Articles | Volume 17, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-127-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-127-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
13 Jan 2023
Research article |
| 13 Jan 2023
| 13 Jan 2023
Winter Arctic sea ice thickness from ICESat-2: upgrades to freeboard and snow loading estimates and an assessment of the first three winters of data collection
Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Nicole Keeney
Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Alex Cabaj
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Paul Kushner
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Marco Bagnardi
Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
ADNET Systems Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA
Related authors
Alek Aaron Petty, Christopher Cardinale, and Madison Smith
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-766, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-766, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We put global climate models to the test against NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite to see how well they simulate global sea ice cover. By adding fancy laser data from ICESat-2, we can better assess how well the models are performing compared to the standard assessments of sea ice area. Overall the models do a good job but there’s room for improvement, especially across the Southern Ocean. We should think a bit more about sea ice density if we want more reliable freeboard comparisons.
Siqi Liu, Shiming Xu, Wenkai Guo, Yanfei Fan, Lu Zhou, Jack Landy, Malin Johansson, Weixin Zhu, and Alek Petty
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1069, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1069, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we explore the potential of using synthetic aperture radars (SAR) to predict the sea ice height measurements by the airborne campaign of Operation IceBridge. In particular, we predict the meter-scale sea ice height with the statistical relationship between the two, overcoming the resolution limitation of SAR images from Sentinel-1 satellites. The prediction and ice drift correction algorithms can be applied to the extrapolation of ICESat-2 measurements in the Arctic region.
Youngmin Choi, Alek Petty, Denis Felikson, and Jonathan Poterjoy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-301, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-301, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we combined numerical models with satellite data using the ensemble Kalman filter to improve predictions of glacier states and their basal conditions. Simulations showed that adding more data enhances prediction accuracy. We also tested the effect of various data types and found that the high-resolution data improve model performance. This method could inform the design of better observation systems and refine future projections of ice sheet behavior.
Jack C. Landy, Claude de Rijke-Thomas, Carmen Nab, Isobel Lawrence, Isolde A. Glissenaar, Robbie D. C. Mallett, Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen, Alek Petty, Michel Tsamados, Amy R. Macfarlane, and Anne Braakmann-Folgmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2904, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2904, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we use three satellites to test the planned remote sensing approach of the upcoming mission CRISTAL over sea ice: that its dual radars will accurately measure the heights of the top and base of snow sitting atop floating sea ice floes. Our results suggest that CRISTAL's dual radars won’t necessarily measure the snow top and base under all conditions. We find that accurate height measurements depend much more on surface roughness than on snow properties, as is commonly assumed.
Alex Cabaj, Paul J. Kushner, and Alek A. Petty
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2562, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2562, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The output of snow-on-sea-ice models is influenced by the choice of snowfall input used. We ran such a model with different snowfall inputs and calibrated it to observations, produced a new calibrated snow product, and regionally compared the model outputs to another snow-on-sea-ice model. The two models agree best on the seasonal cycle of snow in the central Arctic Ocean. However, estimated snow trends in some regions can depend more on the snowfall input than on the choice of model.
Michael Studinger, Benjamin E. Smith, Nathan Kurtz, Alek Petty, Tyler Sutterley, and Rachel Tilling
The Cryosphere, 18, 2625–2652, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use green lidar data and natural-color imagery over sea ice to quantify elevation biases potentially impacting estimates of change in ice thickness of the polar regions. We complement our analysis using a model of scattering of light in snow and ice that predicts the shape of lidar waveforms reflecting from snow and ice surfaces based on the shape of the transmitted pulse. We find that biased elevations exist in airborne and spaceborne data products from green lidars.
Alexander Mchedlishvili, Christof Lüpkes, Alek Petty, Michel Tsamados, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 4103–4131, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we looked at sea ice–atmosphere drag coefficients, quantities that help with characterizing the friction between the atmosphere and sea ice, and vice versa. Using ICESat-2, a laser altimeter that measures elevation differences by timing how long it takes for photons it sends out to return to itself, we could map the roughness, i.e., how uneven the surface is. From roughness we then estimate drag force, the frictional force between sea ice and the atmosphere, across the Arctic.
Ron Kwok, Alek A. Petty, Marco Bagnardi, Nathan T. Kurtz, Glenn F. Cunningham, Alvaro Ivanoff, and Sahra Kacimi
The Cryosphere, 15, 821–833, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-821-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-821-2021, 2021
Lu Zhou, Julienne Stroeve, Shiming Xu, Alek Petty, Rachel Tilling, Mai Winstrup, Philip Rostosky, Isobel R. Lawrence, Glen E. Liston, Andy Ridout, Michel Tsamados, and Vishnu Nandan
The Cryosphere, 15, 345–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Snow on sea ice plays an important role in the Arctic climate system. Large spatial and temporal discrepancies among the eight snow depth products are analyzed together with their seasonal variability and long-term trends. These snow products are further compared against various ground-truth observations. More analyses on representation error of sea ice parameters are needed for systematic comparison and fusion of airborne, in situ and remote sensing observations.
Alek A. Petty, Melinda Webster, Linette Boisvert, and Thorsten Markus
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4577–4602, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4577-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4577-2018, 2018
Alek A. Petty, Julienne C. Stroeve, Paul R. Holland, Linette N. Boisvert, Angela C. Bliss, Noriaki Kimura, and Walter N. Meier
The Cryosphere, 12, 433–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
There was significant scientific and media attention surrounding Arctic sea ice in 2016, due primarily to the record-warm air temperatures and low sea ice conditions observed at the start of the year. Here we quantify and assess the record-low monthly sea ice cover in winter, spring and fall, and the lack of record-low sea ice conditions in summer. We explore the primary drivers of these monthly sea ice states and explore the implications for improved summer sea ice forecasting.
Thomas W. K. Armitage, Sheldon Bacon, Andy L. Ridout, Alek A. Petty, Steven Wolbach, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 11, 1767–1780, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1767-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1767-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new 12-year record of geostrophic currents at monthly resolution in the ice-covered and ice-free Arctic Ocean and characterise their seasonal to decadal variability. We also present seasonal climatologies of eddy kinetic energy, and examine the changing location of the Beaufort Gyre. Geostrophic current variability highlights the complex interplay between seasonally varying forcing and sea ice conditions, changing ice–ocean coupling and increasing ocean surface stress in the 2000s.
Alek A. Petty, Michel C. Tsamados, Nathan T. Kurtz, Sinead L. Farrell, Thomas Newman, Jeremy P. Harbeck, Daniel L. Feltham, and Jackie A. Richter-Menge
The Cryosphere, 10, 1161–1179, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents an analysis of Arctic sea ice topography using high-resolution, three-dimensional surface elevation data from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) laser altimeter, flown as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge mission. We describe and implement a newly developed sea ice surface feature-picking algorithm and derive novel information regarding the height, volume and geometry of surface features over the western Arctic sea ice cover.
Stephen Howell, Alex Cabaj, David Babb, Jack Landy, Jackie Dawson, Mallik Mahmud, and Mike Brady
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2029, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2029, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
Short summary
Short summary
The Northwest Passage provides a shorter transit route connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean but ever-present sea ice has prevented its practical navigation. Sea ice area in the northern route of the Northwest Passage on September 30, 2024 fell to a minimum of 4x103 km2, the lowest ice area observed since 1960. This paper describes the unique processes that contributed to the record low sea ice area in the northern route of the Northwest Passage in 2024.
Zhihong Zhuo, Xinyue Wang, Yunqian Zhu, Ewa M. Bednarz, Eric Fleming, Peter R. Colarco, Shingo Watanabe, David Plummer, Georgiy Stenchikov, William Randel, Adam Bourassa, Valentina Aquila, Takashi Sekiya, Mark R. Schoeberl, Simone Tilmes, Wandi Yu, Jun Zhang, Paul J. Kushner, and Francesco S. R. Pausata
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1505, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1505, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The 2022 Hunga eruption caused unprecedented stratospheric water injection, triggering unique atmospheric impacts. This study combines observations and model simulations, projecting a stratospheric water vapor anomaly lasting 4–7 years, with significant temperature variations and ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere lasting 7–10 years. These findings offer critical insights into the role of stratospheric water vapor in shaping climate and atmospheric chemistry.
Alek Aaron Petty, Christopher Cardinale, and Madison Smith
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-766, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-766, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We put global climate models to the test against NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite to see how well they simulate global sea ice cover. By adding fancy laser data from ICESat-2, we can better assess how well the models are performing compared to the standard assessments of sea ice area. Overall the models do a good job but there’s room for improvement, especially across the Southern Ocean. We should think a bit more about sea ice density if we want more reliable freeboard comparisons.
Siqi Liu, Shiming Xu, Wenkai Guo, Yanfei Fan, Lu Zhou, Jack Landy, Malin Johansson, Weixin Zhu, and Alek Petty
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1069, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1069, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we explore the potential of using synthetic aperture radars (SAR) to predict the sea ice height measurements by the airborne campaign of Operation IceBridge. In particular, we predict the meter-scale sea ice height with the statistical relationship between the two, overcoming the resolution limitation of SAR images from Sentinel-1 satellites. The prediction and ice drift correction algorithms can be applied to the extrapolation of ICESat-2 measurements in the Arctic region.
Youngmin Choi, Alek Petty, Denis Felikson, and Jonathan Poterjoy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-301, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-301, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we combined numerical models with satellite data using the ensemble Kalman filter to improve predictions of glacier states and their basal conditions. Simulations showed that adding more data enhances prediction accuracy. We also tested the effect of various data types and found that the high-resolution data improve model performance. This method could inform the design of better observation systems and refine future projections of ice sheet behavior.
