China’s Recent Progresses in Polar Climate Change and Its Interactions with the Global Climate System

During the recent four decades since 1980,a series of modern climate satellites were launched,allowing for the measurement and record-keeping of multiple climate parameters,especially over the polar regions where traditional observations are difficult to obtain.China has been actively engaging in polar expeditions.Many observations were conducted during this period,accompanied by improved Earth climate models,leading to a series of insightful understandings concerning Arctic and Antarctic climate changes.Here,we review the recent progress China has made concerning Arctic and Antarctic climate change research over the past decade.The Arctic temperature increase is much higher than the global-mean warming rate,associated with a rapid decline in sea ice,a phenomenon called the Arctic Amplification.The Antarctic climate changes showed a zonally asymmetric pattern over the past four decades,with most of the fastest changes occurring over West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula.The Arctic and Antarctic climate changes were driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and ozone loss,while tropical-polar teleconnections play important roles in driving the regional climate changes and extreme events over the polar regions.Polar climate changes may also feedback to the entire Earth climate system.The adjustment of the circulation in both the troposphere and the stratosphere contributed to the interactions between the polar climate changes and lower latitudes.Climate change has also driven rapid Arctic and Southern ocean acidification.Chinese researchers have made a series of advances in understanding these processes,as reviewed in this paper.

Changes in sea ice kinematics in the Arctic outflow region and their associations with Arctic Northeast Passage accessibility

Amplification of climate warming in the Arctic is causing a dramatic retreat of sea ice, which means the Arctic sea routes are becoming increasingly accessible. This study used a satellite-derived sea ice motion product to quantify the kinematic features of sea ice in the Arctic outflow region which specially referred to the Fram Strait and to the north of the Northeast Passage(NEP). An observed trend of increased southward sea ice displacement from the central Arctic to the Fram Strait indicated enhancement of the Transpolar Drift Stream(TDS). In the regions to the north of the NEP, the long-term trend of northward sea ice speed in the Kara sector was +0.04 cm/s per year in spring. A significant statistical relationship was found between the NEP open period and the northward speed of the sea ice to the north of the NEP. The offshore advection of sea ice could account for the opening of sea routes by 33% and 15% in the Kara and Laptev sectors, respectively. The difference in sea level pressure across the TDS,i.e., the Central Arctic Index(CAI), presented more significant correlation than for the Arctic atmospheric Dipole Anomaly index with the open period of the NEP, and the CAI could explain the southward displacement of sea ice toward the Fram Strait by more than 45%. The impact from the summer positive CAI reinforces the thinning and mechanical weakening of the sea ice in the NEP region, which improves the navigability of the NEP.

Comparisons of passive microwave remote sensing sea ice concentrations with ship-based visual observations during the CHINARE Arctic summer cruises of 2010–2018

In order to apply satellite data to guiding navigation in the Arctic more effectively,the sea ice concentrations(SIC)derived from passive microwave(PM)products were compared with ship-based visual observations(OBS)collected during the Chinese National Arctic Research Expeditions(CHINARE).A total of 3667 observations were collected in the Arctic summers of 2010,2012,2014,2016,and 2018.PM SIC were derived from the NASA-Team(NT),Bootstrap(BT)and Climate Data Record(CDR)algorithms based on the SSMIS sensor,as well as the BT,enhanced NASA-Team(NT2)and ARTIST Sea Ice(ASI)algorithms based on AMSR-E/AMSR-2 sensors.The daily arithmetic average of PM SIC values and the daily weighted average of OBS SIC values were used for the comparisons.The correlation coefficients(CC),biases and root mean square deviations(RMSD)between PM SIC and OBS SIC were compared in terms of the overall trend,and under mild/normal/severe ice conditions.Using the OBS data,the influences of floe size and ice thickness on the SIC retrieval of different PM products were evaluated by calculating the daily weighted average of floe size code and ice thickness.Our results show that CC values range from 0.89(AMSR-E/AMSR-2 NT2)to 0.95(SSMIS NT),biases range from−3.96%(SSMIS NT)to 12.05%(AMSR-E/AMSR-2 NT2),and RMSD values range from 10.81%(SSMIS NT)to 20.15%(AMSR-E/AMSR-2 NT2).Floe size has a significant influence on the SIC retrievals of the PM products,and most of the PM products tend to underestimate SIC under smaller floe size conditions and overestimate SIC under larger floe size conditions.Ice thickness thicker than 30 cm does not have a significant influence on the SIC retrieval of PM products.Overall,the best(worst)agreement occurs between OBS SIC and SSMIS NT(AMSR-E/AMSR-2 NT2)SIC in the Arctic summer.

