Articles | Volume 18, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-341-2024
© Author(s) 2024. 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-18-341-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
19 Jan 2024
Research article |
| 19 Jan 2024
| 19 Jan 2024
A method for constructing directional surface wave spectra from ICESat-2 altimetry
Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, CISL/CGD, Boulder, CO, USA
Christopher Horvat
Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Waipapa Taumatu Rau / University of Auckland, Department of Physics, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand
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Tim Woollings, Camille Li, Marie Drouard, Etienne Dunn-Sigouin, Karim A. Elmestekawy, Momme Hell, Brian Hoskins, Cheikh Mbengue, Matthew Patterson, and Thomas Spengler
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 61–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-61-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-61-2023, 2023
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This paper investigates large-scale atmospheric variability in polar regions, specifically the balance between large-scale turbulence and Rossby wave activity. The polar regions are relatively more dominated by turbulence than lower latitudes, but Rossby waves are found to play a role and can even be triggered from high latitudes under certain conditions. Features such as cyclone lifetimes, high-latitude blocks, and annular modes are discussed from this perspective.
Aikaterini Tavri, Chris Horvat, Brodie Pearson, Guillaume Boutin, Anne Hansen, and Ara Lee
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3438, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3438, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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In the Arctic, thin sea ice lets ocean waves travel into ice-covered areas. When waves, wind, and currents interact, they create Langmuir turbulence—strong mixing near the surface that helps move heat, gases, and nutrients between the ocean and air. Scientists understand this process in open water, but not well in polar regions. This study uses a new wave–ice model to find out where and how Langmuir turbulence affects ocean mixing in the Arctic.
Christopher Horvat, Ellen M. Buckley, and Madelyn Stewart
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3864, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3864, 2025
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Since the late 1970s, standard methods for observing sea ice area from satellite contrast its passive microwave emissions to that of the ocean. Since 2018, a new satellite, ICESat-2, may offer a unique and independent way to sample sea ice area at high skill and resolution, using laser altimetry. We develop a new product of sea ice area for the Arctic using ICESat-2 and constrain the biases associated with the use of altimetry instead of passive microwave emissions.
Ellen M. Buckley, Christopher Horvat, and Pittayuth Yoosiri
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3861, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3861, 2024
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Sea ice coverage is a key indicator of changes in polar and global climate. There is a long (40+ year) record of sea ice concentration and area from passive microwave measurements. In this work we show the biases in these data based on high resolution imagery. We also suggest the use of ICESat-2, a high resolution satellite laser, that can supplement the passive microwave estimates.
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
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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.
Tim Woollings, Camille Li, Marie Drouard, Etienne Dunn-Sigouin, Karim A. Elmestekawy, Momme Hell, Brian Hoskins, Cheikh Mbengue, Matthew Patterson, and Thomas Spengler
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 61–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-61-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-61-2023, 2023
Short summary
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This paper investigates large-scale atmospheric variability in polar regions, specifically the balance between large-scale turbulence and Rossby wave activity. The polar regions are relatively more dominated by turbulence than lower latitudes, but Rossby waves are found to play a role and can even be triggered from high latitudes under certain conditions. Features such as cyclone lifetimes, high-latitude blocks, and annular modes are discussed from this perspective.
Jill Brouwer, Alexander D. Fraser, Damian J. Murphy, Pat Wongpan, Alberto Alberello, Alison Kohout, Christopher Horvat, Simon Wotherspoon, Robert A. Massom, Jessica Cartwright, and Guy D. Williams
The Cryosphere, 16, 2325–2353, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2325-2022, 2022
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The marginal ice zone is the region where ocean waves interact with sea ice. Although this important region influences many sea ice, ocean and biological processes, it has been difficult to accurately measure on a large scale from satellite instruments. We present new techniques for measuring wave attenuation using the NASA ICESat-2 laser altimeter. By measuring how waves attenuate within the sea ice, we show that the marginal ice zone may be far wider than previously realised.
Christopher Horvat and Lettie A. Roach
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 803–814, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-803-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-803-2022, 2022
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Sea ice is a composite of individual pieces, called floes, ranging in horizontal size from meters to kilometers. Variations in sea ice geometry are often forced by ocean waves, a process that is an important target of global climate models as it affects the rate of sea ice melting. Yet directly simulating these interactions is computationally expensive. We present a neural-network-based model of wave–ice fracture that allows models to incorporate their effect without added computational cost.
