i.e., local sources) are most correlated with total precipitation, although with slightly different phases. However, for monthly anomalies, the water budget at higher latitudes is largely dominated by the relationship between AR transport and precipitation. For pentad and daily anomalies, AR transport is related to both precipitation and water vapor storage variations. These results demonstrate the important role of episodic, extreme water vapor transports by ARs in modulating extratropical and polar hydroclimate. Plain Language SummaryThe term atmospheric river (AR) was coined by scientists Zhu and Newell in the early 1990s with the main result highlighting the importance of relatively infrequent, long conduits of strong moisture transport being responsible for most of the poleward transport of moisture across the midlatitudes and into the polar regions. While it is generally understood that this moisture is critical to the water and energy budgets of high latitudes, there have been no studies that have ever quantified the relationship between AR poleward moisture transports and the hydroclimate features of high latitudes. After a long hiatus in the consideration of the role of ARs on global climate since those of Zhu and Newell, this study quantifies the connections between water vapor transport by ARs across specific latitudes (e.g., 40°) and the hydroclimate poleward of this latitude. The findings show there are strong, time scale-dependent (e.g., daily and monthly) connections between ARs and high-latitude hydroclimate features. For example, the findings show a strong relationship between AR water vapor transport at a given latitude and the areaaveraged total precipitation of the region poleward. This and other results in this study indicate the importance of ARs in shaping our global weather and climate.

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“…Increasing wildness of weather is becoming a symbol of the Arctic warming. More Atlantic storms penetrate into even higher northern latitudes bringing convective instability and moisture (Alexeev et al, , ; Walsh et al, ; Hao et al, ). Enhanced frequency of the convective cloud types in the WEA and to some degree in the CEA are found in our study for the long period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cloud cover and cloud types in the Eurasian Arctic in 1936–2012

Chernokulsky

Esau

2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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The Arctic is a cloudy place. It has been recognized that the Arctic cloud cover is sensitive to different climatic factors such as sea ice extent and atmospheric circulation indices. Moreover, several influential climate feedbacks, for example, the summertime cloud‐radiation feedback, have been recognized. Yet, the cloud cover studies were limited in time to the satellite era observations and fragmentary data sets from meteorological stations. Here, we present the complete long‐term cloud records from 86 meteorological stations in the Eurasian Arctic. The stations are located on the coast and islands of the region from the Barents to Chukchi Seas. Thus, this study is complementing and extending the study by Chernokulsky et al. (2017) where the cloud data from the Norwegian through Kara Seas were presented. Our data set comprises the entire period of observations at each station. However, we present the area‐wide analysis only over the historical period of 1936–2012 when there were sufficient density of stations and cloud records for the coherent analysis. The total cloud cover, which on multiannual average constitutes 69–74% in different areas, increases in the warmer periods. The strongest increase is found in the convective cloud cover, particularly in the Chukchi Sea. We observe statistical evidence of transition between stratiform and convective cloud types. The cloud characteristics reveal the strongest correlations with the Atlantic circulation indices and the sea ice concentration in all Eurasian Arctic areas. The correlations with the Pacific circulation indices are much less significant. The obtained cloud data sets disclose much smaller scale features and variability, which deserve further research.

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Warming in the Nordic Seas, North Atlantic storms and thinning Arctic sea ice

Cited by 48 publications

References 86 publications

Atmospheric River Impacts on Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance

Atmospheric River Impacts on Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance

The Role of Atmospheric Rivers in Extratropical and Polar Hydroclimate

Cloud cover and cloud types in the Eurasian Arctic in 1936–2012

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