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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • Arctic sea ice extent
  • Arctic climate
  • summer in 2007

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Processes: Climate change and variability
  • Atmospheric Processes: Climatology
  • Global Change: Climate dynamics
  • Hydrology: Snow and ice
  • Atmospheric Processes: Polar meteorology

Abstract

Summer retreat of Arctic sea ice: Role of summer winds

Masayo Ogi

Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

Ignatius G. Rigor

Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Miles G. McPhee

McPhee Research Company, Naches, Washington, USA

John M. Wallace

Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

The unprecedented retreat of first-year ice during summer 2007 was enhanced by strong poleward drift over the western Arctic induced by anomalously high sea-level pressure (SLP) over the Beaufort Sea that persisted throughout much of the summer. Comparison of the tracks of drifting buoys with monthly mean SLP charts shows a substantial Ekman drift. By means of linear regression analysis it is shown that Ekman drift during summer has played an important role in regulating annual minimum Arctic sea-ice extent in prior years as well. In combination, the preconditioning by events in prior years, as represented by an index of May multi-year ice, and current atmospheric conditions, as represented by an index of July–August–September SLP anomalies over the Arctic basin account for ∼60% of the year-to-year variance of September sea-ice extent since 1979.

Received 11 August 2008; accepted 12 November 2008; published 18 December 2008.

Citation: Ogi, M., I. G. Rigor, M. G. McPhee, and J. M. Wallace (2008), Summer retreat of Arctic sea ice: Role of summer winds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L24701, doi:10.1029/2008GL035672.

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