Trends and variability in summer sea ice cover in the Canadian Arctic based on the Canadian Ice Service Digital Archive, 1960–2008 and 1968–2008

Tivy, Adrienne; Howell, Stephen E. L.; Alt, B T; McCourt, Steve; Chagnon, Richard; Crocker, Greg; Carrières, Tom; Yackel, John J.

doi:10.1029/2009jc005855

Cited by 165 publications

(204 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…At least some of the decadal sea-ice variability in this region is thought to be driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation [Stern and HeideJørgensen, 2003;Kinnard et al, 2006a]. The sea-ice cover decline has been largest since the mid-1990s [Tivy et al, 2011], which is consistent with the observed MF trend in Penny Ice Cap cores. Sea-ice cover reduction may contribute to increased glacier melt rates on southern Baffin Island by allowing greater oceanic heat fluxes to the atmosphere, particularly in late summer and autumn.…”

Section: Implications Of Summer Melt and Firn Temperature Trendssupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Comparing the MF record with seasonal temperature anomalies for the eastern Canadian Arctic (Figure 2) shows that both summer and winter air temperatures in this region have risen markedly over the same period. Other signs of recent warming in the southern Baffin region are decreasing sea-ice cover trends over Hudson Bay, Davis Strait and southern Baffin Bay [Moore, 2006;Tivy et al, 2011]. At least some of the decadal sea-ice variability in this region is thought to be driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation [Stern and HeideJørgensen, 2003;Kinnard et al, 2006a].…”

Section: Implications Of Summer Melt and Firn Temperature Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Summer melt rates on Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island: Past and recent trends and implications for regional climate

et al. 2012

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[1] At latitude 67 N, Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island is the southernmost large ice cap in the Canadian Arctic, yet its past and recent evolution is poorly documented. Here we present a synthesis of climatological observations, mass balance measurements and proxy climate data from cores drilled on the ice cap over the past six decades (1953 to 2011). We find that starting in the 1980s, Penny Ice Cap entered a phase of enhanced melt rates related to rising summer and winter air temperatures across the eastern Arctic. Presently, 70 to 100% (volume) of the annual accumulation at the ice cap summit is in the form of refrozen meltwater. Recent surface melt rates are found to be comparable to those last experienced more than 3000 years ago. Enhanced surface melt, water percolation and refreezing have led to a downward transfer of latent heat that raised the subsurface firn temperature by 10 C (at 10 m depth) since the mid-1990s. This process may accelerate further mass loss of the ice cap by pre-conditioning the firn for the ensuing melt season. Recent warming in the Baffin region has been larger in winter but more regular in summer, and observations on Penny Ice Cap suggest that it was relatively uniform over the 2000-m altitude range of the ice cap. Our findings are consistent with trends in glacier mass loss in the Canadian High Arctic and regional sea-ice cover reduction, reinforcing the view that the Arctic appears to be reverting back to a thermal state not seen in millennia.

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Section: Implications Of Summer Melt and Firn Temperature Trendssupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Implications Of Summer Melt and Firn Temperature Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer melt rates on Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island: Past and recent trends and implications for regional climate

et al. 2012

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“…We selected the CISDA record instead of satellite passive microwave data because i) the CISDA was found to be more accurate in the shoulder seasons during which passive microwave retrievals can 115 underestimate sea ice concentration by as much as 44% (Agnew and Howell, 2003) and ii) the CISDA sea ice record provides homogeneous data back to 1968 for regions of the Canadian Arctic (Tivy et al, 2011a), almost 10 years earlier than coverage by satellite passive microwave observations. The CISDA data was analyzed over two historical periods, the 1981-2015 period consistent with available snow data and a longer 1968-2016 period.…”

Section: Sea Ice Data 110mentioning

confidence: 99%

Canadian Snow and Sea Ice: Trends (1981–2015) and Projections (2020–2050)

