The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
TC
Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4981-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4981-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
Research article
 | 
28 Oct 2021
Research article |  | 28 Oct 2021

The influence of snow on sea ice as assessed from simulations of CESM2

Marika M. Holland, David Clemens-Sewall, Laura Landrum, Bonnie Light, Donald Perovich, Chris Polashenski, Madison Smith, and Melinda Webster

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4981-2021-supplement

Data sets

marikaholland/Snow_On_Ice_TC_2021: Snow on ice data (v1.0) M. M. Holland https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5572930

Model code and software

The Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) (https://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/cesm2/release_download.html) G. Danabasoglu, J.-F. Lamarque, J. Bacmeister, D. A. Bailey, A. K. DuVivier, J. Edwards, L. K. Emmons, J. Fasullo, R. Garcia, A. Gettelman, C. Hannay, M. M. Holland, W. G. Large, P. H. Lauritzen, D. M. Lawrence, J. T. M. Lenaerts, K. Lindsay, W. H. Lipscomb, M. J. Mills, R. Neale, K. W. Oleson, B. Otto-Bliesner, A. S. Phillips, W. Sacks, S. Tilmes, L. van Kampenhout, M. Vertenstein, A. Bertini, J. Dennis, C. Deser, C. Fischer, B. Fox-Kemper, J. E. Kay, D. Kinnison, P. J. Kushner, V. E. Larson, M. C. Long, S. Mickelson, J. K. Moore, E. Nienhouse, L. Polvani, P. J. Rasch, and W. G. Strand https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001916

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Short summary
As the most reflective and most insulative natural material, snow has important climate effects. For snow on sea ice, its high reflectivity reduces ice melt. However, its high insulating capacity limits ice growth. These counteracting effects make its net influence on sea ice uncertain. We find that with increasing snow, sea ice in both hemispheres is thicker and more extensive. However, the drivers of this response are different in the two hemispheres due to different climate conditions.
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