Atmospheric Measurements over Arctic Sea Ice from Winter to Summer: Preliminary Results from N-ICE 2015

Abstract:

With large changes the in Arctic sea ice regime observed in recent decades, the Arctic is becoming more dominated by thin, first-year ice as opposed to thick, multi-year ice. The recently-completed Norwegian young sea ICE cruise (N-ICE2015) made measurements north of Svalbard from a ship drifting within the Arctic sea ice pack from mid-winter into summer (January—June 2015). The purpose of the experiment was to provide better understanding of the drivers and effects within this new sea ice regime in the Arctic. This extensive measurement campaign made concurrent, in-situ measurements of all aspects of the Arctic sea ice system including atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, snowpack, and biology. The atmosphere plays a key role in the sea ice system, thus, observations were made of the meteorological conditions, radiative fluxes, boundary layer properties, turbulent fluxes, clouds, and atmospheric profiles. Interestingly, the atmospheric circulation in this region during this period was very different during January to March than in April to June. This led to very different meteorological and radiative balance regimes during these two periods, with much larger variability in winter. We will present preliminary data from the atmospheric observations made throughout the campaign, which offer clues to how large-scale atmospheric circulation affects energy balance and heat and moisture transport in the Arctic.