Characterization of the unprecedented polynya events north of Greenland in 2017/2018 using remote sensing and reanalysis data

Based on an ice concentration threshold of 90%,it has been identified that two polynya events occurred in the region north of Greenland during the 2017/2018 ice season.The winter event lasted from February 20 to March 3,2018 and the summer event persisted from August 2 to September 5,2018.The minimum ice concentration derived from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2(AMSR2)observations was 72%and 65%during the winter and summer events,respectively.The occurrence of both events can be related to strengthened southerly winds associated with an increased east-west zonal surface level air pressure gradient across the north Greenland due to perturbation of mid-troposphere polar vortex.The relatively warm air temperature during the 2017/2018 freezing season in comparison with previous years,together with the occurrence of the winter polynya,formed favourable pre-conditions for ice field fracturing in summer,which promoted the formation of the summer polynya.Diminished southerly winds and increased cover of new ice over the open water were the dominant factors for the disappearance of the winter polynya,whereas increased ice inflow from the north was the primary factor behind the closure of the summer polynya.Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR)images were found better suited than AMSR2 observations for quantification of a new ice product during the polynya event because the SAR images have high potential for mapping of different sea ice regimes with finely spatial resolution.The unprecedented polynya events north of Greenland in 2017/2018 are important from the perspective of Arctic sea ice loss because they occurred in a region that could potentially be the last“Arctic sea ice refuge”in future summers.

Physical and optical characteristics of sea ice in the Pacific Arctic Sector during the summer of 2018

The reduction in Arctic sea ice in summer has been reported to have a significant impact on the global climate.In this study,Arctic sea ice/snow at the end of the melting season in 2018 was investigated during CHINARE-2018,in terms of its temperature,salinity,density and textural structure,the snow density,water content and albedo,as well as morphology and albedo of the refreezing melt pond.The interior melting of sea ice caused a strong stratification of temperature,salinity and density.The temperature of sea ice ranged from–0.8℃ to 0℃,and exhibited linear cooling with depth.The average salinity and density of sea ice were approximately 1.3 psu and 825 kg/m3,respectively,and increased slightly with depth.The first-year sea ice was dominated by columnar grained ice.Snow cover over all the investigated floes was in the melt phase,and the average water content and density were 0.74%and 241 kg/m3,respectively.The thickness of the thin ice lid ranged from 2.2 cm to 7.0 cm,and the depth of the pond ranged from 1.8 cm to 26.8 cm.The integrated albedo of the refreezing melt pond was in the range of 0.28–0.57.Because of the thin ice lid,the albedo of the melt pond improved to twice as high as that of the mature melt pond.These results provide a reference for the current state of Arctic sea ice and the mechanism of its reduction.

Albedo of Coastal Landfast Sea Ice in Prydz Bay,Antarctica:Observations and Parameterization

The snow/sea-ice albedo was measured over coastal landfast sea ice in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica（off Zhongshan Station）during the austral spring and summer of 2010 and 2011. The variation of the observed albedo was a combination of a gradual seasonal transition from spring to summer and abrupt changes resulting from synoptic events, including snowfall, blowing snow, and overcast skies. The measured albedo ranged from 0.94 over thick fresh snow to 0.36 over melting sea ice. It was found that snow thickness was the most important factor influencing the albedo variation, while synoptic events and overcast skies could increase the albedo by about 0.18 and 0.06, respectively. The in-situ measured albedo and related physical parameters（e.g., snow thickness, ice thickness, surface temperature, and air temperature） were then used to evaluate four different snow/ice albedo parameterizations used in a variety of climate models. The parameterized albedos showed substantial discrepancies compared to the observed albedo, particularly during the summer melt period, even though more complex parameterizations yielded more realistic variations than simple ones. A modified parameterization was developed,which further considered synoptic events, cloud cover, and the local landfast sea-ice surface characteristics. The resulting parameterized albedo showed very good agreement with the observed albedo.

Comparison of summer Arctic sea ice surface temperatures from in situ and MODIS measurements

Ship-borne infrared radiometric measurements conducted during the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition(CHINARE)in 2008,2010,2012,2014,2016 and 2017 were used for in situ validation studies of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)sea ice surface temperature(IST)product.Observations of sea ice were made using a KT19.85 radiometer mounted on the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong between July and September over six years.The MODIS-derived ISTs from the satellites,Terra and Aqua,both show close correspondence with ISTs derived from radiometer spot measurements averaged over areas of 4 km×4 km,spanning the temperature range of 262–280 K with a±1.7 K(Aqua)and±1.6 K(Terra)variation.The consistency of the results over each year indicates that MODIS provides a suitable platform for remotely deriving surface temperature data when the sky is clear.Investigation into factors that cause the MODIS IST bias(defined as the difference between MODIS and KT19.85 ISTs)shows that large positive bias is caused by increased coverage of leads and melt ponds,while large negative bias mostly arises from undetected clouds.Thin vapor fog forming over Arctic sea ice may explain the cold bias when cloud cover is below 20%.

