|
Read Full Article (file size: 256536 bytes) Cited by
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 35,
L11501,
doi:10.1029/2008GL034007,
2008
Sunlight, water, and ice: Extreme Arctic sea ice melt during the summer of 2007
Donald K. Perovich
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Hanover, New Hampshire,
USA
Jacqueline A. Richter-Menge
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Hanover, New Hampshire,
USA
Kathleen F. Jones
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Hanover, New Hampshire,
USA
Bonnie Light
Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, Seattle, Washington, USA
Abstract
The summer extent of the Arctic sea ice cover, widely recognized as an indicator of climate change, has been declining for
the past few decades reaching a record minimum in September 2007. The causes of the dramatic loss have implications for the
future trajectory of the Arctic sea ice cover. Ice mass balance observations demonstrate that there was an extraordinarily
large amount of melting on the bottom of the ice in the Beaufort Sea in the summer of 2007. Calculations indicate that solar
heating of the upper ocean was the primary source of heat for this observed enhanced Beaufort Sea bottom melting. An increase
in the open water fraction resulted in a 500% positive anomaly in solar heat input to the upper ocean, triggering an ice–albedo
feedback and contributing to the accelerating ice retreat.
Received 15
March
2008;
accepted 2
May
2008;
published 3
June
2008.
Keywords: sea ice;
ice albedo feedback.
Index Terms: 0750 Cryosphere: Sea ice (4540); 0762 Cryosphere: Mass balance (1218, 1223); 0764 Cryosphere: Energy balance.
Read Full Article (file size: 256536 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Perovich, D. K., J. A. Richter-Menge, K. F. Jones, and B. Light
(2008),
Sunlight, water, and ice: Extreme Arctic sea ice melt during the summer of 2007,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
35,
L11501,
doi:10.1029/2008GL034007.
Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
|