Eric P. Chassignet, Stephen G. Yeager, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Alexandra Bozec, Frederic Castruccio, Gokhan Danabasoglu, Christopher Horvat, Who M. Kim, Nikolay Koldunov, Yiwen Li, Pengfei Lin, Hailong Liu, Dmitry V. Sein, Dmitry Sidorenko, Qiang Wang, and Xiaobiao Xu
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 4595–4637, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4595-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4595-2020, 2020
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This paper presents global comparisons of fundamental global climate variables from a suite of four pairs of matched low- and high-resolution ocean and sea ice simulations to assess the robustness of climate-relevant improvements in ocean simulations associated with moving from coarse (∼1°) to eddy-resolving (∼0.1°) horizontal resolutions. Despite significant improvements, greatly enhanced horizontal resolution does not deliver unambiguous bias reduction in all regions for all models.
Christopher Horvat, Lettie A. Roach, Rachel Tilling, Cecilia M. Bitz, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Colin Guider, Kaitlin Hill, Andy Ridout, and Andrew Shepherd
The Cryosphere, 13, 2869–2885, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2869-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2869-2019, 2019
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Changes in the floe size distribution (FSD) are important for sea ice evolution but to date largely unobserved and unknown. Climate models, forecast centres, ship captains, and logistic specialists cannot currently obtain statistical information about sea ice floe size on demand. We develop a new method to observe the FSD at global scales and high temporal and spatial resolution. With refinement, this method can provide crucial information for polar ship routing and real-time forecasting.
C. Horvat and E. Tziperman
The Cryosphere, 9, 2119–2134, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2119-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2119-2015, 2015
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Sea-ice cover is composed of floes of different sizes and thicknesses, whose distribution varies in space and time, and may affect the interaction between sea ice and the ocean and atmosphere, yet is not represented in climate models. We develop and demonstrate a model for the evolution of the joint distribution of floe sizes and thicknesses, subject to melting and freezing, mechanical interactions between floes, and the fracture of floes by waves, forced by atmospheric and ocean forcing fields.
Related subject area
Discipline: Sea ice | Subject: Ocean Interactions
Mechanisms and impacts of anomalous high-salinity shelf water formation in the Ross Sea
Finely-resolved along-track wave attenuation estimates in the Antarctic marginal ice zone from ICESat-2
Two-dimensional numerical simulations of mixing under ice keels
Seasonal and diurnal variability of sub-ice platelet layer thickness in McMurdo Sound from electromagnetic induction sounding
The role of upper-ocean heat content in the regional variability of Arctic sea ice at sub-seasonal timescales
A model for the Arctic mixed layer circulation under a summertime lead: implications for the near-surface temperature maximum formation
Underestimation of oceanic carbon uptake in the Arctic Ocean: ice melt as predictor of the sea ice carbon pump
Uncertainty analysis of single- and multiple-size-class frazil ice models
Wave–sea-ice interactions in a brittle rheological framework
Experimental evidence for a universal threshold characterizing wave-induced sea ice break-up
High-resolution simulations of interactions between surface ocean dynamics and frazil ice
Frazil ice growth and production during katabatic wind events in the Ross Sea, Antarctica
Towards a coupled model to investigate wave–sea ice interactions in the Arctic marginal ice zone
Wave energy attenuation in fields of colliding ice floes – Part 2: A laboratory case study
Responses of sub-ice platelet layer thickening rate and frazil-ice concentration to variations in ice-shelf water supercooling in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
Xiaoqiao Wang, Zhaoru Zhang, Chuan Xie, Xi Zhao, Chuning Wang, Heng Hu, and Yuanjie Chen
The Cryosphere, 19, 2229–2245, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2229-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2229-2025, 2025
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Global bottom water originates from high-salinity shelf water (HSSW), formed by intense sea ice production (SIP) in the Southern Ocean. This study uses numerical outputs for the Ross Sea to examine the extreme HSSW event in 2007, when atmospheric circulations enhanced SIP, resulting in the highest HSSW volume in a decade. However, salinity was low, owing to increased meltwater. The findings highlight the complex interplay between SIP and ice shelf melting, with key implications for ocean processes.