Exploring the Arctic Ocean under Arctic amplification

Rate of surface air temperature increase in the Arctic is roughly twice that of the global average,and this phenomenon is referred to as“Arctic Amplification”(Serreze and Barry,2011).The Arctic sea ice season(October to September)of 2017–2018 is the second warmest in Arctic since 1900(Overland et al.,2018);2014–2018 are the five warmest years in the Arctic since 1900(Overland et al.,2018).Mean temperatures in Finland,Norway,and Svalbard in May 2018 are the highest in the instrumental record since the early 1900s(NOAA,2018),and the extensive warm spells over Scandinavia led to extensive forest fires(Overland et al.,2018).Arctic sea ice extent has decreased considerably mostly as a result of atmospheric and ocean warming.Sea ice decline is present in all months,and is the highest in September with a rate of 12.8%per decade since 1979(Fetterer et al.,2017).The oldest ice,defined as ice that is more than 4 years old,is also normally the thickest ice.The percentage of the oldest ice in the March has reduced by 95%between 1985 and 2018(Perovich et al.,2018).Thus,compared with 1979–2018 climatology,the Arctic Ocean in the ice season of 2017–2018 was dominated by much younger and thinner ice(Perovich et al.,2018).The oldest and thickest sea ice of the Arctic Ocean generally remains in the region between the Canadian Arctic Archipelago,Greenland,and the North Pole(Lindsay and Schweiger,2015).Thus,the unprecedented polynyas that appeared in this region during winter 2017–2018 would promote further reduction of multi-year ice(Moore et al.,2018).

Changes in area fraction of sediment-laden sea ice in the Arctic Ocean during 2000 to 2021

Sediment-laden sea ice plays an important role in Arctic sediment transport and biogeochemical cycles,as well as the shortwave radiation budget and melt onset of ice surface.However,at present,there is a lack of efficient observation approach from both space and in situ for the coverage of Arctic sediment-laden sea ice.Thus,both spatial distribution and long-term changes in area fraction of such ice floes are still unclear.This study proposes a new classification method to extract Arctic sediment-laden sea ice on the basic of the difference in spectral characteristics between sediment-laden sea ice and clean sea ice in the visible band using the MOD09A1 data with the resolution of 500 m,and obtains its area fraction over the pan Arctic Ocean during 2000−2021.Compared with Landsat-8 true color verification images with a resolution of 30 m,the overall accuracy of our classification method is 92.3%,and the Kappa coefficient is 0.84.The impact of clouds on the results of recognition and spatiotemporal changes of sediment-laden sea ice is relatively small from June to July,compared to that in May or August.Spatially,sediment-laden sea ice mostly appears over the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean,especially the continental shelf of Chukchi Sea and the Siberian seas.Associated with the retreat of Arctic sea ice extent,the total area of sediment-laden sea ice in June-July also shows a significant decreasing trend of 8.99×10^(4) km^(2) per year.The occurrence of sediment-laden sea ice over the Arctic Ocean in June-July leads to the reduce of surface albedo over the ice-covered ocean by 14.1%.This study will help thoroughly understanding of the role of sediment-laden sea ice in the evolution of Arctic climate system and marine ecological environment,as well as the heat budget and mass balance of sea ice itself.

2014 summer Arctic sea ice thickness and concentration from shipborne observations

A series of shipborne sea ice observations were performed during the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in the Pacific Arctic sector between 2 August 2014 and 1 September 2014.Undeformed sea ice thickness(SIT)as well as area fractions of open water,melt pond,and sea ice(Aw,Ap,and Ai)were monitored using downward-oriented and oblique-oriented cameras.The results show that SIT varied between 20 and 220 cm throughout the whole cruise,with the average and standard deviation equaling 104.9 and 29.1 cm,respectively.Mean Aw and Ai were 0.52 and 0.44 in the marginal ice zone,respectively,while mean Aw decreased to 0.23 and mean Ai increased to 0.73 in the pack ice zone.Limited variation between 0 and 0.32 in Ap was seen throughout the whole cruise.Shipborne sea ice concentration was then rectified and mapped across a large transect to validate estimates derived from the satellite sensors Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder(SSMIS)(25 km)and AMSR2(25 km).Overestimations were 9.5%and 9.9%for SSMIS and AMSR2 compared with measurements,respectively.The mean areal broadband surface albedo based on shipborne survey increased from 0.07 to 0.66 along the transect between 72°N and 81°N.

Snow features on sea ice in the western Arctic Ocean during summer 2016

Arctic sea ice and its snow cover are important components of the cryosphere and the climate system.A series of in situ snow measurements were conducted during the seventh Chinese Arctic expedition in summer 2016 in the western Arctic Ocean.In this study,we made an analysis of snow features on Arctic sea ice based on in situ observations and the satellite-derived parameter of snow grain size from MODIS spectral reflectance data.Results indicate that snow depth on Arctic sea ice varied between 19 and 241 mm,with a mean value of 100 mm.The mean density of the snow was 340.4 kg/m^(3)during the expedition,which was higher than that reported in previous literature.The measurements revealed that a depth hoar layer was widely developed in the snow,accounting for 30%∼50%of the total snow depth.The equivalent snow grain size was small on the surface and large at the bottom in snow pits.The average relative error between MODIS-derived snow grain size and in situ measured surface snow grain size is 14.6%,indicating that remote sensing is a promising method to obtain large-scale information of snow grain size on Arctic sea ice.