Publication Date:
2019-09-14
Description:
The presence of thin sea ice is indicative of active freezing conditions in the polar ocean. We propose a simple yet effective method to incorporate information of thin-ice category into coupled ocean–sea-ice model simulations. In our approach, the thin-ice distribution restricts thick-ice extent and constrains atmosphere–ocean heat exchange through the sea ice. Our model simulation with the incorporation of satellite-derived thin-ice data for the Arctic Ocean showed much improved representation of sea-ice and upper-ocean fields, including sea-ice thickness in the Canadian Archipelago and the region north of Greenland, mixed-layer depth over the Central Arctic, and surface-layer salinity over the open ocean. Enhanced sea-ice production by the thin-ice data constraint increased the total sea-ice volume of the Arctic Ocean by $$5 imes 10^{3}$$ 5 × 10 3 –$$10 imes 10^{3}$$ 10 × 10 3 km3. Subsequent sea-ice melting was also enhanced, leading to the greater amplitude of the seasonal cycle by approximately $$2 imes 10^{3}$$ 2 × 10 3 km3 (15% of the baseline value from the experiment without the thin-ice data incorporation). Overall, our results demonstrate that the incorporation of satellite-derived information on thin sea ice has great potential for the improvement of coupled ocean–sea-ice simulations.
Print ISSN:
0930-7575
Electronic ISSN:
1432-0894
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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