Lawrence Mudryk, Colleen Mortimer, Chris Derksen, Aleksandra Elias Chereque, and Paul Kushner
The Cryosphere, 19, 201–218, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-201-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-201-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate and rank 23 different datasets on their ability to accurately estimate historical snow amounts. The evaluation uses new a set of surface snow measurements with improved spatial coverage, enabling evaluation across both mountainous and nonmountainous regions. Performance measures vary tremendously across the products: while most perform reasonably in nonmountainous regions, accurate representation of snow amounts in mountainous regions and of historical trends is much more variable.
Aleksandra Elias Chereque, Paul J. Kushner, Lawrence Mudryk, Chris Derksen, and Colleen Mortimer
The Cryosphere, 18, 4955–4969, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4955-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4955-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We look at three commonly used snow depth datasets that are produced through a combination of snow modelling and historical measurements (reanalysis). When compared with each other, these datasets have differences that arise for various reasons. We show that a simple snow model can be used to examine these inconsistencies and highlight issues. This method indicates that one of the complex datasets should be excluded from further studies.
Jack C. Landy, Claude de Rijke-Thomas, Carmen Nab, Isobel Lawrence, Isolde A. Glissenaar, Robbie D. C. Mallett, Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen, Alek Petty, Michel Tsamados, Amy R. Macfarlane, and Anne Braakmann-Folgmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2904, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2904, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we use three satellites to test the planned remote sensing approach of the upcoming mission CRISTAL over sea ice: that its dual radars will accurately measure the heights of the top and base of snow sitting atop floating sea ice floes. Our results suggest that CRISTAL's dual radars won’t necessarily measure the snow top and base under all conditions. We find that accurate height measurements depend much more on surface roughness than on snow properties, as is commonly assumed.
Alex Cabaj, Paul J. Kushner, and Alek A. Petty
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2562, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2562, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The output of snow-on-sea-ice models is influenced by the choice of snowfall input used. We ran such a model with different snowfall inputs and calibrated it to observations, produced a new calibrated snow product, and regionally compared the model outputs to another snow-on-sea-ice model. The two models agree best on the seasonal cycle of snow in the central Arctic Ocean. However, estimated snow trends in some regions can depend more on the snowfall input than on the choice of model.
Michael Studinger, Benjamin E. Smith, Nathan Kurtz, Alek Petty, Tyler Sutterley, and Rachel Tilling
The Cryosphere, 18, 2625–2652, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use green lidar data and natural-color imagery over sea ice to quantify elevation biases potentially impacting estimates of change in ice thickness of the polar regions. We complement our analysis using a model of scattering of light in snow and ice that predicts the shape of lidar waveforms reflecting from snow and ice surfaces based on the shape of the transmitted pulse. We find that biased elevations exist in airborne and spaceborne data products from green lidars.
Alexander Mchedlishvili, Christof Lüpkes, Alek Petty, Michel Tsamados, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 4103–4131, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we looked at sea ice–atmosphere drag coefficients, quantities that help with characterizing the friction between the atmosphere and sea ice, and vice versa. Using ICESat-2, a laser altimeter that measures elevation differences by timing how long it takes for photons it sends out to return to itself, we could map the roughness, i.e., how uneven the surface is. From roughness we then estimate drag force, the frictional force between sea ice and the atmosphere, across the Arctic.
Steven Fons, Nathan Kurtz, and Marco Bagnardi
The Cryosphere, 17, 2487–2508, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2487-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2487-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctic sea ice thickness is an important quantity in the Earth system. Due to the thick and complex snow cover on Antarctic sea ice, estimating the thickness of the ice pack is difficult using traditional methods in radar altimetry. In this work, we use a waveform model to estimate the freeboard and snow depth of Antarctic sea ice from CryoSat-2 and use these values to calculate sea ice thickness and volume between 2010 and 2021 and showcase how the sea ice pack has changed over this time.
Chih-Chun Chou, Paul J. Kushner, Stéphane Laroche, Zen Mariani, Peter Rodriguez, Stella Melo, and Christopher G. Fletcher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4443–4461, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4443-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4443-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Aeolus is the first satellite that provides global wind profile measurements. The mission aims to improve the weather forecasts in the tropics, but also, potentially, in the polar regions. We evaluate the performance of the instrument over the Canadian North and the Arctic by comparing its measured winds in both cloudy and non-cloudy layers to wind data from forecasts, reanalysis, and ground-based instruments. Overall, good agreement was seen, but Aeolus winds have greater dispersion.
Ron Kwok, Alek A. Petty, Marco Bagnardi, Nathan T. Kurtz, Glenn F. Cunningham, Alvaro Ivanoff, and Sahra Kacimi
The Cryosphere, 15, 821–833, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-821-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-821-2021, 2021
Lu Zhou, Julienne Stroeve, Shiming Xu, Alek Petty, Rachel Tilling, Mai Winstrup, Philip Rostosky, Isobel R. Lawrence, Glen E. Liston, Andy Ridout, Michel Tsamados, and Vishnu Nandan
The Cryosphere, 15, 345–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Snow on sea ice plays an important role in the Arctic climate system. Large spatial and temporal discrepancies among the eight snow depth products are analyzed together with their seasonal variability and long-term trends. These snow products are further compared against various ground-truth observations. More analyses on representation error of sea ice parameters are needed for systematic comparison and fusion of airborne, in situ and remote sensing observations.
Alek A. Petty, Melinda Webster, Linette Boisvert, and Thorsten Markus
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4577–4602, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4577-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4577-2018, 2018
Paul J. Kushner, Lawrence R. Mudryk, William Merryfield, Jaison T. Ambadan, Aaron Berg, Adéline Bichet, Ross Brown, Chris Derksen, Stephen J. Déry, Arlan Dirkson, Greg Flato, Christopher G. Fletcher, John C. Fyfe, Nathan Gillett, Christian Haas, Stephen Howell, Frédéric Laliberté, Kelly McCusker, Michael Sigmond, Reinel Sospedra-Alfonso, Neil F. Tandon, Chad Thackeray, Bruno Tremblay, and Francis W. Zwiers
The Cryosphere, 12, 1137–1156, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1137-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1137-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Here, the Canadian research network CanSISE uses state-of-the-art observations of snow and sea ice to assess how Canada's climate model and climate prediction systems capture variability in snow, sea ice, and related climate parameters. We find that the system performs well, accounting for observational uncertainty (especially for snow), model uncertainty, and chaotic climate variability. Even for variables like sea ice, where improvement is needed, useful prediction tools can be developed.
Lawrence R. Mudryk, Chris Derksen, Stephen Howell, Fred Laliberté, Chad Thackeray, Reinel Sospedra-Alfonso, Vincent Vionnet, Paul J. Kushner, and Ross Brown
The Cryosphere, 12, 1157–1176, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1157-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1157-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents changes in both snow and sea ice that have occurred over Canada during the recent past and shows climate model estimates for future changes expected to occur by the year 2050. The historical changes of snow and sea ice are generally coherent and consistent with the regional history of temperature and precipitation changes. It is expected that snow and sea ice will continue to decrease in the future, declining by an additional 15–30 % from present day values by the year 2050.
Alek A. Petty, Julienne C. Stroeve, Paul R. Holland, Linette N. Boisvert, Angela C. Bliss, Noriaki Kimura, and Walter N. Meier
The Cryosphere, 12, 433–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
There was significant scientific and media attention surrounding Arctic sea ice in 2016, due primarily to the record-warm air temperatures and low sea ice conditions observed at the start of the year. Here we quantify and assess the record-low monthly sea ice cover in winter, spring and fall, and the lack of record-low sea ice conditions in summer. We explore the primary drivers of these monthly sea ice states and explore the implications for improved summer sea ice forecasting.
Thomas W. K. Armitage, Sheldon Bacon, Andy L. Ridout, Alek A. Petty, Steven Wolbach, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 11, 1767–1780, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1767-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1767-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new 12-year record of geostrophic currents at monthly resolution in the ice-covered and ice-free Arctic Ocean and characterise their seasonal to decadal variability. We also present seasonal climatologies of eddy kinetic energy, and examine the changing location of the Beaufort Gyre. Geostrophic current variability highlights the complex interplay between seasonally varying forcing and sea ice conditions, changing ice–ocean coupling and increasing ocean surface stress in the 2000s.
Alek A. Petty, Michel C. Tsamados, Nathan T. Kurtz, Sinead L. Farrell, Thomas Newman, Jeremy P. Harbeck, Daniel L. Feltham, and Jackie A. Richter-Menge
The Cryosphere, 10, 1161–1179, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents an analysis of Arctic sea ice topography using high-resolution, three-dimensional surface elevation data from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) laser altimeter, flown as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge mission. We describe and implement a newly developed sea ice surface feature-picking algorithm and derive novel information regarding the height, volume and geometry of surface features over the western Arctic sea ice cover.
