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1.
A possible feedback mechanism involving the Arctic freshwater, the Arctic sea ice, and the North Atlantic Drift 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Model studies point to enhanced warming and to increased freshwater fluxes to high northern latitudes in response to global warming. In order to address possible feedbacks in the ice-ocean system in response to such changes, the combined effect of increased freshwater input to the Arctic Ocean and Arctic warming--the latter manifested as a gradual melting of the Arctic sea ice--is examined using a 3-D isopycnic coordinate ocean general circulation model. A suite of three idealized experiments is carried out: one control integration, one integration with a doubling of the modern Arctic river runoff, and a third more extreme case, where the river runoff is five times the modern value. In the two freshwater cases, the sea ice thickness is reduced by 1.5-2 m in the central Arctic Ocean over a 50-year period. The modelled ocean response is qualitatively the same for both perturbation experiments: freshwater propagates into the Atlantic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, leading to an initial weakening of the North Atlantic Drift.Furthermore, changes in the geostrophic currents in the central Arctic and melting of the Arctic sea ice lead to an intensified Beaufort Gyre, which in turn increases the southward volume transport through the Canadian Archipelago. To compensate for this southward transport of mass, more warm and saline Atlantic water is carried northward with the North Atlantic Drift. It is found that the increased transport of salt into the northern North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas tends to counteract the impact of the increased freshwater originating from the Arctic, leading to a stabilization of the North Atlantic Drift. 相似文献
2.
A long-term simulation performed with a coarse-resolution, global, atmosphere-ocean-sea-ice model displays strong decadal variability of the sea-ice volume in the Northern Hemisphere with a significant peak at about 15-18 years. This model results from the coupling of ECBILT, a spectral T21, 3-level quasi-geostrophic atmospheric model, and CLIO, a sea-ice-ocean general circulation model. First, the mechanism underlying the variability of ice volume in the model was studied by performing correlation analyses between the simulated variables. In a second step, a series of additional sensitivity experiments was performed in order to illustrate the role of specific physical processes. This has allowed us to identify a feedback loop in the ice-ocean system, which proceeds as follows: an increase in Arctic sea-ice volume induces an increase in the salinity there. This salinity anomaly is transported to the Greenland Sea where it promotes convective activity. This warms up the surface oceanic layer and the atmosphere in winter and induces a decrease of the ice volume, completing half a cycle. The changes in ice volume are driven by a geopotential height pattern characterised by centres of action of opposite signs over Greenland and the Barents-Kara-Central Arctic area. Thermodynamic feedback between the ice and the atmosphere appear also to be very important for the persistence of the oscillation. The dynamical response of the atmosphere to sea-ice and temperature anomalies at surface plays a smaller role. 相似文献
3.
Studies have suggested that sea-ice cover east and west of Greenland fluctuates out-of phase as a part of the Atlantic decadal climate variability, and greater changes are possible under global warming conditions. In this study, the response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) to the distribution of surface fresh-water flux is explored using a global isopycnal ocean model. An Arctic ice related fresh-water flux of 0.1 Sv entering the Nordic Seas is shown to reduce the maximum overturning by 1 to 2 Sv (106 m3 s–1). A further decrease of 3 to 5 Sv in the MOC is observed when the fresh-water flux is shifted from the Fram Strait to the southern Baffin Bay area. Surprisingly, the salinity in much of the upper Nordic Seas actually increases when the Arctic fresh-water source is the strongest there, as a result of enhanced global overturning. It reflects the great influence of Labrador Sea convection on this models MOC. By applying a weaker surface fresh-water transport perturbation (0.02 Sv) on the Baffin Bay area and therefore perturbing the Labrador Sea Water (LSW) formation, we have also investigated the interaction between the overflows across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge and the LSW and find that, with the same surface forcing conditions in the Nordic Seas, volume transport of the overflows weakens when the LSW formation intensifies. 相似文献
4.
