Robert M. Graham

Winter to summer oceanographic observations in the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard

Oceanographic observations from the Eurasian Basin north of Svalbard collected between January and June 2015 from the N-ICE2015 drifting expedition are presented. The unique winter observations are a key contribution to existing climatologies of the Arctic Ocean, and show a ∼100m deep winter mixed layer likely due to high sea ice growth rates in local leads. Current observations for the upper ∼200m show mostly a barotropic flow, enhanced over the shallow Yermak Plateau. The two branches of inflowing Atlantic Water are partly captured, confirming that the outer Yermak Branch follows the perimeter of the plateau, and the inner Svalbard Branch the coast. Atlantic Water observed to be warmer and shallower than in the climatology, is found directly below the mixed layer down to 800m depth, and is warmest along the slope, while properties inside the basin are quite homogeneous. From late May onwards, the drift was continually close to the ice edge and a thinner surface mixed layer and shallower Atlantic Water coincided with significant sea ice melt being observed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A comparison of the two Arctic atmospheric winter states observed during N‐ICE2015 and SHEBA

Winter time atmospheric observations from the 2015 Norwegian young sea-ICE campaign (N-ICE2015) are compared with data from the 1997-1998 Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) campaign. Both datasets have a bimodal distribution of the net longwave radiative flux for January-February, with modal values of -40 W m-2 and 0 W m-2. These values correspond to the radiatively clear and opaquely cloudy states, respectively, and are likely to be representative of the wider Arctic. The new N-ICE2015 observations demonstrate that the two winter states operate in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic and regions of thin sea ice. We compare the N-ICE2015 and SHEBA data with ERA-Interim and output from the coupled Arctic regional climate model HIRHAM-NAOSIM. ERA-Interim simulates two Arctic winter states well and captures the timing of transitions from one state to the other, despite underestimating the cloud liquid water path. HIRHAM-NAOSIM has more cloud liquid water compared with ERA-Interim, but simulates the two states poorly. Our results demonstrate that models must simulate realistic synoptic forcing and temperature profiles to accurately capture the two Arctic winter states, and not only the presence of mixed-phase clouds. Using ERA-Interim, we find a positive trend in the number of opaquely cloudy days in the western Atlantic sector of the Arctic, and a strong correlation with the mean winter temperature over much of the Arctic Basin. Hence, the two Arctic winter states are important for understanding inter-annual variability in the Arctic. The N-ICE2015 dataset will help improve our understanding of these relationships.

Vertical thermodynamic structure of the troposphere during the Norwegian young sea ICE expedition (N‐ICE2015)

The Norwegian young sea ICE (N-ICE2015) expedition was designed to investigate the atmosphere-snow-ice-ocean interactions in the young and thin sea ice regime north of Svalbard. Radiosondes were launched twice daily during the expedition from January to June 2015. Here we use these upper air measurements to study the multiple cyclonic events observed during N-ICE2015 with respect to changes in the vertical thermodynamic structure, moisture content, and boundary layer characteristics. We provide statistics of temperature inversion characteristics, static stability, and boundary layer extent. During winter, when radiative cooling is most effective, we find the strongest impact of synoptic cyclones. Changes to thermodynamic characteristics of the boundary layer are associated with transitions between the radiatively “clear” and “opaque” atmospheric states. In spring, radiative fluxes warm the surface leading to lifted temperature inversions and a statically unstable boundary layer. Further, we compare the N-ICE2015 static stability distributions to corresponding profiles from ERA-Interim reanalysis, from the closest land station in the Arctic North Atlantic sector, Ny-Alesund, and to soundings from the SHEBA expedition (1997/1998). We find similar stability characteristics for N-ICE2015 and SHEBA throughout the troposphere, despite differences in location, sea ice thickness, and snow cover. For Ny-Alesund, we observe similar characteristics above 1000 m, while the topography and ice-free fjord surrounding Ny-Alesund generate great differences below. The long-term radiosonde record (1993–2014) from Ny-Alesund indicates that during the N-ICE2015 spring period, temperatures were close to the climatological mean, while the lowest 3000 m were 1–3∘C warmer than the climatology during winter.

Increasing frequency and duration of Arctic winter warming events

Near-surface air temperatures close to 0°C were observed in situ over sea ice in the central Arctic during the last three winter seasons. Here we use in situ winter (December–March) temperature observations, such as those from Soviet North Pole drifting stations and ocean buoys, to determine how common Arctic winter warming events are. Observations of winter warming events exist over most of the Arctic Basin. Temperatures exceeding -5°C were observed during >30% of winters from 1954 to 2010 by North Pole drifting stations or ocean buoys. Using the ERA-Interim record (1979–2016), we show that the North Pole (NP) region typically experiences 10 warming events (T2m > 10°C) per winter, compared with only five in the Pacific Central Arctic (PCA). There is a positive trend in the overall duration of winter warming events for both the NP region (4.25 days/decade) and PCA (1.16 days/decade), due to an increased number of events of longer duration.

Critical Role of Snow on Sea Ice Growth in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic Ocean

During the Norwegian young sea ICE (N-ICE2015) campaign in early 2015, a deep snow pack was observed, almost double the climatology for the region north of Svalbard. There were significant amounts of snow-ice in second-year ice (SYI), while much less in first-year ice (FYI). Here we use a 1-D snow/ice thermodynamic model, forced with reanalyses, to show that snow-ice contributes to thickness growth of SYI in absence of any bottom growth, due to the thick snow. Growth of FYI is tightly controlled by the timing of growth onset relative to precipitation events. A later growth-onset can be favorable for FYI growth due to less snow accumulation, which limits snow-ice formation. We surmise these findings are related to a phenomenon in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic, where frequent storm events bring heavy precipitation during autumn and winter, in a region with a thinning ice cover.