Winter sea ice albedo variations in the Bohai Sea of China

Sea ice conditions in the Bohai Sea of China are sensitive to large-scale climatic variations. On the basis of CLARA-A1-SAL data, the albedo variations are examined in space and time in the winter（December, January and February） from 1992 to 2008 in the Bohai Sea sea ice region. Time series data of the sea ice concentration（SIC）, the sea ice extent（SIE） and the sea surface temperature（SST） are used to analyze their relationship with the albedo. The sea ice albedo changed in volatility appears along with time, the trend is not obvious and increases very slightly during the study period at a rate of 0.388% per decade over the Bohai Sea sea ice region.The interannual variation is between 9.93% and 14.50%, and the average albedo is 11.79%. The sea ice albedo in years with heavy sea ice coverage, 1999, 2000 and 2005, is significantly higher than that in other years; in years with light sea ice coverage, 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2006, has low values. For the monthly albedo, the increasing trend（at a rate of 0.988% per decade） in December is distinctly higher than that in January and February. The mean albedo in January（12.90%） is also distinctly higher than that in the other two months. The albedo is significantly positively correlated with the SIC and is significantly negatively correlated with the SST（significance level 90%）.

The variation features of the Antarctic sea ice (Ⅱ)

In this paper, on the basis of the Antarctic sea ice data from 1972 to 1989 issued by the America JointIce Center, the distribution features of the Antarctic sea ice is analyzed, the net sea ice area indexes are calculated,and the long-range variation periods of the sea ice area index are analyzed with the maximum entropy spectrum, finally the distribution pattern of the Antarctic sea ice and its variation features are obtained.According to its spatial distribution feature, the Antarctic Sea ice is divided into three large regions. Region Ⅰ(0°～120°E) is a zonal area which includes the Prydz Bay area, and sea ice area extending from the Weddell Sea,Region Ⅱ (120°E～120°W) mainly includes the Ross Sea area, and Region Ⅲ (120°W～0°) mainly the WeddellSea area. Of all the regions, the ice area in Region Ⅲ is the largest, and that in Region Ⅰ is the smallest.In the Antarctic,the seasonal changes of the sea ice are very obvious, during summer, in February, there isleast sea ice in the Southern Ocean, the net sea ice area (not include the area of open water) is about 3 190 000 km2,during winter, in September, there is most sea ice in the Southern Ocean, the area index is about 16 840 000 km2,nearly 5. 3 times of that in February. The seasonal change of sea ice is one month lag of the changes of the air temperature, but almost synchronous with that of SST.Of all the three regions divided above, there are some points both common and uncommon in their sea icechange cycles, the common features are that there exist one and a half years, one year and ten-months secondaryperiods in all three regions, but their main periods are not the same, they are about 5, 11 and 6 a in Regions Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲrespectively. The main periods of the sea ice change in Regions Ⅰand Ⅱ are very close because the ice areaextended eastward from the Weddell Sea ice area of Region Ⅲ is one of the main components of the Region Ⅰ. It isalso worth pointing out that in Region Ⅱ, southward extension of the Pacific Ocean, there exist not only a 11-yerasmain period but also a 2-yeras secondary period, which does not exist in the other two regions.