Two independent ice data sets from the Greenland and Labrador Seas have been analyzed for the purpose of characterizing interannual and decadal time scale sea-ice extent anomalies during this century. Sea-ice concentration data for the 1953–1984 period revealed the presence of a large positive anomaly in the Greenland Sea during the 1960s which coincided with the great salinity anomaly, an upper-ocean low-salinity water mass that was observed to travel cyclonically around the northern North Atlantic during 1968–1982. This ice anomaly as well as several smaller ones propagated into the Labrador Sea and then across to the Labrador and east Newfoundland coast, over a period of 3 to 5 years. A complex empirical orthogonal function analysis of the same data also confirmed this propagation phenomenon. An inverse relation between sea-ice and salinity anomalies in the Greenland-Labrador Sea region was also generally found. An analysis of spring and summer ice-limit data obtained from Danish Meteorological Institute charts for the period 1901–1956 indicated the presence of heavy ice conditions (i.e., positive ice anomalies) in the Greenland Sea during 1902–1920 and in the late 1940s, and generally negative ice anomalies during the 1920s and 1930s. Only limited evidence of the propagation of Greenland Sea ice anomalies into the Labrador Sea was observed, however, probably because the data were from the ice-melt seasons. On the other hand, several large ice anomalies in the Greenland Sea occurred 2–3 years after large runoffs (in the early 1930s and the late 1940s) from northern Canada into the western Arctic Ocean. Similarly, a large runoff into the Arctic during 1964–1966 preceded the large Greenland Sea ice anomaly of the 1960s. These facts, together with recent evidence of climatic jumps in the Northern Hemisphere tropospheric circulation, suggest the existence of an interdecadal self-sustained climate cycle in the Arctic. In the Greenland Sea, this cycle is characterized by a state of large sea-ice extent overlying an upper layer of cool, relatively fresh water that does not convectively overturn, which alternates every 10–15 years with a state of small sea-ice extent and relatively warm saline surface water that frequently overturns.Dedicated to Robert W. Stewart on the occasion of his retirement 相似文献
5.
Analysis of the projected regional sea-ice changes in the Southern Ocean during the twenty-first century 总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1
Using the set of simulations performed with atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) for the Fourth Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4), the projected regional distribution of sea ice for the
twenty-first century has been investigated. Averaged over all those model simulations, the current climate is reasonably well
reproduced. However, this averaging procedure hides the errors from individual models. Over the twentieth century, the multimodel
average simulates a larger sea-ice concentration decrease around the Antarctic Peninsula compared to other regions, which
is in qualitative agreement with observations. This is likely related to the positive trend in the Southern Annular Mode (SAM)
index over the twentieth century, in both observations and in the multimodel average. Despite the simulated positive future
trend in SAM, such a regional feature around the Antarctic Peninsula is absent in the projected sea-ice change for the end
of the twenty-first century. The maximum decrease is indeed located over the central Weddell Sea and the Amundsen–Bellingshausen
Seas. In most models, changes in the oceanic currents could play a role in the regional distribution of the sea ice, especially
in the Ross Sea, where stronger southward currents could be responsible for a smaller sea-ice decrease during the twenty-first
century. Finally, changes in the mixed layer depth can be found in some models, inducing locally strong changes in the sea-ice
concentration.
相似文献
| W. LefebvreEmail: |
6.
Design and Numerical Simulation of an Arctic Ocean Circulation and Thermodynamic Sea－Ice Model 总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3
In this paper, the first version of a new Arctic Ocean circulation and thermodynamic sea-ice model is presented by the authors based on the framework of a twenty-layer World Oceanic general circulation model developed by Zhang et al. in 1994, The model’s domain covers the Arctic Ocean and Greenland-Norwegian Seas with the horizon-tal resolution of 200 km × 200 km on a stereographic projection plane. In vertical, the model uses the Eta-coordinate (Sigma modified to have quasi-horizontal coordinate surfaces) and has ten unevenly-spaced layers to cover the deep-est water column of 3000 m. Two 150-year integrations of coupling the ocean circulation model with the sea-ice model have been performed with seasonally cyclic surface boundary conditions. The only difference between the two experiments is in the model’s geography. Some preliminary analyses of the experimental results have been done fo-cused on the following aspects: (1) surface layer temperature, salinity and current; (2) the "Atlantic Layer"; (3) sea-ice cover and its seasonal variation. In comparison with the available observational data, these results are accept-able with reasonable accuracy. 相似文献
7.
