Impacts of Ice-Ocean Stress on the Subpolar Southern Ocean:Role of the Ocean Surface Current

The mechanical influences involved in the interaction between the Antarctic sea ice and ocean surface current(OSC)on the subpolar Southern Ocean have been systematically investigated for the first time by conducting two simulations that include and exclude the OSC in the calculation of the ice-ocean stress(IOS), using an eddy-permitting coupled ocean-sea ice global model. By comparing the results of these two experiments, significant increases of 5%, 27%, and 24%, were found in the subpolar Southern Ocean when excluding the OSC in the IOS calculation for the ocean surface stress,upwelling, and downwelling, respectively. Excluding the OSC in the IOS calculation also visibly strengthens the total mechanical energy input to the OSC by about 16%, and increases the eddy kinetic energy and mean kinetic energy by about38% and 12%, respectively. Moreover, the response of the meridional overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean yields respective increases of about 16% and 15% for the upper and lower branches;and the subpolar gyres are also found to considerably intensify, by about 12%, 11%, and 11% in the Weddell Gyre, the Ross Gyre, and the Australian-Antarctic Gyre, respectively. The strengthened ocean circulations and Ekman pumping result in a warmer sea surface temperature(SST), and hence an incremental surface heat loss. The increased sea ice drift and warm SST lead to an expansion of the sea ice area and a reduction of sea ice volume. These results emphasize the importance of OSCs in the air-sea-ice interactions on the global ocean circulations and the mass balance of Antarctic ice shelves, and this component may become more significant as the rapid change of Antarctic sea ice.

A coupled ice-ocean model for the Bohai SeaⅡ.Case study

The coupled ice- ocean model for the Bohai Sea is used for simulating the freezing, melting, and variation of ice cover and the heat bal- ance at the sea- ice, air- ice, and air- sea interfaces of the Bohai Sea during the entire winter in 1998￣1999 and 2000￣2001. The cou- pled model is forced by real time numerical weather prediction fields. The results show that the thermodynamic effects of atmosphere and ocean are very important for the evolvement of ice in the Bohai Sea, especially in the period of ice freezing and melting. Ocean heat flux plays a key role in the thermodynamic coupling. The simulation also presents the different thermodynamic features in the ice covered region and the marginal ice zone. Ice thickness, heat budget at the interface, and surface sea temperature, etc. between the two representative points are discussed.

Application of an ice-ocean coupled model to Bohai Sea ice simulation

The HAMSOM(Hamburg Shelf Ocean Model),a high-resolution regional ice-ocean coupled model,was applied to investigate the seasonal evolution of Bohai Sea ice for winter 2015/2016.HAMSOM was initialized with monthly climatological temperature and salinity data from WOA13 and driven by hourly meteorological data obtained from the NCEP above the sea surface and tides at the open boundary.The ice model used here is a modifi ed Hibler-type dynamic-thermodynamic sea ice model based upon viscous-plastic rheology.The ice extent,concentration,area,thickness,length of ice season as well as the distance between the top of Liaodong Bay(North China)and the outer ice edge line were simulated and compared with the observed data.Three types of modeling experiments were carried out to investigate the eff ects of wind,tide,and both wind and tide on Bohai Sea ice.The results show that wind,as both a dynamic and a thermodynamic factor,has a signifi cant impact on the ice thickness,ice area,and ice-freezing and ice breakup dates as well as the ice velocity,while tides are a dynamic factor that infl uences only the ice velocity.During the severe ice period,the wind speed intensity increased by 25%,the average ice thickness thickened by approximately 4.0 cm in Liaodong Bay,approximately 2.1 cm in Bohai Bay and approximately 2.5 cm in Laizhou Bay,and the total ice coverage area and total ice actual area increased by about 2×104 km 2 and 1.4×104 km 2,respectively.While the tidal amplitude intensity increased by 25%,the average ice velocity increased by approximately 0.1 m/s.