Related subject area
Discipline: Sea ice | Subject: Arctic (e.g. Greenland)
Reconstruction of Arctic sea ice thickness (1992–2010) based on a hybrid machine learning and data assimilation approach
Assessing the representation of Arctic sea ice and the marginal ice zone in ocean–sea ice reanalyses
Sea-ice conditions from 1880 to 2017 on the Northeast Greenland continental shelf: a biomarker and observational record comparison
The radiative and geometric properties of melting first-year landfast sea ice in the Arctic
Improving short-term sea ice concentration forecasts using deep learning
Retrieval of sea ice drift in the Fram Strait based on data from Chinese satellite HaiYang (HY-1D)
Sea-ice variations and trends during the Common Era in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean
Melt pond fractions on Arctic summer sea ice retrieved from Sentinel-3 satellite data with a constrained physical forward model
Extent, duration and timing of the sea ice cover in Hornsund, Svalbard, from 2014–2023
Modeled variations in the inherent optical properties of summer Arctic ice and their effects on the radiation budget: a case based on ice cores from 2008 to 2016
Comparing elevation and backscatter retrievals from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 over Arctic summer sea ice
Summer sea ice floe perimeter density in the Arctic: high-resolution optical satellite imagery and model evaluation
Patterns of wintertime Arctic sea-ice leads and their relation to winds and ocean currents
A long-term proxy for sea ice thickness in the Canadian Arctic: 1996–2020
Arctic sea ice radar freeboard retrieval from the European Remote-Sensing Satellite (ERS-2) using altimetry: toward sea ice thickness observation from 1995 to 2021
Rapid sea ice changes in the future Barents Sea
Causes and evolution of winter polynyas north of Greenland
Sea ice breakup and freeze-up indicators for users of the Arctic coastal environment
Improving model-satellite comparisons of sea ice melt onset with a satellite simulator
Kara and Barents sea ice thickness estimation based on CryoSat-2 radar altimeter and Sentinel-1 dual-polarized synthetic aperture radar
Contribution of warm and moist atmospheric flow to a record minimum July sea ice extent of the Arctic in 2020
Perspectives on future sea ice and navigability in the Arctic
Lasting impact of winds on Arctic sea ice through the ocean's memory
Holocene sea-ice dynamics in Petermann Fjord in relation to ice tongue stability and Nares Strait ice arch formation
Presentation and evaluation of the Arctic sea ice forecasting system neXtSIM-F
Combined influence of oceanic and atmospheric circulations on Greenland sea ice concentration
Seasonal changes in sea ice kinematics and deformation in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean in 2018/19
Year-round impact of winter sea ice thickness observations on seasonal forecasts
Ensemble-based estimation of sea-ice volume variations in the Baffin Bay
Sea ice drift and arch evolution in the Robeson Channel using the daily coverage of Sentinel-1 SAR data for the 2016–2017 freezing season
Brief communication: Arctic sea ice thickness internal variability and its changes under historical and anthropogenic forcing
Seasonal transition dates can reveal biases in Arctic sea ice simulations
The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) high-priority candidate mission
The MOSAiC ice floe: sediment-laden survivor from the Siberian shelf
Spectral attenuation of ocean waves in pack ice and its application in calibrating viscoelastic wave-in-ice models
New observations of the distribution, morphology and dissolution dynamics of cryogenic gypsum in the Arctic Ocean
Evaluation of Arctic sea ice drift and its dependency on near-surface wind and sea ice conditions in the coupled regional climate model HIRHAM–NAOSIM
Multidecadal Arctic sea ice thickness and volume derived from ice age
Going with the floe: tracking CESM Large Ensemble sea ice in the Arctic provides context for ship-based observations
The Arctic sea ice extent change connected to Pacific decadal variability
Impact of sea ice floe size distribution on seasonal fragmentation and melt of Arctic sea ice
Induced surface fluxes: a new framework for attributing Arctic sea ice volume balance biases to specific model errors
Comparison of ERA5 and ERA-Interim near-surface air temperature, snowfall and precipitation over Arctic sea ice: effects on sea ice thermodynamics and evolution
Benchmark seasonal prediction skill estimates based on regional indices
On the timescales and length scales of the Arctic sea ice thickness anomalies: a study based on 14 reanalyses
Past and future interannual variability in Arctic sea ice in coupled climate models
Arctic sea-ice-free season projected to extend into autumn
Definition differences and internal variability affect the simulated Arctic sea ice melt season
The potential of sea ice leads as a predictor for summer Arctic sea ice extent
Arctic climate: changes in sea ice extent outweigh changes in snow cover
Léo Edel, Jiping Xie, Anton Korosov, Julien Brajard, and Laurent Bertino
The Cryosphere, 19, 731–752, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-731-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-731-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study developed a new method to estimate Arctic sea ice thickness from 1992 to 2010 using a combination of machine learning and data assimilation. By training a machine learning model on data from 2011 to 2022, past errors in sea ice thickness can be corrected, leading to improved estimations. This approach provides insights into historical changes in sea ice thickness, showing a notable decline from 1992 to 2022, and offers a valuable resource for future studies.
Francesco Cocetta, Lorenzo Zampieri, Julia Selivanova, and Doroteaciro Iovino
The Cryosphere, 18, 4687–4702, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4687-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Arctic sea ice is thinning and retreating because of global warming. Thus, the region is transitioning to a new state featuring an expansion of the marginal ice zone, a region where mobile ice interacts with waves from the open ocean. By analyzing 30 years of sea ice reconstructions that combine numerical models and observations, this paper proves that an ensemble of global ocean and sea ice reanalyses is an adequate tool for investigating the changing Arctic sea ice cover.
Joanna Davies, Kirsten Fahl, Matthias Moros, Alice Carter-Champion, Henrieka Detlef, Ruediger Stein, Christof Pearce, and Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
The Cryosphere, 18, 3415–3431, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3415-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3415-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we evaluate the use of biomarkers for reconstructing sea ice between 1880 and 2017 from three sediment cores located in a transect across the Northeast Greenland continental shelf. We find that key changes, specifically the decline in sea-ice cover identified in observational records between 1971 and 1984, align with our biomarker reconstructions. This outcome supports the use of biomarkers for longer reconstructions of sea-ice cover in this region.
Nathan J. M. Laxague, Christopher J. Zappa, Andrew R. Mahoney, John Goodwin, Cyrus Harris, Robert E. Schaeffer, Roswell Schaeffer Sr., Sarah Betcher, Donna D. W. Hauser, Carson R. Witte, Jessica M. Lindsay, Ajit Subramaniam, Kate E. Turner, and Alex Whiting
The Cryosphere, 18, 3297–3313, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3297-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3297-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The state of sea ice strongly affects its absorption of solar energy. In May 2019, we flew uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with sensors designed to quantify the sunlight that is reflected by sea ice at each wavelength over the sea ice of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. We found that snow patches get darker (up to ~ 20 %) as they get smaller, while bare patches get darker (up to ~ 20 %) as they get larger. We believe that this difference is due to melting around the edges of small features.
Cyril Palerme, Thomas Lavergne, Jozef Rusin, Arne Melsom, Julien Brajard, Are Frode Kvanum, Atle Macdonald Sørensen, Laurent Bertino, and Malte Müller
The Cryosphere, 18, 2161–2176, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2161-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2161-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice forecasts are operationally produced using physically based models, but these forecasts are often not accurate enough for maritime operations. In this study, we developed a statistical correction technique using machine learning in order to improve the skill of short-term (up to 10 d) sea ice concentration forecasts produced by the TOPAZ4 model. This technique allows for the reduction of errors from the TOPAZ4 sea ice concentration forecasts by 41 % on average.
Dunwang Lu, Jianqiang Liu, Lijian Shi, Tao Zeng, Bin Cheng, Suhui Wu, and Manman Wang
The Cryosphere, 18, 1419–1441, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1419-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1419-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We retrieved sea ice drift in Fram Strait using the Chinese HaiYang 1D Coastal Zone Imager. The dataset is has hourly and daily intervals for analysis, and validation is performed using a synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-based product and International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) buoys. The differences between them are explained by investigating the spatiotemporal variability in sea ice motion. The accuracy of flow direction retrieval for sea ice drift is also related to sea ice displacement.
Ana Lúcia Lindroth Dauner, Frederik Schenk, Katherine Elizabeth Power, and Maija Heikkilä
The Cryosphere, 18, 1399–1418, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1399-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1399-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we analysed 14 sea-ice proxy records and compared them with the results from two different climate simulations from the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean over the Common Era (last 2000 years). Both proxy and model approaches demonstrated a long-term sea-ice increase. The good correspondence suggests that the state-of-the-art sea-ice proxies are able to capture large-scale climate drivers. Short-term variability, however, was less coherent due to local-to-regional scale forcings.
Hannah Niehaus, Larysa Istomina, Marcel Nicolaus, Ran Tao, Aleksey Malinka, Eleonora Zege, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 18, 933–956, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-933-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Melt ponds are puddles of meltwater which form on Arctic sea ice in the summer period. They are darker than the ice cover and lead to increased absorption of solar energy. Global climate models need information about the Earth's energy budget. Thus satellite observations are used to monitor the surface fractions of melt ponds, ocean, and sea ice in the entire Arctic. We present a new physically based algorithm that can separate these three surface types with uncertainty below 10 %.
Zuzanna M. Swirad, A. Malin Johansson, and Eirik Malnes
The Cryosphere, 18, 895–910, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-895-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-895-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We used satellite images to create sea ice maps of Hornsund fjord, Svalbard, for nine seasons and calculated the percentage of the fjord that was covered by ice. On average, sea ice was present in Hornsund for 158 d per year, but it varied from year to year. April was the "iciest'" month and 2019/2020, 2021/22 and 2014/15 were the "iciest'" seasons. Our data can be used to understand sea ice conditions compared with other fjords of Svalbard and in studies of wave modelling and coastal erosion.
Miao Yu, Peng Lu, Matti Leppäranta, Bin Cheng, Ruibo Lei, Bingrui Li, Qingkai Wang, and Zhijun Li
The Cryosphere, 18, 273–288, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-273-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-273-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Variations in Arctic sea ice are related not only to its macroscale properties but also to its microstructure. Arctic ice cores in the summers of 2008 to 2016 were used to analyze variations in the ice inherent optical properties related to changes in the ice microstructure. The results reveal changing ice microstructure greatly increased the amount of solar radiation transmitted to the upper ocean even when a constant ice thickness was assumed, especially in marginal ice zones.
Geoffrey J. Dawson and Jack C. Landy
The Cryosphere, 17, 4165–4178, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4165-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4165-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we compared measurements from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 over Arctic summer sea ice to understand any possible biases between the two satellites. We found that there is a difference when we measure elevation over summer sea ice using CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2, and this is likely due to surface melt ponds. The differences we found were in good agreement with theoretical predictions, and this work will be valuable for summer sea ice thickness measurements from both altimeters.
