Winter sea ice export from the Laptev Sea preconditions the local summer sea ice cover and fast ice decay

Itkin, Polona; Krumpen, Thomas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2383-2017

Articles | Volume 11, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2383-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2383-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 5

Research article

|

23 Oct 2017

Research article |

| 23 Oct 2017

Winter sea ice export from the Laptev Sea preconditions the local summer sea ice cover and fast ice decay

Polona Itkin and Thomas Krumpen

Data sets

ea ice thickness and sea ice area transport in the Laptev Sea Thomas Krumpen https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.880357

MITcgm numerical model code (with landfast ice parametrization) and output Polona Itkin and Martin Losch https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.880254

Short summary

By means of airborne sea ice thickness surveys, remote sensing data and results from a numerical model, we show that winter ice dynamic in the Laptev Sea has a preconditioning effect on local summer ice extent in addition to atmospheric processes acting on the ice cover between May and September. We conclude that the observed tendency towards an increased ice export further accelerates pack ice retreat in summer and fast ice decay.