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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L11505, doi:10.1029/2008GL034005, 2008

What drove the dramatic retreat of arctic sea ice during summer 2007?

Jinlun Zhang

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA


Ron Lindsay

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA


Mike Steele

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA


Axel Schweiger

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA


Abstract

A model study has been conducted of the unprecedented retreat of arctic sea ice in the summer of 2007. It is found that preconditioning, anomalous winds, and ice-albedo feedback are mainly responsible for the retreat. Arctic sea ice in 2007 was preconditioned to radical changes after years of shrinking and thinning in a warm climate. During summer 2007 atmospheric changes strengthened the transpolar drift of sea ice, causing more ice to move out of the Pacific sector and the central Arctic Ocean where the reduction in ice thickness due to ice advection is up to 1.5 m more than usual. Some of the ice exited Fram Strait and some piled up in part of the Canada Basin and along the coast of northern Greenland, leaving behind an unusually large area of thin ice and open water. Thin ice and open water allow more surface solar heating because of a much reduced surface albedo, leading to amplified ice melting. The Arctic Ocean lost additional 10% of its total ice mass in which 70% is due directly to the amplified melting and 30% to the unusual ice advection, causing the unprecedented ice retreat. Arctic sea ice has entered a state of being particularly vulnerable to anomalous atmospheric forcing.

Received 14 March 2008; accepted 8 May 2008; published 11 June 2008.

Keywords: sea ice; Arctic Ocean; air-ice-ocean interaction.

Index Terms: 4540 Oceanography: Physical: Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes (0700, 0750, 0752, 0754); 4263 Oceanography: General: Ocean predictability and prediction (3238); 4255 Oceanography: General: Numerical modeling (0545, 0560).

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Citation: Zhang, J., R. Lindsay, M. Steele, and A. Schweiger (2008), What drove the dramatic retreat of arctic sea ice during summer 2007?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L11505, doi:10.1029/2008GL034005.