Yanan Wang, Byongjun Hwang, Adam William Bateson, Yevgeny Aksenov, and Christopher Horvat
The Cryosphere, 17, 3575–3591, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3575-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3575-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice is composed of small, discrete pieces of ice called floes, whose size distribution plays a critical role in the interactions between the sea ice, ocean and atmosphere. This study provides an assessment of sea ice models using new high-resolution floe size distribution observations, revealing considerable differences between them. These findings point not only to the limitations in models but also to the need for more high-resolution observations to validate and calibrate models.
Sascha Willmes, Günther Heinemann, and Frank Schnaase
The Cryosphere, 17, 3291–3308, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3291-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3291-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice is an important constituent of the global climate system. We here use satellite data to identify regions in the Arctic where the sea ice breaks up in so-called leads (i.e., linear cracks) regularly during winter. This information is important because leads determine, e.g., how much heat is exchanged between the ocean and the atmosphere. We here provide first insights into the reasons for the observed patterns in sea-ice leads and their relation to ocean currents and winds.
Isolde A. Glissenaar, Jack C. Landy, David G. Babb, Geoffrey J. Dawson, and Stephen E. L. Howell
The Cryosphere, 17, 3269–3289, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3269-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3269-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Observations of large-scale ice thickness have unfortunately only been available since 2003, a short record for researching trends and variability. We generated a proxy for sea ice thickness in the Canadian Arctic for 1996–2020. This is the longest available record for large-scale sea ice thickness available to date and the first record reliably covering the channels between the islands in northern Canada. The product shows that sea ice has thinned by 21 cm over the 25-year record in April.
Marion Bocquet, Sara Fleury, Fanny Piras, Eero Rinne, Heidi Sallila, Florent Garnier, and Frédérique Rémy
The Cryosphere, 17, 3013–3039, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3013-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3013-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice has a large interannual variability, and studying its evolution requires long time series of observations. In this paper, we propose the first method to extend Arctic sea ice thickness time series to the ERS-2 altimeter. The developed method is based on a neural network to calibrate past missions on the current one by taking advantage of their differences during the mission-overlap periods. Data are available as monthly maps for each year during the winter period between 1995 and 2021.
Ole Rieke, Marius Årthun, and Jakob Simon Dörr
The Cryosphere, 17, 1445–1456, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1445-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1445-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Barents Sea is the region of most intense winter sea ice loss, and future projections show a continued decline towards ice-free conditions by the end of this century but with large fluctuations. Here we use climate model simulations to look at the occurrence and drivers of rapid ice change events in the Barents Sea that are much stronger than the average ice loss. A better understanding of these events will contribute to improved sea ice predictions in the Barents Sea.
Younjoo J. Lee, Wieslaw Maslowski, John J. Cassano, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Anthony P. Craig, Samy Kamal, Robert Osinski, Mark W. Seefeldt, Julienne Stroeve, and Hailong Wang
The Cryosphere, 17, 233–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-233-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-233-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
During 1979–2020, four winter polynyas occurred in December 1986 and February 2011, 2017, and 2018 north of Greenland. Instead of ice melting due to the anomalous warm air intrusion, the extreme wind forcing resulted in greater ice transport offshore. Based on the two ensemble runs, representing a 1980s thicker ice vs. a 2010s thinner ice, a dominant cause of these winter polynyas stems from internal variability of atmospheric forcing rather than from the forced response to a warming climate.
John E. Walsh, Hajo Eicken, Kyle Redilla, and Mark Johnson
The Cryosphere, 16, 4617–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4617-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Indicators for the start and end of annual breakup and freeze-up of sea ice at various coastal locations around the Arctic are developed. Relative to broader offshore areas, some of the coastal indicators show an earlier freeze-up and later breakup, especially at locations where landfast ice is prominent. However, the trends towards earlier breakup and later freeze-up are unmistakable over the post-1979 period in synthesized metrics of the coastal breakup/freeze-up indicators.
Abigail Smith, Alexandra Jahn, Clara Burgard, and Dirk Notz
The Cryosphere, 16, 3235–3248, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3235-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The timing of Arctic sea ice melt each year is an important metric for assessing how sea ice in climate models compares to satellite observations. Here, we utilize a new tool for creating more direct comparisons between climate model projections and satellite observations of Arctic sea ice, such that the melt onset dates are defined the same way. This tool allows us to identify climate model biases more clearly and gain more information about what the satellites are observing.
Juha Karvonen, Eero Rinne, Heidi Sallila, Petteri Uotila, and Marko Mäkynen
The Cryosphere, 16, 1821–1844, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1821-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1821-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a method to provide sea ice thickness (SIT) estimates over a test area in the Arctic utilizing radar altimeter (RA) measurement lines and C-band SAR imagery. The RA data are from CryoSat-2, and SAR imagery is from Sentinel-1. By combining them we get a SIT grid covering the whole test area instead of only narrow measurement lines from RA. This kind of SIT estimation can be extended to cover the whole Arctic (and Antarctic) for operational SIT monitoring.
Yu Liang, Haibo Bi, Haijun Huang, Ruibo Lei, Xi Liang, Bin Cheng, and Yunhe Wang
The Cryosphere, 16, 1107–1123, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1107-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1107-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A record minimum July sea ice extent, since 1979, was observed in 2020. Our results reveal that an anomalously high advection of energy and water vapor prevailed during spring (April to June) 2020 over regions with noticeable sea ice retreat. The large-scale atmospheric circulation and cyclones act in concert to trigger the exceptionally warm and moist flow. The convergence of the transport changed the atmospheric characteristics and the surface energy budget, thus causing a severe sea ice melt.
Jinlei Chen, Shichang Kang, Wentao Du, Junming Guo, Min Xu, Yulan Zhang, Xinyue Zhong, Wei Zhang, and Jizu Chen
The Cryosphere, 15, 5473–5482, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5473-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5473-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice is retreating with rapid warming in the Arctic. It will continue and approach the worst predicted pathway released by the IPCC. The irreversible tipping point might show around 2060 when the oldest ice will have completely disappeared. It has a huge impact on human production. Ordinary merchant ships will be able to pass the Northeast Passage and Northwest Passage by the midcentury, and the opening time will advance to the next 10 years for icebreakers with moderate ice strengthening.
Qiang Wang, Sergey Danilov, Longjiang Mu, Dmitry Sidorenko, and Claudia Wekerle
The Cryosphere, 15, 4703–4725, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4703-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4703-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using simulations, we found that changes in ocean freshwater content induced by wind perturbations can significantly affect the Arctic sea ice drift, thickness, concentration and deformation rates years after the wind perturbations. The impact is through changes in sea surface height and surface geostrophic currents and the most pronounced in warm seasons. Such a lasting impact might become stronger in a warming climate and implies the importance of ocean initialization in sea ice prediction.
Henrieka Detlef, Brendan Reilly, Anne Jennings, Mads Mørk Jensen, Matt O'Regan, Marianne Glasius, Jesper Olsen, Martin Jakobsson, and Christof Pearce
The Cryosphere, 15, 4357–4380, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4357-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4357-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Here we examine the Nares Strait sea ice dynamics over the last 7000 years and their implications for the late Holocene readvance of the floating part of Petermann Glacier. We propose that the historically observed sea ice dynamics are a relatively recent feature, while most of the mid-Holocene was marked by variable sea ice conditions in Nares Strait. Nonetheless, major advances of the Petermann ice tongue were preceded by a shift towards harsher sea ice conditions in Nares Strait.
Timothy Williams, Anton Korosov, Pierre Rampal, and Einar Ólason
The Cryosphere, 15, 3207–3227, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3207-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3207-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
neXtSIM (neXt-generation Sea Ice Model) includes a novel and extremely realistic way of modelling sea ice dynamics – i.e. how the sea ice moves and deforms in response to the drag from winds and ocean currents. It has been developed over the last few years for a variety of applications, but this paper represents its first demonstration in a forecast context. We present results for the time period from November 2018 to June 2020 and show that it agrees well with satellite observations.
Sourav Chatterjee, Roshin P. Raj, Laurent Bertino, Sebastian H. Mernild, Meethale Puthukkottu Subeesh, Nuncio Murukesh, and Muthalagu Ravichandran
The Cryosphere, 15, 1307–1319, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1307-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1307-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice in the Greenland Sea (GS) is important for its climatic (fresh water), economical (shipping), and ecological contribution (light availability). The study proposes a mechanism through which sea ice concentration in GS is partly governed by the atmospheric and ocean circulation in the region. The mechanism proposed in this study can be useful for assessing the sea ice variability and its future projection in the GS.
Ruibo Lei, Mario Hoppmann, Bin Cheng, Guangyu Zuo, Dawei Gui, Qiongqiong Cai, H. Jakob Belter, and Wangxiao Yang
The Cryosphere, 15, 1321–1341, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1321-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1321-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Quantification of ice deformation is useful for understanding of the role of ice dynamics in climate change. Using data of 32 buoys, we characterized spatiotemporal variations in ice kinematics and deformation in the Pacific sector of Arctic Ocean for autumn–winter 2018/19. Sea ice in the south and west has stronger mobility than in the east and north, which weakens from autumn to winter. An enhanced Arctic dipole and weakened Beaufort Gyre in winter lead to an obvious turning of ice drifting.
Beena Balan-Sarojini, Steffen Tietsche, Michael Mayer, Magdalena Balmaseda, Hao Zuo, Patricia de Rosnay, Tim Stockdale, and Frederic Vitart
The Cryosphere, 15, 325–344, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-325-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-325-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Our study for the first time shows the impact of measured sea ice thickness (SIT) on seasonal forecasts of all the seasons. We prove that the long-term memory present in the Arctic winter SIT is helpful to improve summer sea ice forecasts. Our findings show that realistic SIT initial conditions to start a forecast are useful in (1) improving seasonal forecasts, (2) understanding errors in the forecast model, and (3) recognizing the need for continuous monitoring of world's ice-covered oceans.
Chao Min, Qinghua Yang, Longjiang Mu, Frank Kauker, and Robert Ricker
The Cryosphere, 15, 169–181, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-169-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
An ensemble of four estimates of the sea-ice volume (SIV) variations in Baffin Bay from 2011 to 2016 is generated from the locally merged satellite observations, three modeled sea ice thickness sources (CMST, NAOSIM, and PIOMAS) and NSIDC ice drift data (V4). Results show that the net increase of the ensemble mean SIV occurs from October to April with the largest SIV increase in December, and the reduction occurs from May to September with the largest SIV decline in July.
Mohammed E. Shokr, Zihan Wang, and Tingting Liu
The Cryosphere, 14, 3611–3627, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3611-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3611-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This paper uses sequential daily SAR images covering the Robeson Channel to quantitatively study kinematics of individual ice floes with exploration of wind influence and the evolution of the ice arch at the entry of the channel. Results show that drift of ice floes within the Robeson Channel and the arch are both significantly influenced by wind. The study highlights the advantage of using the high-resolution daily SAR coverage in monitoring sea ice cover in narrow water passages.
Guillian Van Achter, Leandro Ponsoni, François Massonnet, Thierry Fichefet, and Vincent Legat
The Cryosphere, 14, 3479–3486, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3479-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3479-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We document the spatio-temporal internal variability of Arctic sea ice thickness and its changes under anthropogenic forcing, which is key to understanding, and eventually predicting, the evolution of sea ice in response to climate change.
The patterns of sea ice thickness variability remain more or less stable during pre-industrial, historical and future periods, despite non-stationarity on short timescales. These patterns start to change once Arctic summer ice-free events occur, after 2050.
Abigail Smith, Alexandra Jahn, and Muyin Wang
The Cryosphere, 14, 2977–2997, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2977-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2977-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The annual cycle of Arctic sea ice can be used to gain more information about how climate model simulations of sea ice compare to observations. In some models, the September sea ice area agrees with observations for the wrong reasons because biases in the timing of seasonal transitions compensate for other unrealistic sea ice characteristics. This research was done to provide new process-based metrics of Arctic sea ice using satellite observations, the CESM Large Ensemble, and CMIP6 models.
Michael Kern, Robert Cullen, Bruno Berruti, Jerome Bouffard, Tania Casal, Mark R. Drinkwater, Antonio Gabriele, Arnaud Lecuyot, Michael Ludwig, Rolv Midthassel, Ignacio Navas Traver, Tommaso Parrinello, Gerhard Ressler, Erik Andersson, Cristina Martin-Puig, Ole Andersen, Annett Bartsch, Sinead Farrell, Sara Fleury, Simon Gascoin, Amandine Guillot, Angelika Humbert, Eero Rinne, Andrew Shepherd, Michiel R. van den Broeke, and John Yackel
The Cryosphere, 14, 2235–2251, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter will provide high-resolution sea ice thickness and land ice elevation measurements and the capability to determine the properties of snow cover on ice to serve operational products and services of direct relevance to the polar regions. This paper describes the mission objectives, identifies the key contributions the CRISTAL mission will make, and presents a concept – as far as it is already defined – for the mission payload.
Thomas Krumpen, Florent Birrien, Frank Kauker, Thomas Rackow, Luisa von Albedyll, Michael Angelopoulos, H. Jakob Belter, Vladimir Bessonov, Ellen Damm, Klaus Dethloff, Jari Haapala, Christian Haas, Carolynn Harris, Stefan Hendricks, Jens Hoelemann, Mario Hoppmann, Lars Kaleschke, Michael Karcher, Nikolai Kolabutin, Ruibo Lei, Josefine Lenz, Anne Morgenstern, Marcel Nicolaus, Uwe Nixdorf, Tomash Petrovsky, Benjamin Rabe, Lasse Rabenstein, Markus Rex, Robert Ricker, Jan Rohde, Egor Shimanchuk, Suman Singha, Vasily Smolyanitsky, Vladimir Sokolov, Tim Stanton, Anna Timofeeva, Michel Tsamados, and Daniel Watkins
The Cryosphere, 14, 2173–2187, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2173-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2173-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In October 2019 the research vessel Polarstern was moored to an ice floe in order to travel with it on the 1-year-long MOSAiC journey through the Arctic. Here we provide historical context of the floe's evolution and initial state for upcoming studies. We show that the ice encountered on site was exceptionally thin and was formed on the shallow Siberian shelf. The analyses presented provide the initial state for the analysis and interpretation of upcoming biogeochemical and ecological studies.
Sukun Cheng, Justin Stopa, Fabrice Ardhuin, and Hayley H. Shen
The Cryosphere, 14, 2053–2069, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2053-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2053-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Wave states in ice in polar oceans are mostly studied near the ice edge. However, observations in the internal ice field, where ice morphology is very different from the ice edge, are rare. Recently derived wave data from satellite imagery are easier and cheaper than field studies and provide large coverage. This work presents a way of using these data to have a close view of some key features in the wave propagation over hundreds of kilometers and calibrate models for predicting wave decay.
Jutta E. Wollenburg, Morten Iversen, Christian Katlein, Thomas Krumpen, Marcel Nicolaus, Giulia Castellani, Ilka Peeken, and Hauke Flores
The Cryosphere, 14, 1795–1808, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1795-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1795-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Based on an observed omnipresence of gypsum crystals, we concluded that their release from melting sea ice is a general feature in the Arctic Ocean. Individual gypsum crystals sank at more than 7000 m d−1, suggesting that they are an important ballast mineral. Previous observations found gypsum inside phytoplankton aggregates at 2000 m depth, supporting gypsum as an important driver for pelagic-benthic coupling in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean.
Xiaoyong Yu, Annette Rinke, Wolfgang Dorn, Gunnar Spreen, Christof Lüpkes, Hiroshi Sumata, and Vladimir M. Gryanik
The Cryosphere, 14, 1727–1746, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1727-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1727-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents an evaluation of Arctic sea ice drift speed for the period 2003–2014 in a state-of-the-art coupled regional model for the Arctic, called HIRHAM–NAOSIM. In particular, the dependency of the drift speed on the near-surface wind speed and sea ice conditions is presented. Effects of sea ice form drag included by an improved parameterization of the transfer coefficients for momentum and heat over sea ice are discussed.
Yinghui Liu, Jeffrey R. Key, Xuanji Wang, and Mark Tschudi
The Cryosphere, 14, 1325–1345, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1325-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1325-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a consistent and accurate multi-decadal product of ice thickness and ice volume from 1984 to 2018 based on satellite-derived ice age. Sea ice volume trends from this dataset are stronger than the trends from other datasets. Changes in sea ice thickness contribute more to overall sea ice volume trends than changes in sea ice area do in all months.
Alice K. DuVivier, Patricia DeRepentigny, Marika M. Holland, Melinda Webster, Jennifer E. Kay, and Donald Perovich
The Cryosphere, 14, 1259–1271, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1259-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1259-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In autumn 2019, a ship will be frozen into the Arctic sea ice for a year to study system changes. We analyze climate model data from a group of experiments and follow virtual sea ice floes throughout a year. The modeled sea ice conditions along possible tracks are highly variable. Observations that sample a wide range of sea ice conditions and represent the variety and diversity in possible conditions are necessary for improving climate model parameterizations over all types of sea ice.
Xiao-Yi Yang, Guihua Wang, and Noel Keenlyside
The Cryosphere, 14, 693–708, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-693-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-693-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The post-2007 Arctic sea ice cover is characterized by a remarkable increase in annual cycle amplitude, which is attributed to multiyear variability in spring Bering sea ice extent. We demonstrated that changes of NPGO mode, by anomalous wind stress curl and Ekman pumping, trigger subsurface variability in the Bering basin. This accounts for the significant decadal oscillation of spring Bering sea ice after 2007. The study helps us to better understand the recent Arctic climate regime shift.
Adam W. Bateson, Daniel L. Feltham, David Schröder, Lucia Hosekova, Jeff K. Ridley, and Yevgeny Aksenov
The Cryosphere, 14, 403–428, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-403-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic sea ice cover has been observed to be decreasing, particularly in summer. We use numerical models to gain insight into processes controlling its seasonal and decadal evolution. Sea ice is made of pieces of ice called floes. Previous models have set these floes to be the same size, which is not supported by observations. In this study we show that accounting for variable floe size reveals the importance of sea ice regions close to the open ocean in driving seasonal retreat of sea ice.
Alex West, Mat Collins, Ed Blockley, Jeff Ridley, and Alejandro Bodas-Salcedo
The Cryosphere, 13, 2001–2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2001-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2001-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a framework for examining the causes of model errors in Arctic sea ice volume, using HadGEM2-ES as a case study. Simple models are used to estimate how much of the error in energy arriving at the ice surface is due to error in key Arctic climate variables. The method quantifies how each variable affects sea ice volume balance and shows that for HadGEM2-ES an annual mean low bias in ice thickness is likely due to errors in surface melt onset.
Caixin Wang, Robert M. Graham, Keguang Wang, Sebastian Gerland, and Mats A. Granskog
The Cryosphere, 13, 1661–1679, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1661-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1661-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A warm bias and higher total precipitation and snowfall were found in ERA5 compared with ERA-Interim (ERA-I) over Arctic sea ice. The warm bias in ERA5 was larger in the cold season when 2 m air temperature was < −25 °C and smaller in the warm season than in ERA-I. Substantial anomalous Arctic rainfall in ERA-I was reduced in ERA5, particularly in summer and autumn. When using ERA5 and ERA-I to force a 1-D sea ice model, the effects on ice growth are very small (cm) during the freezing period.
John E. Walsh, J. Scott Stewart, and Florence Fetterer
The Cryosphere, 13, 1073–1088, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1073-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1073-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Persistence-based statistical forecasts of a Beaufort Sea ice severity index as well as September pan-Arctic ice extent show significant statistical skill out to several seasons when the data include the trend. However, this apparent skill largely vanishes when the trends are removed from the data. This finding is consistent with the notion of a springtime “predictability barrier” that has been found in sea ice forecasts based on more sophisticated methods.
Leandro Ponsoni, François Massonnet, Thierry Fichefet, Matthieu Chevallier, and David Docquier
The Cryosphere, 13, 521–543, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-521-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-521-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is a main component of the Earth's climate system. It is fundamental to understand the behavior of Arctic sea ice coverage over time and in space due to many factors, e.g., shipping lanes, the travel and tourism industry, hunting and fishing activities, mineral resource extraction, and the potential impact on the weather in midlatitude regions. In this work we use observations and results from models to understand how variations in the sea ice thickness change over time and in space.
John R. Mioduszewski, Stephen Vavrus, Muyin Wang, Marika Holland, and Laura Landrum
The Cryosphere, 13, 113–124, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-113-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-113-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Arctic sea ice is projected to thin substantially in every season by the end of the 21st century with a corresponding increase in its interannual variability as the rate of ice loss peaks. This typically occurs when the mean ice thickness falls between 0.2 and 0.6 m. The high variability in both growth and melt processes is the primary factor resulting in increased ice variability. This study emphasizes the importance of short-term variations in ice cover within the mean downward trend.
Marion Lebrun, Martin Vancoppenolle, Gurvan Madec, and François Massonnet
The Cryosphere, 13, 79–96, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-79-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-79-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The present analysis shows that the increase in the Arctic ice-free season duration will be asymmetrical, with later autumn freeze-up contributing about twice as much as earlier spring retreat. This feature is robustly found in a hierarchy of climate models and is consistent with a simple mechanism: solar energy is absorbed more efficiently than it can be released in non-solar form and should emerge out of variability within the next few decades.
Abigail Smith and Alexandra Jahn
The Cryosphere, 13, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Here we assessed how natural climate variations and different definitions impact the diagnosed and projected Arctic sea ice melt season length using model simulations. Irrespective of the definition or natural variability, the sea ice melt season is projected to lengthen, potentially by as much as 4–5 months by 2100 under the business as usual scenario. We also find that different definitions have a bigger impact on melt onset, while natural variations have a bigger impact on freeze onset.
Yuanyuan Zhang, Xiao Cheng, Jiping Liu, and Fengming Hui
The Cryosphere, 12, 3747–3757, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3747-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3747-2018, 2018
Aaron Letterly, Jeffrey Key, and Yinghui Liu
The Cryosphere, 12, 3373–3382, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3373-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3373-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Significant reductions in Arctic sea ice and snow cover on Arctic land have led to increases in absorbed solar energy by the surface. Does one play a more important role in Arctic climate change? Using 34 years of satellite data we found that solar energy absorption increased by 10 % over the ocean, which was 3 times greater than over land. Therefore, the decreasing sea ice cover, not changes in terrestrial snow cover, has been the dominant feedback mechanism over the last few decades.
Cited articles
Aagaard, K. and Carmack, E. C.:
The role of sea ice and other fresh water in the Arctic circulation, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 14485–14498, https://doi.org/10.1029/JC094iC10p14485, 1989.
Bagnardi, M., Kurtz, N. T., Petty, A. A., and Kwok, R.:
Sea Surface Height Anomalies of the Arctic Ocean From ICESat-2: A First Examination and Comparisons With CryoSat-2, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL093155, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093155, 2021.
Barrett, A. P., Stroeve, J. C., and Serreze, M. C.:
Arctic Ocean Precipitation From Atmospheric Reanalyses and Comparisons With North Pole Drifting Station Records, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 125, e2019JC015415, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015415, 2020.
Batrak, Y. and Müller, M.:
On the warm bias in atmospheric reanalyses induced by the missing snow over Arctic sea-ice, Nat. Commun., 10, 4170, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11975-3, 2019.
Breivik, L. A., Eastwood, S., and Lavergne, T.:
Use of C-Band Scatterometer for Sea Ice Edge Identification, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 50, 2669–2677, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2012.2188898, 2012 (data available at: ftp://osisaf.met.no/prod/ice/type/, last access: 1 May 2021).
British Antarctic Survey: Year-round Arctic sea ice thickness from CryoSat-2 Baseline-D Level 1b observations 2010–2020, British Antarctic Survey [data set], https://doi.org/10.5285/D8C66670-57AD-44FC-8FEF-942A46734ECB, 2022.
Bunzel, F., Notz, D., and Pedersen, L. T.:
Retrievals of Arctic Sea-Ice Volume and Its Trend Significantly Affected by Interannual Snow Variability, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 11751–11759, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078867, 2018.
Cabaj, A., Kushner, P. J., Fletcher, C. G., Howell, S., and Petty, A. A.:
Constraining Reanalysis Snowfall Over the Arctic Ocean Using CloudSat Observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL086426, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086426, 2020.
Cabaj, A., Kushner, P., and Petty, A.: Observationally Calibrating Free Parameters for a Snow-on-Sea-Ice Model Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method, in: AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans, LA, id. C33A-02, 2021.
SIMIP Community: Arctic Sea Ice in CMIP6, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL086749, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086749, 2020.
Cooley, S. W., Ryan, J. C., Smith, L. C., Horvat, C., Pearson, B., Dale, B., and Lynch, A. H.:
Coldest Canadian Arctic communities face greatest reductions in shorefast sea ice, Nat. Clim. Change, 1–6, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0757-5, 2020.
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P., Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P., Bechtold, P., Beljaars, A. C. M., van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N., Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S. B., Hersbach, H., Holm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kallberg, P., Kahler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M., Morcrette, J.-J., Park, B.-K., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C., Thepaut, J.-N., and Vitart, F.:
The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011.
Eicken, H.:
Ocean science: Arctic sea ice needs better forecasts, Nature, 497, 431–433, https://doi.org/10.1038/497431a, 2013.
Giles, K. A., Laxon, S. W., Wingham, D. J., Wallis, D. W., Krabill, W. B., Leuschen, C. J., McAdoo, D., Manizade, S. S., and Raney, R. K.:
Combined airborne laser and radar altimeter measurements over the Fram Strait in May 2002, Remote Sens. Environ., 111, 182–194, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2007.02.037, 2007.
Glissenaar, I. A., Landy, J. C., Petty, A. A., Kurtz, N. T., and Stroeve, J. C.:
Impacts of snow data and processing methods on the interpretation of long-term changes in Baffin Bay early spring sea ice thickness, The Cryosphere, 15, 4909–4927, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4909-2021, 2021.
Granskog, M. A., Rösel, A., Dodd, P. A., Divine, D., Gerland, S., Martma, T., and Leng, M. J.:
Snow contribution to first-year and second-year Arctic sea ice mass balance north of Svalbard, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 122, 2539–2549, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012398, 2017.
Hendricks, S. and Ricker, R.:
User guide – AWI CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness data product (v1.2), Alfred Wegener Institute, http://epic.awi.de/41242/ (last access: 1 May 2019), 2016 (data available at: https://data.seaiceportal.de/data/cryosat2/, last access: 1 May 2019).
Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Biavati, G., Horányi, A., Muñoz Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Rozum, I., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Dee, D., and Thépaut, J.-N.: ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS) [data set], https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7, 2019.
Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Hirahara, S., Horányi, A., Muñoz-Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Abdalla, S., Abellan, X., Balsamo, G., Bechtold, P., Biavati, G., Bidlot, J., Bonavita, M., De Chiara, G., Dahlgren, P., Dee, D., Diamantakis, M., Dragani, R., Flemming, J., Forbes, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A., Haimberger, L., Healy, S., Hogan, R. J., Hólm, E., Janisková, M., Keeley, S., Laloyaux, P., Lopez, P., Lupu, C., Radnoti, G., de Rosnay, P., Rozum, I., Vamborg, F., Villaume, S., and Thépaut, J.-N.:
The ERA5 global reanalysis, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 146, 1999–2049, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3803, 2020.
Kacimi, S. and Kwok, R.:
Arctic Snow Depth, Ice Thickness, and Volume From ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2: 2018–2021, Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, e2021GL097448, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097448, 2022a.
Kacimi, S. and Kwok, R.: ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2 L4 Monthly Arctic Snow Depth and Sea Ice Thickness, Version 1, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, Boulder, Colorado USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/04YYIKXW0GJS, 2022b.
King, J., Howell, S., Derksen, C., Rutter, N., Toose, P., Beckers, J. F., Haas, C., Kurtz, N., and Richter-Menge, J.:
Evaluation of Operation IceBridge quick-look snow depth estimates on sea ice, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 2015GL066389, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066389, 2015.
King, J., Skourup, H., Hvidegaard, S. M., Rösel, A., Gerland, S., Spreen, G., Polashenski, C., Helm, V., and Liston, G. E.:
Comparison of Freeboard Retrieval and Ice Thickness Calculation From ALS, ASIRAS, and CryoSat-2 in the Norwegian Arctic, to Field Measurements Made During the N-ICE2015 Expedition, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 123, 1123–1141, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC013233, 2018.
Koenig, L. S., Ivanoff, A., Alexander, P. M., MacGregor, J. A., Fettweis, X., Panzer, B., Paden, J. D., Forster, R. R., Das, I., McConnell, J. R., Tedesco, M., Leuschen, C., and Gogineni, P.:
Annual Greenland accumulation rates (2009–2012) from airborne snow radar, The Cryosphere, 10, 1739–1752, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1739-2016, 2016.
Krishfield, R. A., Proshutinsky, A., Tateyama, K., Williams, W. J., Carmack, E. C., McLaughlin, F. A., and Timmermans, M.-L.:
Deterioration of perennial sea ice in the Beaufort Gyre from 2003 to 2012 and its impact on the oceanic freshwater cycle, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 119, 1271–1305, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC008999, 2014 (data available at: https://www2.whoi.edu/site/beaufortgyre/data/mooring-data/2018-2021-mooring-data-from-the-bgep-project/, last access: 1 December 2022).
Kurtz, J. C. and Harbeck, J.:
CryoSat-2 Level 4 Sea Ice Elevation, Freeboard, and Thickness, Version 1, NASA DAAC at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, https://doi.org/10.5067/96JO0KIFDAS8, 2017.
Kurtz, N. T., Markus, T., Cavalieri, D. J., Sparling, L. C., Krabill, W. B., Gasiewski, A. J., and Sonntag, J. G.:
Estimation of sea ice thickness distributions through the combination of snow depth and satellite laser altimetry data, J. Geophys. Res., 114, C10007, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC005292, 2009.
Kurtz, N. T., Farrell, S. L., Studinger, M., Galin, N., Harbeck, J. P., Lindsay, R., Onana, V. D., Panzer, B., and Sonntag, J. G.:
Sea ice thickness, freeboard, and snow depth products from Operation IceBridge airborne data, The Cryosphere, 7, 1035–1056, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1035-2013, 2013.
Kwok, R.:
Sea ice convergence along the Arctic coasts of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Variability and extremes (1992–2014), Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 7598–7605, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065462, 2015.
Kwok, R.:
Arctic sea ice thickness, volume, and multiyear ice coverage: losses and coupled variability (1958–2018), Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 105005, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae3ec, 2018.
Kwok, R. and Cunningham, G. F.:
ICESat over Arctic sea ice: Estimation of snow depth and ice thickness, J. Geophys. Res., 113, C08010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JC004753, 2008.
Kwok, R. and Cunningham, G. F.:
Variability of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume from CryoSat-2, Philos. T. R. Soc. Lond. A, 373, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0157, 2015.
Kwok, R., Cunningham, G. F., Hoffmann, J., and Markus, T.:
Testing the ice-water discrimination and freeboard retrieval algorithms for the ICESat-2 mission, Remote Sens. Environ., 183, 13–25, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.05.011, 2016.
Kwok, R., Kurtz, N. T., Brucker, L., Ivanoff, A., Newman, T., Farrell, S. L., King, J., Howell, S., Webster, M. A., Paden, J., Leuschen, C., MacGregor, J. A., Richter-Menge, J., Harbeck, J., and Tschudi, M.:
Intercomparison of snow depth retrievals over Arctic sea ice from radar data acquired by Operation IceBridge, The Cryosphere, 11, 2571–2593, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2571-2017, 2017.
Kwok, R., Kacimi, S., Markus, T., Kurtz, N. T., Studinger, M., Sonntag, J. G., Manizade, S. S., Boisvert, L. N., and Harbeck, J. P.:
ICESat-2 surface height and sea-ice freeboard assessed with ATM lidar acquisitions from Operation IceBridge, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 11228–11236, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084976, 2019a.
Kwok, R., Markus, T., Kurtz, N. T., Petty, A. A., Neumann, T. A., Farrell, S. L., Cunningham, G. F., Hancock, D. W., Ivanoff, A., and Wimert, J. T.:
Surface Height and Sea Ice Freeboard of the Arctic Ocean From ICESat-2: Characteristics and Early Results, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 124, 6942–6959, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015486, 2019b.
Kwok, R., Kacimi, S., Webster, M. A., Kurtz, N. T., and Petty, A. A.:
Arctic Snow Depth and Sea Ice Thickness From ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2 Freeboards: A First Examination, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 125, e2019JC016008, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC016008, 2020.
Kwok, R., Petty, A., Cunningham, G., Markus, T., Hancock, D., Ivanoff, A., Wimert, J., Bagnardi, M., and Kurtz, N.:
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Freeboard, Version 5, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL10.005, 2021a.
Kwok, R., Petty, A., Cunningham, G., Markus, T., Hancock, D., Ivanoff, A., Wimert, J., Bagnardi, M., and Kurtz, N.:
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Heights, Version 5, NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL07.005, 2021b.
Kwok, R., Petty, A., Wimert, J., Bagnardi, M., Cuningham, G., Hancock, D., Ivanoff, A., and Kurtz, N.:
Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 Project: Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) for Sea Ice Products, Release 005, https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/data-products (last access: 1 December 2022), 2021c.
Kwok, R., Petty, A. A., Bagnardi, M., Kurtz, N. T., Cunningham, G. F., Ivanoff, A., and Kacimi, S.:
Refining the sea surface identification approach for determining freeboards in the ICESat-2 sea ice products, The Cryosphere, 15, 821–833, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-821-2021, 2021d.
Kwok, R., Petty, A. A., Cunningham, G., Markus, T., Hancock, D., Ivanoff, A., Wimert, J., Bagnardi, M., Kurtz, N., and the ICESat-2 Science Team: ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Freeboard, Version 4, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL10.004, 2021e.
Labe, Z., Magnusdottir, G., and Stern, H.:
Variability of Arctic sea-ice thickness using PIOMAS and the CESM Large Ensemble, J. Climate, 31, 3233–3247, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0436.1, 2018.
Landy, J. C., Bouffard, J., Wilson, C., Rynders, S., Aksenov, Y., and Tsamados, M.:
Improved Arctic Sea Ice Freeboard Retrieval From Satellite Altimetry Using Optimized Sea Surface Decorrelation Scales, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 126, e2021JC017466, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017466, 2021.
Landy, J. C., Dawson, G. J., Tsamados, M., Bushuk, M., Stroeve, J. C., Howell, S. E. L., Krumpen, T., Babb, D. G., Komarov, A. S., Heorton, H. D. B. S., Belter, H. J., and Aksenov, Y.:
A year-round satellite sea-ice thickness record from CryoSat-2, Nature, 609, 517–522, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05058-5, 2022.
Lavergne, T., Eastwood, S., Teffah, Z., Schyberg, H., and Breivik, L.-A.:
Sea ice motion from low-resolution satellite sensors: An alternative method and its validation in the Arctic, J. Geophys. Res., 115, C10032, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC005958, 2010.
Laxon, S. W., Giles, K. A., Ridout, A. L., Wingham, D. J., Willatt, R., Cullen, R., Kwok, R., Schweiger, A., Zhang, J., Haas, C., Hendricks, S., Krishfield, R., Kurtz, N., Farrell, S., and Davidson, M.:
CryoSat-2 estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 732–737, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50193, 2013 (data available at: http://www.cpom.ucl.ac.uk/csopr/seaice.html, last access: 1 May 2019).
Liston, G. E., Itkin, P., Stroeve, J., Tschudi, M., Stewart, J. S., Pedersen, S. H., Reinking, A. K., and Elder, K.:
A Lagrangian Snow-Evolution System for Sea-Ice Applications (SnowModel-LG): Part I—Model Description, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 125, e2019JC015913, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015913, 2020.
Magruder, L. A., Brunt, K. M., and Alonzo, M.:
Early ICESat-2 on-orbit Geolocation Validation Using Ground-Based Corner Cube Retro-Reflectors, Remote Sens.-Basel, 12, 3653, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12213653, 2020.
Mallett, R. D. C., Stroeve, J. C., Tsamados, M., Landy, J. C., Willatt, R., Nandan, V., and Liston, G. E.:
Faster decline and higher variability in the sea ice thickness of the marginal Arctic seas when accounting for dynamic snow cover, The Cryosphere, 15, 2429–2450, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2429-2021, 2021.
Markus, T., Neumann, T., Martino, A., Abdalati, W., Brunt, K., Csatho, B., Farrell, S., Fricker, H., Gardner, A., Harding, D., Jasinski, M., Kwok, R., Magruder, L., Lubin, D., Luthcke, S., Morison, J., Nelson, R., Neuenschwander, A., Palm, S., Popescu, S., Shum, C., Schutz, B. E., Smith, B., Yang, Y., and Zwally, J.:
The Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2): Science requirements, concept, and implementation, Remote Sens. Environ., 190, 260–273, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.12.029, 2017.
Meier, W., Perovich, D., Ferrell, S., Haas, C., Hendricks, S., and Petty, A.:
Sea Ice, NOAA Arctic Report Card 2021, edited by: Moon, T. A., Druckenmiller, M. L., and Thoman, R. L., https://doi.org/10.25923/y2wd-fn85, 2021.
Meier, W. N., and Stewart, J. S.: Arctic and Antarctic Regional Masks for Sea Ice and Related Data Products, Version 1, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/CYW3O8ZUNIWC, 2023.
Meier, W. N., Fetterer, F., Savoie, M., Mallory, S., Duerr, R., and Stroeve, J.:
NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 3, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.7265/N59P2ZTG, 2017.
Meier, W. N., Fetterer, F., Windnagel, A. K., and Stewart, J. S.:
NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 4 [September 2018 to April 2021], NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.7265/efmz-2t65, 2021.
Moore G. W. K., Schweiger A., Zhang J., and Steele M.:
Collapse of the 2017 Winter Beaufort High: A Response to Thinning Sea Ice?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 2860–2869, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076446, 2018.
Nandan, V., Geldsetzer, T., Yackel, J., Mahmud, M., Scharien, R., Howell, S., King, J., Ricker, R., and Else, B.:
Effect of Snow Salinity on CryoSat-2 Arctic First-Year Sea Ice Freeboard Measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 10419–10426, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074506, 2017.
Neumann, T. A., Martino, A. J., Markus, T., Bae, S., Bock, M. R., Brenner, A. C., Brunt, K. M., Cavanaugh, J., Fernandes, S. T., Hancock, D. W., Harbeck, K., Lee, J., Kurtz, N. T., Luers, P. J., Luthcke, S. B., Magruder, L., Pennington, T. A., Ramos-Izquierdo, L., Rebold, T., Skoog, J., and Thomas, T. C.:
The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite – 2 mission: A global geolocated photon product derived from the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, Remote Sens. Environ., 233, 111325, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111325, 2019.