F. J. Saucier S. Senneville S. Prinsenberg F. Roy G. Smith P. Gachon D. Caya R. Laprise 《Climate Dynamics》2004,23(3-4):303-326
The seasonal cycle of water masses and sea ice in the Hudson Bay marine system is examined using a three-dimensional coastal ice-ocean model, with 10 km horizontal resolution and realistic tidal, atmospheric, hydrologic and oceanic forcing. The model includes a level 2.5 turbulent kinetic energy equation, multi-category elastic-viscous-plastic sea-ice rheology, and two layer sea ice with a single snow layer. Results from a two-year long model simulation between August 1996 and July 1998 are analyzed and compared with various observations. The results demonstrate a consistent seasonal cycle in atmosphere-ocean exchanges and the formation and circulation of water masses and sea ice. The model reproduces the summer and winter surface mixed layers, the general cyclonic circulation including the strong coastal current in eastern Hudson Bay, and the inflow of oceanic waters into Hudson Bay. The maximum sea-ice growth rates are found in western Foxe Basin, and in a relatively large and persistent polynya in northwestern Hudson Bay. Sea-ice advection and ridging are more important than local thermodynamic growth in the regions of maximum sea-ice cover concentration and thickness that are found in eastern Foxe Basin and southern Hudson Bay. The estimate of freshwater transport to the Labrador Sea confirms a broad maximum during wintertime that is associated with the previous summers freshwater moving through Hudson Strait from southern Hudson Bay. Tidally driven mixing is shown to have a strong effect on the modeled ice-ocean circulation. 相似文献
8.
9.
A thermodynamic-dynamic sea-ice model based on a granular material rheology developed by Tremblay and Mysak is used to study
the interannual variability of the Arctic sea-ice cover during the 41-year period 1958–98. Monthly wind stress forcing derived
from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Reanalysis data is used to produce the year-to-year variations
in the sea-ice circulation and thickness. We focus on analyzing the variability of the sea-ice volume in the Arctic Basin
and the subsequent changes in sea-ice export into the Greenland Sea via Fram Strait. The relative contributions of the Fram
Strait sea-ice thickness and velocity anomalies to the sea-ice export anomalies are first investigated, and the former is
shown to be particularly important during several large export events. The sea-ice export anomalies for these events are next
linked to prior sea-ice volume anomalies in the Arctic Basin. The origin and evolution of the sea-ice volume anomalies are
then related to the sea-ice circulation and atmospheric forcing patterns in the Arctic. Large sea-ice export anomalies are
generally preceded by large volume anomalies formed along the East Siberian coast due to anomalous winds which occur when
the Arctic High is centered closer than usual to this coastal area. When the center of this High relocates over the Beaufort
Sea and the Icelandic Low extends far into the Arctic Basin, the ice volume anomalies are transported to the Fram Strait region
via the Transpolar Drift Stream. Finally, the link between the sea-ice export and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index
is briefly discussed. The overall results from this study show that the Arctic Basin and its ice volume anomalies must be
considered in order to fully understand the export through Fram Strait.
Received: 27 January 1999 / Accepted: 8 July 1999 相似文献
10.
冬春季节北极海冰的年际和年代际变化 总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6
利用1953～1990年海冰密集度资料,研究了冬、春季节北极海冰的时空变化特征.结果表明:冬,春季节海冰变率大的海区主要有巴伦支海、格陵兰海、巴芬湾、戴维斯海峡以及白令海;在巴芬湾、戴维斯海峡和白令海海区,冬季海冰变率比春季的大;冬、春季节喀拉海、巴伦支海海冰面积均与春季白令海海冰面积呈反向变化关系,与巴芬湾、戴维斯海峡海冰面积也存在相反的变化趋势.分析还表明:北极海冰面积还表现出年代际时间尺度变化,尤其在冬季.春季格陵兰海海冰明显存在12年变化周期,而在冬、春季节,喀拉海、巴伦支海海冰存在l0年变化周期. 相似文献
11.
