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Title: Air‐Ice‐Ocean Coupling During a Strong Mid‐Winter Cyclone: Observing Coupled Dynamic Interactions Across Scales

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Center for Fluid Mechanics Brown University Providence RI USA
  2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Physical Sciences Laboratory Boulder CO USA, Finnish Meteorological Institute Helsinki Finland
  3. Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Moss Landing CA USA, Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA USA
  4. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Physical Sciences Laboratory Boulder CO USA, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder CO USA
  5. College of Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Oregon State University Corvallis OR USA
  6. Finnish Meteorological Institute Helsinki Finland
  7. Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden

Abstract Arctic cyclones are key drivers of sea ice and ocean variability. During the 2019–2020 Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition, joint observations of the coupled air‐ice‐ocean system were collected at multiple spatial scales. Here, we present observations of a strong mid‐winter cyclone that impacted the MOSAiC site as it drifted in the central Arctic pack ice. The sea ice dynamical response showed spatial structure at the scale of the evolving and translating cyclonic wind field. Internal ice stress and ocean stress play significant roles, resulting in timing offsets between the atmospheric forcing and the ice response and post‐cyclone inertial ringing in the ice and ocean. Ice motion in response to the wind field then forces the upper ocean currents through frictional drag. The strongest impacts to the sea ice and ocean from the passing cyclone occur as a result of the surface impacts of a strong atmospheric low‐level jet (LLJ) behind the trailing cold front and changing wind directions between the warm‐sector LLJ and post cold‐frontal LLJ. Impacts of the cyclone are prolonged through the coupled ice‐ocean inertial response. Local impacts of the approximately 120 km wide LLJ occur over a 12 hr period or less and at scales of a kilometer to a few tens of kilometers, meaning that these impacts occur at combined smaller spatial scales and faster time scales than most satellite observations and coupled Earth system models can resolve.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0021342
OSTI ID:
2439090
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 129; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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