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Mechanisms of summertime upper Arctic Ocean warming and the effect on sea ice melt

Mechanisms of summertime upper Arctic Ocean warming and the effect on sea ice melt,10.1029/2009JC005849,Journal of Geophysical Research,Michael Steele

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Mechanisms of summertime upper Arctic Ocean warming and the effect on sea ice melt   (Citations: 3)
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In this study, we use a numerical sea-ice-ocean model to examine what causes summertime upper ocean warming and sea ice melt during the 21st century in the Arctic Ocean. Our first question is, “What causes the ocean to warm in the Pacific Sector during the summer”? We find that about 80% of total heating over this region comes from ocean surface heat flux, with the remaining 20% originating in ocean lateral heat flux convergence. The latter occurs mostly within a few hundred kilometers of the northwest Alaskan coast. In the summer of 2007, the ocean gained just over twice the amount of heat it did over the average of the previous 7 years. Our second question is, “What causes sea ice to melt in the Pacific Sector during summer”? Our analysis shows that top melt dominates total melt early in the summer, while bottom melt (and in particular, bottom melt due to ocean heat transport) dominates later in the summer as atmospheric heating declines. Bottom melt rates in summer 2007 were 34% higher relative to the previous 7 year average. The modeled partition of top versus bottom melt closely matches observed melt rates obtained by a drifting buoy. Bottom melting contributes about 2/3 of total volume melt but is geographically confined to the Marginal Ice Zone, while top melting contributes a lesser 1/3 of volume melt but occurs over a much broader area of the ice pack.
Journal: Journal of Geophysical Research , vol. 115, no. C11, 2010
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    • ...A variety of factors may be impeding recovery in this area, including effects of ocean heat transport [Polyakov et al., 2010] and increased solar heat absorption in open water areas [Perovich et al., 2011; Steele et al., 2010; Jackson et al., 2010]...

    James Maslanik, et al. Distribution and trends in Arctic sea ice age through spring 2011

    • ...The warming is related to the increased annual absorption of solar radiation [Perovich et al., 2007] due to the rapid decrease of summer sea ice [e.g., Steele et al., 2010]...
    • ...Similarly, a simulation by Steele et al. [2010] found that Pacific water traveled further into the Canada Basin in 2007 than 2000–2006 and they suggest that the minimal 2007 sea ice cover led to faster spreading of PSW...
    • ...[44] Although several mechanisms have been proposed for changing the velocity and pathway of PSW once it leaves the Chukchi Sea (the pathway of PSW at the mouth of Barrow Canyon [Münchow and Carmack, 1997], the sea ice cover offshore of Barrow Canyon [Watanabe and Hasumi, 2009; Steele et al., 2010], and the strength of the Beaufort Gyre [Steele et al., 2004]), we found no evidence that this happened during our study period...

    J. M. Jackson, et al. Changes to the near-surface waters in the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean f...

    • ...In summers with reduced sea ice extent, the lowered albedo over ice-free areas allows warming of the surface waters, and the upper ocean hence stores heat (e.g. Steele et al. 2010)...

    Yvan J. Orsolini, et al. Autumn atmospheric response to the 2007 low Arctic sea ice extent in c...

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