P. Gloersen H. J. Zwally A. T. C. Chang D. K. Hall W. J. Campbell R. O. Ramseier 《Boundary-Layer Meteorology》1978,13(1-4):339-359
The time variation of the sea-ice concentration and multiyear ice fraction within the pack ice in the Arctic Basin is examined, using microwave images of sea ice recently acquired by the Nimbus-5 spacecraft and the NASA CV-990 airborne laboratory. The images used for these studies were constructed from data acquired from the Electrically Scanned Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) which records radiation from earth and its atmosphere at a wavelength of 1.55 cm. Data are analyzed for four seasons during 1973–1975 to illustrate some basic differences in the properties of the sea ice during those times. Spacecraft data are compared with corresponding NASA CV-990 airborne laboratory data obtained over wide areas in the Arctic Basin during the Main Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (1975) to illustrate the applicability of passive-microwave remote sensing for monitoring the time dependence of sea-ice concentration (divergence). These observations indicate significant variations in the sea-ice concentration in the spring, late fall and early winter. In addition, deep in the interior of the Arctic polar sea-ice pack, heretofore unobserved large areas, several hundred kilometers in extent, of sea-ice concentrations as low as 50% are indicated. 相似文献
12.
Arctic sea ice and Eurasian climate: A review 总被引：12，自引：0，他引：12
GAO Yongqi SUN Jianqi LI Fei HE Shengping Stein SANDVEN YAN Qing ZHANG Zhongshi Katja LOHMANN Noel KEENLYSIDE Tore FUREVIK SUO Lingling 《大气科学进展》2015,32(1):92-114
The Arctic plays a fundamental role in the climate system and has shown significant climate change in recent decades,including the Arctic warming and decline of Arctic sea-ice extent and thickness. In contrast to the Arctic warming and reduction of Arctic sea ice, Europe, East Asia and North America have experienced anomalously cold conditions, with record snowfall during recent years. In this paper, we review current understanding of the sea-ice impacts on the Eurasian climate.Paleo, observational and modelling studies are covered to summarize several major themes, including: the variability of Arctic sea ice and its controls; the likely causes and apparent impacts of the Arctic sea-ice decline during the satellite era,as well as past and projected future impacts and trends; the links and feedback mechanisms between the Arctic sea ice and the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation, the recent Eurasian cooling, winter atmospheric circulation, summer precipitation in East Asia, spring snowfall over Eurasia, East Asian winter monsoon, and midlatitude extreme weather; and the remote climate response(e.g., atmospheric circulation, air temperature) to changes in Arctic sea ice. We conclude with a brief summary and suggestions for future research. 相似文献
13.
Actual and insolation-weighted Northern Hemisphere snow cover and sea ice are binned by latitude bands for the years 1973–2002. Antarctic sea-ice is also analyzed for the years 1980–2002. The use of insolation weighting provides an improved estimate of the radiative feedbacks of snow cover and sea-ice into the atmosphere. One conclusion of our assessment is that while a decrease in both areal and insolation-weighted values have occurred, the data does not show a monotonic decrease of either Arctic sea-ice or Northern Hemisphere snow cover. If Arctic perennial sea-ice is decreasing since the total reduction in areal coverage is relatively small, a large portion of it is being replenished each year such that its radiative feedback to the atmosphere is muted. Antarctic sea-ice areal cover shows no significant long-term trend, while there is a slight decrease in the insolation-weighted values for the period 1980–2002. From the early 1990s to 2001, there was a slight increase in both values. The comparison of general circulation model simulations of changes over the last several decades to observed changes in insolation-weighted sea-ice and snow cover should be a priority research topic. 相似文献
14.
The origin and space-time evolution of Beaufort-Chukchi Sea ice anomalies are studied using data and a recently developed
dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model. First, the relative importance of anomalies of river runoff, atmospheric temperature
and wind in creating anomalous sea-ice conditions in the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea is investigated. The results indicate that wind
anomalies are the dominant factor responsible for creating interannual variability in the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea ice cover.
Temperature anomalies appear to play a major role for longer time scale fluctuations, whereas the effects of runoff anomalies
are small. The sea-ice model is then used to track the position of a positive sea-ice anomaly as it is transported by the
Beaufort Gyre toward the Transpolar Drift Stream and then exported out of the Arctic Basin into the Greenland Sea via Fram
Strait. The model integration shows that sea-ice anomalies originating in the western Beaufort Sea can survive a few seasonal
cycles as they propogate through the Arctic Basin and can account for a notable amount of anomalous ice export into the Greenland
Sea. These anomalies, however, represent a small contribution to the fresh water budget in this area when compared with sea-ice
fluctuations generated by interannually varying local winds.