Mudryk

Derksen

Howell

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract. The Canadian Sea Ice and Snow Evolution Network (CanSISE) is a climate research network focused on developing and applying state of the art observational data to advance dynamical prediction, projections, and understanding of seasonal snow cover and sea ice in Canada and the circumpolar Arctic. Here, we present an assessment from the CanSISE network on trends in the historical record of snow cover (fraction, water equivalent) and sea ice (area, concentration, type, 15 and thickness) across Canada. We also assess projected changes in snow cover and sea ice likely to occur by mid-century, as simulated by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) suite of earth system models. The historical datasets show that the fraction of Canadian land and marine areas covered by snow and ice is decreasing over time, with seasonal and regional variability in the trends consistent with regional differences in surface temperature trends. In particular, summer sea ice cover has decreased significantly across nearly all Canadian marine regions, and the rate of multi-20 year ice loss in the Beaufort Sea and Canadian Arctic Archipelago has nearly doubled over the last eight years. The multimodel consensus over the 2020-2050 period shows reductions in fall and spring snow cover fraction and sea ice concentration of 5-10% per decade (or 15-30% in total), with similar reductions in winter sea ice concentration in both Hudson Bay and eastern Canadian waters. Peak pre-melt terrestrial snow water equivalent reductions of up to 10% per decade (30% in total) are projected across southern Canada. 25 IntroductionSeasonal terrestrial snow and sea ice influence short term weather and longer term climate by altering the surface energy budget, modifying both the surface reflectivity and thermal conductivity (Serreze et al., 2007;Flanner et al., 2011;Gouttevin et al., 2012). Snow also influences freshwater storage through soil moisture recharge and surface runoff (Barnett et al., 2005). Understanding historical and projected future changes to snow and ice is essential both to assess the importance of 30 physical changes to the climate system, and to thus assess their consequent impacts and risks. A previous assessment of the The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10. 5194/tc-2017-198 Manuscript under review for journal The Cryosphere Previous studies have shown that warming temperatures, which are amplified at higher latitudes as a natural response to increasing greenhouse gases (Serreze et al., 2009;Pithan and Mauritsen, 2014), reduce the spatial extent and mass of snow 45 and ice (for example, see Derksen et al., 2012). In reality, the linkage between warming temperatures and snow/sea ice reduction is more nuanced due to: regional and seasonal climate variability: for example, surface temperature warming across Canadian land and ocean areas is not uniform in space and time, but contains regional and seasonal variability driven by natural climatic processes such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and other...

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“…Region A encompasses 74-80°N, 85-100°W; region B encompasses 54-57°N, 57-62°W. Canadian Ice Service (CIS) time series were compiled from weekly regional ice charts from predefined regions (A, northern Canadian water; B, southern Labrador) using Ice Graph (32). SST data were obtained from Reynolds et al (21).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic sea-ice decline archived by multicentury annual-resolution record from crustose coralline algal proxy

Halfar

Adey

Kronz³

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

135

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Northern Hemisphere sea ice has been declining sharply over the past decades and 2012 exhibited the lowest Arctic summer sea-ice cover in historic times. Whereas ongoing changes are closely monitored through satellite observations, we have only limited data of past Arctic sea-ice cover derived from short historical records, indirect terrestrial proxies, and low-resolution marine sediment cores. A multicentury time series from extremely long-lived annual increment-forming crustose coralline algal buildups now provides the first high-resolution in situ marine proxy for sea-ice cover. Growth and Mg/Ca ratios of these Arctic-wide occurring calcified algae are sensitive to changes in both temperature and solar radiation. Growth sharply declines with increasing sea-ice blockage of light from the benthic algal habitat. The 646-y multisite record from the Canadian Arctic indicates that during the Little Ice Age, sea ice was extensive but highly variable on subdecadal time scales and coincided with an expansion of ice-dependent Thule/ Labrador Inuit sea mammal hunters in the region. The past 150 y instead have been characterized by sea ice exhibiting multidecadal variability with a long-term decline distinctly steeper than at any time since the 14th century.S ea ice plays an important role in the global climate system because it influences albedo, heat and gas exchange, freshwater budget, ocean stratification, and deep water mass formation, among other ocean characteristics (1, 2). Presently, there is great concern that with ongoing warming, Arctic sea-ice decline is accelerating at an unprecedented pace not seen in at least the past 1,450 y (3). Sea-ice cover (SIC) is a sensitive parameter characterized by high variability in space and time (1) and analysis of sea-ice extent on a regional basis reveals that positive and negative anomalies in different sectors of the Arctic often occur simultaneously (4). Early 20th century Northern Hemisphere warming and sea-ice decline were mainly concentrated on the Atlantic portion of the Arctic with focal points in the Labrador Sea and Greenland, whereas mid-late 20th century sea-ice loss was most evident in the Russian Arctic (5-7). Modeling studies indicate that this differential sea-ice decline has likely been caused by Atlantic inflow variability into the Arctic (5, 8) and at least in part driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) (7).However, the SIC-atmosphere system is especially difficult to model with only a short observational record available. Instrumental data from satellite observations have been recorded only since the late 1970s when anthropogenic effects were likely already overprinting the natural climate system. Longer-term data from historical observations are far less dependable, because coverage is patchy and reliability sometimes uncertain. For a better understanding of long-term sea-ice variability, both in space and time, a network of high-resolution multicentury or millennial-scale sea-ice data derived from proxy records are needed (3, 9). High-resoluti...

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Trends and variability in summer sea ice cover in the Canadian Arctic based on the Canadian Ice Service Digital Archive, 1960–2008 and 1968–2008

Cited by 165 publications

References 40 publications

Summer melt rates on Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island: Past and recent trends and implications for regional climate

Summer melt rates on Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island: Past and recent trends and implications for regional climate

Canadian Snow and Sea Ice: Trends (1981–2015) and Projections (2020–2050)

Arctic sea-ice decline archived by multicentury annual-resolution record from crustose coralline algal proxy

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