Joey J. Voermans, Alexander D. Fraser, Jill Brouwer, Michael H. Meylan, Qingxiang Liu, and Alexander V. Babanin
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Limited measurements of waves in sea ice exist, preventing our understanding of wave attenuation in sea ice under a wide range of ice conditions. Using satellite observations from ICESat-2 we observe an overall linear increase of the wave attenuation rate with distance into the marginal ice zone. While attenuation may vary greatly locally, this finding may provide opportunities for the modelling of waves in sea ice at global and climate scales when such fine detail may not be needed.
Sam De Abreu, Rosalie M. Cormier, Mikhail G. Schee, Varvara E. Zemskova, Erica Rosenblum, and Nicolas Grisouard
The Cryosphere, 18, 3159–3176, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3159-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3159-2024, 2024
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Arctic sea ice is becoming more mobile and thinner, which will affect the upper Arctic Ocean in unforeseen ways. Using numerical simulations, we find that mixing by ice keels (ridges underlying sea ice) depends significantly on their speeds and depths and the density structure of the upper ocean. Large uncertainties in our results highlight the need for more realistic numerical simulations and better measurements of ice keel characteristics.
Gemma M. Brett, Greg H. Leonard, Wolfgang Rack, Christian Haas, Patricia J. Langhorne, Natalie J. Robinson, and Anne Irvin
The Cryosphere, 18, 3049–3066, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3049-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3049-2024, 2024
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Glacial meltwater with ice crystals flows from beneath ice shelves, causing thicker sea ice with sub-ice platelet layers (SIPLs) beneath. Thicker sea ice and SIPL reveal where and how much meltwater is outflowing. We collected continuous measurements of sea ice and SIPL. In winter, we observed rapid SIPL growth with strong winds. In spring, SIPLs grew when tides caused offshore circulation. Wind-driven and tidal circulation influence glacial meltwater outflow from ice shelf cavities.
Elena Bianco, Doroteaciro Iovino, Simona Masina, Stefano Materia, and Paolo Ruggieri
The Cryosphere, 18, 2357–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2357-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2357-2024, 2024
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Changes in ocean heat transport and surface heat fluxes in recent decades have altered the Arctic Ocean heat budget and caused warming of the upper ocean. Using two eddy-permitting ocean reanalyses, we show that this has important implications for sea ice variability. In the Arctic regional seas, upper-ocean heat content acts as an important precursor for sea ice anomalies on sub-seasonal timescales, and this link has strengthened since the 2000s.
Alberto Alvarez
The Cryosphere, 17, 3343–3361, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3343-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3343-2023, 2023
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A near-surface temperature maximum (NSTM) layer is typically observed under different Arctic basins. Although its development seems to be related to solar heating in leads, its formation mechanism is under debate. This study uses numerical modeling in an idealized framework to demonstrate that the NSTM layer forms under a summer lead exposed to a combination of calm and moderate wind periods. Future warming of this layer could modify acoustic propagation with implications for marine mammals.
Benjamin Richaud, Katja Fennel, Eric C. J. Oliver, Michael D. DeGrandpre, Timothée Bourgeois, Xianmin Hu, and Youyu Lu
The Cryosphere, 17, 2665–2680, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2665-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2665-2023, 2023
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Sea ice is a dynamic carbon reservoir. Its seasonal growth and melt modify the carbonate chemistry in the upper ocean, with consequences for the Arctic Ocean carbon sink. Yet, the importance of this process is poorly quantified. Using two independent approaches, this study provides new methods to evaluate the error in air–sea carbon flux estimates due to the lack of biogeochemistry in ice in earth system models. Those errors range from 5 % to 30 %, depending on the model and climate projection.
Fabien Souillé, Cédric Goeury, and Rem-Sophia Mouradi
The Cryosphere, 17, 1645–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1645-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1645-2023, 2023
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Models that can predict temperature and ice crystal formation (frazil) in water are important for river and coastal engineering. Indeed, frazil has direct impact on submerged structures and often precedes the formation of ice cover. In this paper, an uncertainty analysis of two mathematical models that simulate supercooling and frazil is carried out within a probabilistic framework. The presented methodology offers new insight into the models and their parameterization.