Received: 1 May 1997/Accepted: 22 October 1997 相似文献
15.
A regional Arctic Ocean configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model(MITgcm)is applied to simulate the Arctic sea ice from 1991 to 2012.The simulations are evaluated by comparing them with observations from different sources.The results show that MITgcm can reproduce the interannual and seasonal variability of the sea-ice extent,but underestimates the trend in sea-ice extent,especially in September.The ice concentration and thickness distributions are comparable to those from the observations,with most deviations within the observational uncertainties and less than 0.5 m,respectively.The simulated sea-ice extents are better correlated with observations in September,with a correlation coefficient of 0.95,than in March,with a correlation coefficient of 0.83.However,the distributions of sea-ice concentration are better simulated in March,with higher pattern correlation coefficients(0.98)than in September.When the model underestimates the atmospheric influence on the sea-ice evolution in March,deviations in the sea-ice concentration arise at the ice edges and are higher than those in September.In contrast,when the model underestimates the oceanic boundaries’influence on the September sea-ice evolution,disagreements in the distribution of the sea-ice concentration and its trend are found over most marginal seas in the Arctic Ocean.The uncertainties of the model,whereby it fails to incorporate the atmospheric information in March and oceanic information in September,contribute to varying model errors with the seasons. 相似文献
16.
A data-model intercomparison study of Arctic sea-ice variability 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
The dynamic-thermodynamic granular rheology sea-ice model of Tremblay and Mysak is validated against 40 years of observed sea-ice concentration (SIC) data. Subsequently, the mechanisms responsible for producing SIC anomalies in the model are evaluated by studying the coupled variance (using the singular value decomposition method, SVD) between the simulated SIC anomalies and the ice speed and air temperature anomalies. To execute this validation, a 49-year (1949-97) simulation (including a 9-year spin-up period) of the Arctic and peripheral sea-ice cover using daily varying winds and monthly mean air temperatures is produced. In general, the simulated SIC variations for 1958-97 in the East Siberian, Chukchi and Beaufort seas are in agreement with observations, while larger discrepancies occur in the Laptev and Kara seas. Moreover, the sensitivity of the model to southerly wind anomalies in creating summer SIC anomalies compares well with the observed sensitivity; however, the model's sensitivity to summer air temperature anomalies is weaker than observed. The summer SIC anomalies over an entire sea are not influenced by variations in the level of river runoff. Results from the SVD analysis show that the main source of variability in the peripheral seas is associated with the variation in the strength of the Arctic High; in the East Siberian and Laptev seas, the strengthening and weakening of the Transpolar Drift Stream also play an important role. Over the entire Arctic domain, surface air temperature anomalies are negatively correlated with sea-ice anomalies. Finally, the observed downward trend in total sea-ice cover in the last two decades as well as record minima in the East Siberian Sea are well reproduced in the simulation. 相似文献
17.
Substantial reduction in Arctic sea ice in recent decades has intensified air-sea interaction over the Arctic Ocean and has altered atmospheric states in the Arctic and surrounding high-latitude regions. This study has found that the atmospheric responses related to Arctic sea-ice melt in the cold season (October–March) depend on sea-ice fraction and are very sensitive to in situ sea surface temperature (SST) from a series of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations in which multiple combinations of SSTs and sea-ice concentrations are prescribed in the Arctic Ocean. It has been found that the amplitude of surface warming over the melted sea-ice region is controlled by concurrent in situ SST even if these simulations are forced by the same sea-ice concentration. Much of the sensitivity of surface warming to in situ SST are related with large changes in surface heat fluxes such as the outgoing long-wave flux in early winter (October–December) and the sensible and latent heat fluxes for the entire cold season. Vertical extension of surface warming and moistening is sensitive to these changes as well; the associated condensational heating modulates a static stability in the lower troposphere. This study also indicates that changes in SST fields in AGCM simulations must be implemented with extra care, especially in the melted sea-ice region in the Arctic. The statistical method introduced in this study for adjusting SSTs in conjunction with a given sea-ice change can help to model the atmospheric response to sea-ice loss more accurately. 相似文献
18.
