Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 119, Issue 36, Pages -Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2120770119
Keywords
winter sea ice; atmospheric circulation; atmospheric thermodynamics; ocean heat transport; Barents-Kara Sea
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [42025602, 41876039]
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The last two decades have witnessed significant decline and year-to-year variability in Arctic winter sea ice, particularly in the Barents-Kara Sea region. These changes are believed to be associated with extreme midlatitude weather and climate, and are primarily driven by atmospheric circulation patterns.
The last two decades have seen a dramatic decline and strong year-to-year variability in Arctic winter sea ice, especially in the Barents-Kara Sea (BKS), changes that have been linked to extreme midlatitude weather and climate. It has been suggested that these changes in winter sea ice arise largely from a combined effect of oceanic and atmospheric processes, but the relative importance of these processes is not well established. Here, we explore the role of atmospheric circulation patterns on BKS winter sea ice variability and trends using observations and climate model simulations. We find that BKS winter sea ice variability is primarily driven by a strong anticyclonic anomaly over the region, which explains more than 50% of the interannual variability in BKS sea-ice concentration (SIC). Recent intensification of the anticyclonic anomaly has warmed and moistened the lower atmosphere in the BKS by poleward transport of moist-static energy and local processes, resulting in an increase in downwelling longwave radiation. Our results demonstrate that the observed BKS winter sea-ice variability is primarily driven by atmospheric, rather than oceanic, processes and suggest a persistent role of atmospheric forcing in future Arctic winter sea ice loss.
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