Quantifying Sea Ice Advection Through Key “Gates” in the Arctic Using the Sea Ice Motion and Age Data Products at the University of Colorado, Boulder With Applications to Studying Changes in the Arctic Ice Pack.

Abstract:

The past several decades have seen an alarming decline in sea ice extent, and a trend toward thinner, first-year ice throughout the Arctic. This younger ice has a lower probability of surviving the next melt season, and features different surface properties than multi-year ice floes typically possess. Through the combination of satellite passive microwave observations and buoy data, the motion and age of the ice pack in the Arctic are tracked and analyzed using datasets produced at the University of Colorado, Boulder that are archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The ice motion product is produced daily from 1978 to the present, and the weekly age data span from 1985 onward. Using these products, the advection of first-year and multi-year ice is tracked through several key ice “gates” throughout the Arctic on relatively short time scales. Understanding the “sinks” that sea ice travels to and melts in will provide a more complete picture of the underlying causes in the decline in sea ice extent and volume in the Arctic. Through tracking the trajectory and locations of ice parcels in our ice motion product, we can also use other co-located data products to assess the impact of radiative and other climate component forcing on the Arctic ice pack.