Causes and impacts of changes in the Arctic freshwater budget during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in an AOGCM 总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1
The fourth version of the atmosphere-ocean general circulation (AOGCM) model developed at the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace
(IPSL-CM4) is used to investigate the mechanisms influencing the Arctic freshwater balance in response to anthropogenic greenhouse
gas forcing. The freshwater influence on the interannual variability of deep winter oceanic convection in the Nordic Seas
is also studied on the basis of correlation and regression analyses of detrended variables. The model shows that the Fram
Strait outflow, which is an important source of freshwater for the northern North Atlantic, experiences a rapid and strong
transition from a weak state toward a relatively strong state during 1990–2010. The authors propose that this climate shift
is triggered by the retreat of sea ice in the Barents Sea during the late twentieth century. This sea ice reduction initiates
a positive feedback in the atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system that alters both the atmospheric and oceanic circulations in the
Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian (GIN)-Barents Seas sector. Around year 2080, the model predicts a second transition threshold
beyond which the Fram Strait outflow is restored toward its original weak value. The long-term freshening of the GIN Seas
is invoked to explain this rapid transition. It is further found that the mechanism of interannual changes in deep mixing
differ fundamentally between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This difference is caused by the dominant influence
of freshwater over the twenty-first century. In the GIN Seas, the interannual changes in the liquid freshwater export out
of the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait combined with the interannual changes in the liquid freshwater import from the North
Atlantic are shown to have a major influence in driving the interannual variability of the deep convection during the twenty-first
century. South of Iceland, the other region of deep water renewal in the model, changes in freshwater import from the North
Atlantic constitute the dominant forcing of deep convection on interannual time scales over the twenty-first century. 相似文献
19.
Mechanism of an Abrupt Decrease in Sea-Ice Cover in the Pacific Sector of the Arctic during the Late 1980s 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Jianfen Wei 《大气与海洋》2014,52(5):434-445
The recent decline in Arctic sea-ice cover (SIC) shows seasonal and regional characteristics. The retreat of summer sea ice has occurred mainly in the Pacific sector of the Arctic. In this study, using the moving t-test, we found an abrupt change event in the long-term sea-ice area in the Pacific sector in summer 1989. This event was linked to the phase shift of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) or the Northern Annular Mode (NAM). Corresponding with the AO/NAM phase shift from negative to positive, the area of the northern hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex decreased abruptly in winter 1988/89. Comparisons of two periods before (1979–1988) and after (1989–1993) the abrupt decrease in sea ice show that an anomalous winter sea level pressure (SLP) was induced by changes in the polar vortex leading to an anomalous cyclonic ice drift in the Pacific sector. The changes in SLP and wind field persisted into the following spring, resulting in a decrease in SIC and warming of the surface air temperature (SAT). The influence of the spring SLP and SAT on ice persisted into the following summer. Meanwhile, the increased summer net surface heat flux over the ocean and sea ice as a result of the decreased spring ice cover further contributed to the summer sea-ice melt. 相似文献
20.
Jinping ZHAO David BARBER Shugang ZHANG Qinghua YANG Xiaoyu WANG Hongjie XIE 《大气科学进展》2018,35(1):106-115
The Arctic sea-ice extent has shown a declining trend over the past 30 years. Ice coverage reached historic minima in 2007 and again in 2012. This trend has recently been assessed to be unique over at least the last 1450 years. In the summer of 2010, a very low sea-ice concentration(SIC) appeared at high Arctic latitudes—even lower than that of surrounding pack ice at lower latitudes. This striking low ice concentration—referred to here as a record low ice concentration in the central Arctic(CARLIC)—is unique in our analysis period of 2003–15, and has not been previously reported in the literature. The CARLIC was not the result of ice melt, because sea ice was still quite thick based on in-situ ice thickness measurements.Instead, divergent ice drift appears to have been responsible for the CARLIC. A high correlation between SIC and wind stress curl suggests that the sea ice drift during the summer of 2010 responded strongly to the regional wind forcing. The drift trajectories of ice buoys exhibited a transpolar drift in the Atlantic sector and an eastward drift in the Pacific sector,which appeared to benefit the CARLIC in 2010. Under these conditions, more solar energy can penetrate into the open water,increasing melt through increased heat flux to the ocean. We speculate that this divergence of sea ice could occur more often in the coming decades, and impact on hemispheric SIC and feed back to the climate. 相似文献