A Model for the Thermodynamic Growth of Sea Ice in Numerical Investigations of Climate

Semtner, Albert J.

doi:10.1175/1520-0485(1976)006<0379:amfttg>2.0.co;2

Cited by 1,168 publications

(787 citation statements)

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“…Thermodynamic growth and melt of the ice are based on the zero-layer model of Semtner (1976) and the ice model is coupled to a slab ocean model, whose variables are the slab ocean temperature and salinity. While still being under development, the model is already used in an experimental sea-ice forecast platform covering the Kara Sea (https://www.nersc.no/data/nextsim-f).…”

Section: Nextsim Trajectories Datasetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic sea-ice diffusion from observed and simulated Lagrangian trajectories

et al. 2016

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Abstract. We characterize sea-ice drift by applying a Lagrangian diffusion analysis to buoy trajectories from the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) dataset and from two different models: the standalone Lagrangian sea-ice model neXtSIM and the Eulerian coupled ice-ocean model used for the TOPAZ reanalysis. By applying the diffusion analysis to the IABP buoy trajectories over the period 1979-2011, we confirm that sea-ice diffusion follows two distinct regimes (ballistic and Brownian) and we provide accurate values for the diffusivity and integral timescale that could be used in Eulerian or Lagrangian passive tracers models to simulate the transport and diffusion of particles moving with the ice. We discuss how these values are linked to the evolution of the fluctuating displacements variance and how this information could be used to define the size of the search area around the position predicted by the mean drift. By comparing observed and simulated sea-ice trajectories for three consecutive winter seasons (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011), we show how the characteristics of the simulated motion may differ from or agree well with observations. This comparison illustrates the usefulness of first applying a diffusion analysis to evaluate the output of modeling systems that include a sea-ice model before using these in, e.g., oil spill trajectory models or, more generally, to simulate the transport of passive tracers in sea ice.

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Section: Nextsim Trajectories Datasetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic sea-ice diffusion from observed and simulated Lagrangian trajectories

et al. 2016

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“…Freezing and melting of sea ice and associated fluxes of heat and freshwater between the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere are calculated by solving a heat balance equation for each surface grid column at each time step (Zhang et al 1998a;Parkinson and Washington 1979;Semtner 1976). When air temperatures are below freezing, precipitation falls as snow.…”

Section: A Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing

et al. 2009

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The authors investigate the response of the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget to changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) using a regional-ocean configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology GCM (MITgcm) and carry out several different 10-yr and 30-yr integrations. At 1 / 6 8 (;18 km) resolution the model resolves the major Arctic transport pathways, including Bering Strait and the Canadian Archipelago. Two main calculations are performed by repeating the wind fields of two contrasting NAO years in each run for the extreme negative and positive NAO phases of 1969 and 1989, respectively. These calculations are compared both with a control run and the compiled observationally based freshwater budget estimate of Serreze et al.The results show a clear response in the Arctic freshwater budget to NAO forcing, that is, repeat NAO negative wind forcing results in virtually all freshwater being retained in the Arctic, with the bulk of the freshwater content being pooled in the Beaufort gyre. In contrast, repeat NAO positive forcing accelerates the export of freshwater out of the Arctic to the North Atlantic, primarily via Fram Strait (;900 km 3 yr 21 ) and the Canadian Archipelago (;500 km 3 yr 21 ), with a total loss in freshwater storage of ;13 000 km 3 (15%) after 10 yr. The large increase in freshwater export through the Canadian Archipelago highlights the important role that this gateway plays in redistributing the freshwater of the Arctic to subpolar seas, by providing a direct pathway from the Arctic basin to the Labrador Sea, Gulf Stream system, and Atlantic Ocean.The authors discuss the sensitivity of the Arctic Ocean to long-term fixed extreme NAO states and show that the freshwater content of the Arctic is able to be restored to initial values from a depleted freshwater state after ;20 yr.

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“…The horizontal eddy viscosity is parametrized following Smagorinsky (1963) and the horizontal eddy diffusivity is set to 2.5 m 2 s −1 . The ocean model is fully coupled to a dynamic and thermodynamic (Semtner, 1976) sea-ice model. The sea-ice model has been changed from that used by Saucier et al (2003) to employ the elastic-viscous plastic rheology of Hunke and Dukowicz (1997); full details of the implementation can be found in the work by Saucier et al (2004).…”

Section: Ice-ocean Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of an operational ice–ocean analysis and forecasting system for the Gulf of St Lawrence

Smith

Roy

Brasnett

2012

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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Our ability to simulate and understand oceanic conditions of the Gulf of St Lawrence (GSL) has significantly increased in the last decade with the development of regional ocean models combining scientific knowledge, oceanographic data, and computing techniques. This has created opportunities for their integration with meteorological forecast models where the importance of sea ice-ocean dynamics in air-sea exchanges was recently demonstrated. In order to produce accurate initial conditions for coupled weather forecasts, a GSL ice-ocean 'pseudo' analysis (IOPA) system has been developed and implemented operationally at the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC). Based on prognostic ice-ocean model solutions the IOPA system has sufficient skill to produce realistic daily fields without flux correction or data assimilation of temperature and salinity. Using only a simple assimilation method for sea-ice data, daily oceanic fields are obtained and can be used to initialize ice-ocean or coupled atmospheric forecasting systems.A 3-year retrospective evaluation of this operational method is presented focusing on sea-surface temperature (SST) and sea-ice conditions. Model estimates are compared with in situ and satellite-derived data. Results show that the IOPA system has an accuracy equivalent to or better than the current operational SST and ice analyses produced at the CMC. Together with preceding modelling efforts, this work lays the foundation for the first state-of-the-art GSL ocean analysis and forecast systems combining ocean modelling and real-time three-dimensional data assimilation. Coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean forecasts produced with the same ice-ocean model and initialized with the IOPA system are presented in a companion paper.

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A Model for the Thermodynamic Growth of Sea Ice in Numerical Investigations of Climate

Cited by 1,168 publications

References 0 publications

Arctic sea-ice diffusion from observed and simulated Lagrangian trajectories

Arctic sea-ice diffusion from observed and simulated Lagrangian trajectories

Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing

Evaluation of an operational ice–ocean analysis and forecasting system for the Gulf of St Lawrence

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