The Impact of an Intense Cyclone on Short‐Term Sea Ice Loss in a Fully Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean‐Ice Model

Abstract

Arctic cyclones may be associated with periods of locally enhanced sea ice loss during the summer, and some studies have found that an intense cyclone in August 2012 resulted in a rapid sea ice retreat. This study uses a coupled atmosphere‐ocean‐ice model (Navy‐ESPC) to explore the relationship between the 2012 cyclone and short‐term sea ice melting. There are two mechanisms of cyclone‐induced melting in Navy‐ESPC: turbulent mixing of a warm layer located at 15‐ to 35‐m depth increases bottom melting and warm air advection by the strong surface winds increases surface melting. Although the rate of sea ice melt is substantially increased in association with the cyclone, this effect is confined to a relatively small region and only lasts for a few days. There is no clear signature of the cyclone on the overall Arctic sea ice extent in Navy‐ESPC.

Summer Cyclones and Their Association With Short-Term Sea Ice Variability in the Pacific Sector of the Arctic

“…However, cyclones are likely having a larger effect on sea ice cover as young and thin sea ice becomes more widespread in the Arctic (Rampal et al, 2009;Maslanik et al, 2011;Spreen et al, 2011;Lindsay and Schweiger 2015;Itkin et al, 2017). Despite uncertainty in whether cyclones are a significant source of seasonal or interannual variability in pan-Arctic sea ice cover (Rae et al, 2017), numerous studies have demonstrated that cyclones are indeed a source of local and short term variability in sea ice cover and concentration (Zhang et al, 2013;Stern et al, 2020;Lukovich et al, 2021), and these shortterm changes in sea ice are critical for navigability within the Arctic region. This study examines how the surface winds and atmospheric energy flux from recent Arctic summer cyclones affects sea ice concentration on synoptic weather time scales of 1-10 days.…”

“…Cyclonic surface winds enhance sea ice divergence, which locally reduces sea ice concentration in the vicinity of a cyclone (Maslanik and Barry 1989;Kriegsmann and Brümmer, 2014;Lukovich et al, 2021). In addition, strong surface winds later in the summer are increasingly capable of mixing relatively warm sub-surface sea water upward toward the surface, which causes substantial melting along the ocean-facing side of sea ice (Steele et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2013;Stern et al, 2020).…”

Short‐term Impacts of Arctic Summer Cyclones on Sea Ice Extent in the Marginal Ice Zone

“…Strong cyclonic surface winds cause sea ice divergence (Brümmer et al., 2008; Itkin et al., 2017; Vichi et al., 2019), generate swells that break up sea ice (Asplin et al., 2012; Holt & Martin, 2001; Kohout et al., 2014; Vichi et al., 2019), and induce melt along the bottom of the sea ice by mixing warm subsurface seawater upward (Arntsen et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2018; Stern et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2013). In addition, cyclones can enhance melting along the upper surface of the sea ice by increasing the downward component of both the sensible heat flux (Stern et al., 2020) and the longwave radiative flux (Persson, 2012; Shupe & Intrieri, 2004). Cyclone‐induced sea ice loss in the Arctic is superimposed on the poleward retreat of the sea ice edge that occurs between May and September of each year.…”

“…This sea ice loss coincided with a spike in the surface kinetic energy integrated over the sea ice. Previous studies have attributed ice loss following the 2012 cyclone to enhanced surface melt from turbulent atmospheric heat fluxes (Stern et al., 2020) as well as basal melt from turbulent mixing of warm subsurface seawater (Stern et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2013). However, given its exceptional intensity and longevity over regions of thin ice, the effect of the 2012 cyclone on sea ice extent may not be representative of how the large number of weaker Arctic cyclones affect sea ice during the melt season.…”

Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness

“…Nevertheless, the projection skill of climate models used to simulate future seasonal and interannual changes in sea ice volume can limit the value of the resulting navigability assessment [19,20]. These works generally provide a projection of the Arctic shipping routes with average monthly SIT and have enlightened decisions on the long-term development of the Arctic shipping industry; however, they cannot capture the sea ice evolution such as ice blockages induced by synoptic-scale processes (e.g., cyclones and atmospheric advection) owing to their coarse temporal resolution [21,22]. There is no study yet that estimates the trans-Arctic navigability using all-year-round SIT data and ATAM at a daily frequency.…”