Impact of Poleward Moisture Transport from the North Pacific on the Acceleration of Sea Ice Loss in the Arctic since 2002

Journal Article · Wed Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Climate

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0461.1· OSTI ID:1372729

Lee, H. J. ^[1]; Kwon, M. O. ^[1]; Yeh, S. -W. ^[2]; Kwon, Y. -O. ^[3]; Park, W. ^[4]; Park, J. -H. ^[5]; Kim, Y. H. ^[6]; Alexander, M. A. ^[7]

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1. Department of Ocean Science, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan, South Korea
2. Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University, Ansan, South Korea
3. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
4. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
5. Department of Ocean Science, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea
6. Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Ansan, South Korea
7. NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado

Abstract Arctic sea ice area (SIA) during late summer and early fall decreased substantially over the last four decades, and its decline accelerated beginning in the early 2000s. Statistical analyses of observations show that enhanced poleward moisture transport from the North Pacific to the Arctic Ocean contributed to the accelerated SIA decrease during the most recent period. As a consequence, specific humidity in the Arctic Pacific sector significantly increased along with an increase of downward longwave radiation beginning in 2002, which led to a significant acceleration in the decline of SIA in the Arctic Pacific sector. The resulting sea ice loss led to increased evaporation in the Arctic Ocean, resulting in a further increase of the specific humidity in mid-to-late fall, thus acting as a positive feedback to the sea ice loss. The overall set of processes is also found in a long control simulation of a coupled climate model.

• Research Organization: Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., Woods Hole, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0014433
• OSTI ID: 1372729
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1537018
• Journal Information: Journal of Climate, Journal Name: Journal of Climate Vol. 30 Journal Issue: 17; ISSN 0894-8755
• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences