Articles | Volume 17, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2509-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2509-2023
Research article
 | 
27 Jun 2023
Research article |  | 27 Jun 2023

The effects of assimilating a sub-grid-scale sea ice thickness distribution in a new Arctic sea ice data assimilation system

Nicholas Williams, Nicholas Byrne, Daniel Feltham, Peter Jan Van Leeuwen, Ross Bannister, David Schroeder, Andrew Ridout, and Lars Nerger

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Cited articles

Barber, D. G., Hop, H., Mundy, C. J., Else, B., Dmitrenko, I. A., Tremblay, J.-E., Ehn, J. K., Assmy, P., Daase, M., Candlish, L. M., and Rysgaard, S.: Selected physical, biological and biogeochemical implications of a rapidly changing Arctic Marginal Ice Zone, Prog. Oceanogr., 139, 122–150, 2015. a
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Bishop, C. H.: Data assimilation strategies for state-dependent observation error variances, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 145, 217–227, 2019. a
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Blockley, E. W. and Peterson, K. A.: Improving Met Office seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice using assimilation of CryoSat-2 thickness, The Cryosphere, 12, 3419–3438, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3419-2018, 2018. a
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Short summary
Observations show that the Arctic sea ice cover has reduced over the last 40 years. This study uses ensemble-based data assimilation in a stand-alone sea ice model to investigate the impacts of assimilating three different kinds of sea ice observation, including the novel assimilation of sea ice thickness distribution. We show that assimilating ice thickness distribution has a positive impact on thickness and volume estimates within the ice pack, especially for very thick ice.
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