Guillaume Boutin, Timothy Williams, Pierre Rampal, Einar Olason, and Camille Lique
The Cryosphere, 15, 431–457, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-431-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-431-2021, 2021
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In this study, we investigate the interactions of surface ocean waves with sea ice. We focus on the evolution of sea ice after it has been fragmented by the waves. Fragmented sea ice is expected to experience less resistance to deformation. We reproduce this evolution using a new coupling framework between a wave model and the recently developed sea ice model neXtSIM. We find that waves can significantly increase the mobility of compact sea ice over wide areas in the wake of storm events.
Joey J. Voermans, Jean Rabault, Kirill Filchuk, Ivan Ryzhov, Petra Heil, Aleksey Marchenko, Clarence O. Collins III, Mohammed Dabboor, Graig Sutherland, and Alexander V. Babanin
The Cryosphere, 14, 4265–4278, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4265-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4265-2020, 2020
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In this work we demonstrate the existence of an observational threshold which identifies when waves are most likely to break sea ice. This threshold is based on information from two recent field campaigns, supplemented with existing observations of sea ice break-up. We show that both field and laboratory observations tend to converge to a single quantitative threshold at which the wave-induced sea ice break-up takes place, which opens a promising avenue for operational forecasting models.
Agnieszka Herman, Maciej Dojczman, and Kamila Świszcz
The Cryosphere, 14, 3707–3729, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3707-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3707-2020, 2020
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Under typical conditions favorable for sea ice formation in many regions (strong wind and waves, low air temperature), ice forms not at the sea surface but within the upper, turbulent layer of the ocean. Although interactions between ice and ocean dynamics are very important for the evolution of sea ice cover, many aspects of them are poorly understood. We use a numerical model to analyze three-dimensional water circulation and ice transport and show that ice strongly modifies that circulation.
Lisa Thompson, Madison Smith, Jim Thomson, Sharon Stammerjohn, Steve Ackley, and Brice Loose
The Cryosphere, 14, 3329–3347, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3329-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3329-2020, 2020
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The offshore winds around Antarctica can reach hurricane strength and produce intense cooling, causing the surface ocean to form a slurry of seawater and ice crystals. For the first time, we observed a buildup of heat and salt in the surface ocean, caused by loose ice crystal formation. We conclude that up to 1 m of ice was formed per day by the intense cooling, suggesting that unconsolidated crystals may be an important part of the total freezing that happens around Antarctica.
Guillaume Boutin, Camille Lique, Fabrice Ardhuin, Clément Rousset, Claude Talandier, Mickael Accensi, and Fanny Girard-Ardhuin
The Cryosphere, 14, 709–735, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-709-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-709-2020, 2020
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We investigate the interactions of surface ocean waves with sea ice taking place at the interface between the compact sea ice cover and the open ocean. We use a newly developed coupling framework between a wave and an ocean–sea ice numerical model. Our results show how the push on sea ice exerted by waves changes the amount and the location of sea ice melting, with a strong impact on the ocean surface properties close to the ice edge.
Agnieszka Herman, Sukun Cheng, and Hayley H. Shen
The Cryosphere, 13, 2901–2914, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2901-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2901-2019, 2019
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Sea ice interactions with waves are extensively studied in recent years, but mechanisms leading to wave energy attenuation in sea ice remain poorly understood. One of the reasons limiting progress in modelling is a lack of observational data for model validation. The paper presents an analysis of laboratory observations of waves propagating in colliding ice floes. We show that wave attenuation is sensitive to floe size and wave period. A numerical model is calibrated to reproduce this behaviour.
Chen Cheng, Adrian Jenkins, Paul R. Holland, Zhaomin Wang, Chengyan Liu, and Ruibin Xia
The Cryosphere, 13, 265–280, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-265-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-265-2019, 2019
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The sub-ice platelet layer (SIPL) under fast ice is most prevalent in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Using a modified plume model, we investigated the responses of SIPL thickening rate and frazil concentration to variations in ice shelf water supercooling in McMurdo Sound. It would be key to parameterizing the relevant process in more complex three-dimensional, primitive equation ocean models, which relies on the knowledge of the suspended frazil size spectrum within the ice–ocean boundary layer.
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Short summary
Sea ice is heavily impacted by waves on its margins, and we currently do not have routine observations of waves in sea ice. Here we propose two methods to separate the surface waves from the sea-ice height observations along each ICESat-2 track using machine learning. Both methods together allow us to follow changes in the wave height through the sea ice.
Sea ice is heavily impacted by waves on its margins, and we currently do not have routine...