Observations and modeling of the ice-ocean conditions in the coastal Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas include several important hydrological features： inflow of the Pacific water, Alaska coast current （ ACC ）, the seasonal to perennial sea ice cover, and landfast ice ＇along the Alaskan coast. The dynamics of this coupled ice-ocean system is important for both regional scale oceanography and large-scale global climate change research. A mumber of moorings were deployed in the area by JAMSTEC since 1992, and the data revealed highly variable characteristics of the hydrological environment. A regional high-resolution coupled ice-ocean model of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas was established to simulate the ice-ocean environment and unique seasonal landfast ice in the coastal Beaufort Sea. The model results reproduced the Beaufort gyre and the ACC. The depthaveraged annual mean ocean currents along the Beaufort Sea coast and shelf hreak compared well with data from four moored ADCPs, but the simulated velocity had smaller standard deviations, which indicate small-scale eddies were frequent in the region. The model resuits captured the sea,real variations of sea ice area as compared with remote sensing data, and the simulated sea ice velocity showed an ahnost stationary area along the Beaufort Sea coast that was similar to the observed landfast ice extent. It is the combined effects of the weak oceanic current near the coast, a prevailing wind with an onshore component, the opposite direction of the ocean current, and the blocking hy the coastline that make the Beaufort Sea coastal areas prone to the formation of landfast ice.

Decadal Variability Shown by the Arctic Ocean Hydrochemical Data and Reproduced by an Ice-Ocean Model

The Arctic is experiencing a significant warming trend as well as a decadal oscillation. The atmospheric circulation represented by the Polar Vortex and the sea ice cover show decadal variabilities, while it has been difficult to reveal the decadal oscillation from the ocean interior. The recent distribution of Russian hydrochemical data collected from the Arctic Basin provides useful information on ocean interior variabilities. Silicate is used to provide the most valuable data for showing the boundary between the silicate-rich Pacific Water and the opposite Atlantic Water. Here, it is assumed that the silicate distribution receives minor influence from seasonal biological productivity and Siberian Rivers outflow. It shows a clear maximum around 100m depth in the Canada Basin, along with a vertical gradient below 100 m, which provides information on the vertical motion of the upper boundary of the Atlantic Water at a decadal time scale. The boundary shifts upward (downward), as realized by the silicate reduction (increase) at a fixed depth, responding to a more intense (weaker) Polar Vortex or a positive (negative) phase of the Arctic Oscillation. A coupled ice-ocean model is employed to reconstruct this decadal oscillation.

A Sensitivity Study of Arctic Ice-Ocean Heat Exchange to the Three-Equation Boundary Condition Parametrization in CICE6

In this study,we perform a stand-alone sensitivity study using the Los Alamos Sea ice model version 6(CICE6)to investigate the model sensitivity to two Ice-Ocean(IO)boundary condition approaches.One is the two-equation approach that treats the freezing temperature as a function of the ocean mixed layer(ML)salinity,using two equations to parametrize the IO heat exchanges.Another approach uses the salinity of the IO interface to define the actual freezing temperature,so an equation describing the salt flux at the IO interface is added to the two-equation approach,forming the so-called three-equation approach.We focus on the impact of the three-equation boundary condition on the IO heat exchange and associated basal melt/growth of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.Compared with the two-equation simulation,our three-equation simulation shows a reduced oceanic turbulent heat flux,weakened basal melt,increased ice thickness,and reduced sea surface temperature(SST)in the Arctic.These impacts occur mainly at the ice edge regions and manifest themselves in summer.Furthermore,in August,we observed a downward turbulent heat flux from the ice to the ocean ML in two of our three-equation sensitivity runs with a constant heat transfer coefficient(0.006),which caused heat divergence and congelation at the ice bottom.Additionally,the influence of different combinations of heat/salt transfer coefficients and thermal conductivity in the three-equation approach on the model simulated results is assessed.The results presented in this study can provide insight into sea ice model sensitivity to the three-equation IO boundary condition for coupling the CICE6 to climate models.

The study of ice shelf-ocean interaction techniques and recent results

Although the importance to global oceanography of ice shelf-oceaaa interactions has been recognized for many years, only more recently has its role in the control of ice flow- from the interior, grounded ice sheet into the ocean been more clearly understood. The consequences for global sea level of increasing ice loss from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has prompted rapidly growing research efforts in this area. Here we describe the different techniques commonly employed in the field study of ice shelf-ocean interactions. We focus on techniques used by the British Antarctic Survey, primarily on Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, and describe some recent results from instruments deployed both beneath the ice shelf and on its upper surface, which demonstrate variability at a broad range of time scales.