Atmospheric controls on sea ice motion in the southern Beaufort Sea

[1] The Beaufort sea ice gyre is characterized in winter months by an anticyclonic regime associated with sea level pressure (SLP) highs. Previous studies have shown instances of a reversal in this regime in summer months with the arrival of SLP lows over the Beaufort Sea, while also demonstrating a link to variations in lower stratospheric potential vorticity. In this study we examine the role of relative vorticity in describing dynamic variability on weekly timescales from the surface to the middle stratosphere. Results from this analysis show that the Beaufort Gyre is characterized predominantly by anticyclonic activity throughout the year for the time interval considered ( from 1979 to 2000), with a summer reversal to cyclonic activity, whose strength and duration varies between years. These reversals coincide with reversals in SLP based on a correlation analysis. Comparison of ice and atmospheric relative vorticity fields in the Beaufort Sea region (BSR) for all weeks from 1979 to 2000 indicates that sea ice and lower tropospheric processes are anticorrelated at zero time lag. This is in contrast to relative vorticity fields at 10 mbar, which exhibit maximum correlation between stratospheric and sea ice responses when 10 mbar leads ice relative vorticity by 2 - 6 weeks.