Contribution of melt in the Beaufort Sea to the decline in Arctic multiyear sea ice coverage: 1993-2009

For the summers of 1993 through 2009, we estimate the loss of multiyear sea ice (MYI) area in the Beaufort Sea due to melt. Parcels of MYI in April are traced into the Beaufort Sea where they melt as the ice edge retreats. Net loss of area (with fractional MYI coverage > 50%) over the 17-year period is similar to 900 x 10(3) km(2). Three-quarters of that area, similar to 10% of the area of the Arctic Ocean, was lost after 2000. There is a clear positive trend in the record, with a distinct peak of 213 x 10(3) km(2) in 2008; this is twice the summer outflow at the Fram Strait that year. The net melt area of 490 x 10(3) km(2) between 2005 and 2008 accounts for nearly 32% of the net loss of 1.54 x 10(6) km(2) of Arctic Ocean MYI coverage over the same period. Volume loss, for the years with ICESat thickness (2004-2009), is highest at 473 km(3) in 2008 followed by 320 km(3) in 2007. Net loss in MYI volume for the six summers is similar to 1400 km(3). This is similar to 20% of the loss in MYI volume of 6300 km(3) during 2004-2008. This adds to the freshwater content of the Arctic Ocean and locally to the freshening of the Beaufort Gyre. Citation: Kwok, R., and G. F. Cunningham (2010), Contribution of melt in the Beaufort Sea to the decline in Arctic multiyear sea ice coverage: 1993-2009, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L20501, doi:10.1029/2010GL044678.