OSI SAF: Global Low Resolution Sea Ice Drift – Multimission, EUMETSAT SAF on Ocean and Sea Ice [data set], https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_NRT_2007, 2010.
Parkinson, C. L. and DiGirolamo, N. E.:
Sea ice extents continue to set new records: Arctic, Antarctic, and global results, Remote Sens. Environ., 267, 112753, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112753, 2021.
Petty, A.: akpetty/ICESat-2-sea-ice-thickness: Version 1 (v1.0.2), Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7474254, 2022.
Petty, A. and Cabaj, A.: akpetty/NESOSIM: Version 1.1 (v1.1), Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4448356, 2021a.
Petty, A. and Cabaj, A.: NASA Eulerian Snow On Sea Ice Model Version 1.1 (NESOSIMv1.1) data: 1980–2021 (September to April) (v1.1), Zenodo [code and data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5164314, 2021b.
Petty, A. and Keeney, N.: akpetty/icesat2-book: v1.0, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7474217, 2022.
Petty, A. A., Hutchings, J. K., Richter-Menge, J. A., and Tschudi, M. A.:
Sea ice circulation around the Beaufort Gyre: The changing role of wind forcing and the sea ice state, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 121, 3278–3296, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC010903, 2016.
Petty, A. A., Webster, M., Boisvert, L., and Markus, T.:
The NASA Eulerian Snow on Sea Ice Model (NESOSIM) v1.0: initial model development and analysis, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4577–4602, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4577-2018, 2018a.
Petty, A. A., Holland, M. M., Bailey, D. A., and Kurtz, N. T.:
Warm Arctic, Increased Winter Sea Ice Growth?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 12,922-12,930, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079223, 2018b.
Petty, A. A., Kurtz, N. T., Kwok, R., Markus, T., and Neumann, T. A.:
Winter Arctic Sea Ice Thickness From ICESat-2 Freeboards, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 125, e2019JC015764, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015764, 2020.
Petty, A. A., Bagnardi, M., Kurtz, N. T., Tilling, R., Fons, S., Armitage, T., Horvat, C., and Kwok, R.:
Assessment of ICESat-2 Sea Ice Surface Classification with Sentinel-2 Imagery: Implications for Freeboard and New Estimates of Lead and Floe Geometry, Earth and Space Science, 8, e2020EA001491, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EA001491, 2021.
Petty, A. A., Kurtz, N., Kwok, R., Markus, T., and Neumann, T. A.:
ICESat-2 L4 Along-Track Sea Ice Thickness, Version 1, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/JTI5YG3S6VAJ, 2022a.
Petty, A. A., Kurtz, N., Kwok, R., Markus, T., Neumann, T. A., and Keeney, N.:
ICESat-2 L4 Monthly Gridded Sea Ice Thickness, Version 2, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/OE8BDP5KU30Q, 2022b.
Post, E., Bhatt, U. S., Bitz, C. M., Brodie, J. F., Fulton, T. L., Hebblewhite, M., Kerby, J., Kutz, S. J., Stirling, I., and Walker, D. A.:
Ecological Consequences of Sea-Ice Decline, Science, 341, 519–524, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235225, 2013.
Ricker, R., Hendricks, S., Kaleschke, L., Tian-Kunze, X., King, J., and Haas, C.:
A weekly Arctic sea-ice thickness data record from merged CryoSat-2 and SMOS satellite data, The Cryosphere, 11, 1607–1623, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1607-2017, 2017 (data available at: https://spaces.awi.de/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=291898639, last access: 1 September 2022).
Sallila, H., Farrell, S. L., McCurry, J., and Rinne, E.:
Assessment of contemporary satellite sea ice thickness products for Arctic sea ice, The Cryosphere, 13, 1187–1213, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1187-2019, 2019.
Schutz, B. E., Zwally, H. J., Shuman, C. A., Hancock, D., and DiMarzio, J. P.:
Overview of the ICESat Mission, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L21S01, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL024009, 2005.
Schweiger, A., Lindsay, R., Zhang, J., Steele, M., Stern, H., and Kwok, R.:
Uncertainty in modeled Arctic sea ice volume, J. Geophys. Res., 116, C00D06, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JC007084, 2011.
Schweiger, A. J., Steele, M., Zhang, J., Moore, G. W. K., and Laidre, K. L.:
Accelerated sea ice loss in the Wandel Sea points to a change in the Arctic's Last Ice Area, Commun. Earth Environ., 2, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00197-5, 2021.
Serreze, M. C., Barrett, A. P., Slater, A. G., Steele, M., Zhang, J., and Trenberth, K. E.:
The large-scale energy budget of the Arctic, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D11122, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008230, 2007.
Smith, M. M., Holland, M. M., Petty, A. A., Light, B., and Bailey, D. A.:
Effects of Increasing the Category Resolution of the Sea Ice Thickness Distribution in a Coupled Climate Model on Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Mean State, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 127, e2022JC019044, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC019044, 2022.
Stroeve, J., Liston, G. E., Buzzard, S., Zhou, L., Mallett, R., Barrett, A., Tschudi, M., Tsamados, M., Itkin, P., and Stewart, J. S.:
A Lagrangian Snow Evolution System for Sea Ice Applications (SnowModel-LG): Part II—Analyses, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 125, e2019JC015900, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015900, 2020.
Tilling, R., Kurtz, N. T., Bagnardi, M., Petty, A. A., and Kwok, R.:
Detection of Melt Ponds on Arctic Summer Sea Ice From ICESat-2, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL090644, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090644, 2020.
Tilling, R. L., Ridout, A., Shepherd, A., and Wingham, D. J.:
Increased Arctic sea ice volume after anomalously low melting in 2013, Nat. Geosci., 8, 643–646, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2489, 2015.
Tilling, R. L., Ridout, A., and Shepherd, A.:
Estimating Arctic sea ice thickness and volume using CryoSat-2 radar altimeter data, Adv. Space Res., 62, 1203–1225, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2017.10.051, 2018.
Tschudi, M., Meier, W., Stewart, J. S., Fowler, C., and Maslanik, J.:
Polar Pathfinder Daily 25 km EASE-Grid Sea Ice Motion Vectors, Version 4, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/INAWUWO7QH7B, 2019.
Wagner, D. N., Shupe, M. D., Cox, C., Persson, O. G., Uttal, T., Frey, M. M., Kirchgaessner, A., Schneebeli, M., Jaggi, M., Macfarlane, A. R., Itkin, P., Arndt, S., Hendricks, S., Krampe, D., Nicolaus, M., Ricker, R., Regnery, J., Kolabutin, N., Shimanshuck, E., Oggier, M., Raphael, I., Stroeve, J., and Lehning, M.:
Snowfall and snow accumulation during the MOSAiC winter and spring seasons, The Cryosphere, 16, 2373–2402, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2373-2022, 2022.
Wang, C., Graham, R. M., Wang, K., Gerland, S., and Granskog, M. A.:
Comparison of ERA5 and ERA-Interim near-surface air temperature, snowfall and precipitation over Arctic sea ice: effects on sea ice thermodynamics and evolution, The Cryosphere, 13, 1661–1679, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1661-2019, 2019.
Wang, X., Key, J., Kwok, R., and Zhang, J.:
Comparison of Arctic Sea Ice Thickness from Satellites, Aircraft, and PIOMAS Data, Remote Sens.-Basel, 8, 713, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8090713, 2016.
Warren, S. G., Rigor, I. G., Untersteiner, N., Radionov, V. F., Bryazgin, N. N., Aleksandrov, Y. I., and Colony, R.:
Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice, J. Climate, 12, 1814–1829, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<1814:SDOASI>2.0.CO;2, 1999.
Wingham, D. J., Francis, C. R., Baker, S., Bouzinac, C., Brockley, D., Cullen, R., de Chateau-Thierry, P., Laxon, S. W., Mallow, U., Mavrocordatos, C., Phalippou, L., Ratier, G., Rey, L., Rostan, F., Viau, P., and Wallis, D. W.:
CryoSat: A mission to determine the fluctuations in Earth's land and marine ice fields, Adv. Space Res., 37, 841–871, 2006.
Yu, Y., Xiao, W., Zhang, Z., Cheng, X., Hui, F., and Zhao, J.:
Evaluation of 2-m Air Temperature and Surface Temperature from ERA5 and ERA-I Using Buoy Observations in the Arctic during 2010–2020, Remote Sens.-Basel, 13, 2813, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142813, 2021.
Zhang, J. and Rothrock, D. A.: Modeling Global Sea Ice with a Thickness and Enthalpy Distribution Model in Generalized Curvilinear Coordinates, Mon. Weather Rev., 131, 845–861, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(2003)131<0845:MGSIWA>2.0.CO;2, 2003.
Zhou, L., Stroeve, J., Xu, S., Petty, A., Tilling, R., Winstrup, M., Rostosky, P., Lawrence, I. R., Liston, G. E., Ridout, A., Tsamados, M., and Nandan, V.:
Inter-comparison of snow depth over Arctic sea ice from reanalysis reconstructions and satellite retrieval, The Cryosphere, 15, 345–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, 2021.
Zygmuntowska, M., Rampal, P., Ivanova, N., and Smedsrud, L. H.:
Uncertainties in Arctic sea ice thickness and volume: new estimates and implications for trends, The Cryosphere, 8, 705–720, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-705-2014, 2014.
Short summary
We present upgrades to winter Arctic sea ice thickness estimates from NASA's ICESat-2. Our new thickness results show better agreement with independent data from ESA's CryoSat-2 compared to our first data release, as well as new, very strong comparisons with data collected by moorings in the Beaufort Sea. We analyse three winters of thickness data across the Arctic, including 50 cm thinning of the multiyear ice over this 3-year period.
We present upgrades to winter Arctic sea ice thickness estimates from NASA's ICESat-2. Our new...
