Formation and fate of freshwater on an ice floe in the Central Arctic

Smith, Madison M.; Fuchs, Niels; Salganik, Evgenii; Perovich, Donald K.; Raphael, Ian; Granskog, Mats A.; Schulz, Kirstin; Shupe, Matthew D.; Webster, Melinda

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-619-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-619-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-619-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 2

Research article

|

07 Feb 2025

Research article |

| 07 Feb 2025

Formation and fate of freshwater on an ice floe in the Central Arctic

Madison M. Smith, Niels Fuchs, Evgenii Salganik, Donald K. Perovich, Ian Raphael, Mats A. Granskog, Kirstin Schulz, Matthew D. Shupe, and Melinda Webster

Data sets

Measurements of ice mass balance and temperature from autonomous Seasonal Ice Mass Balance buoys in the Arctic Ocean D. Perovich et al. https://doi.org/10.18739/A20Z70Z01

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from Digital Thermistor Chains (DTCs) during MOSAiC 2019/2020 E. Salganik et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.964023

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T58, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940393

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T62, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940231

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T63, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940593

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T64, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940617

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T66, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938134

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T67, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938128

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2019T70, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940659

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2020T74, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940692

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2020T75, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940740

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2020T76, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940702

Temperature and heating induced temperature difference measurements from SIMBA-type sea ice mass balance buoy 2020T79, deployed during MOSAiC 2019/20 R. Lei et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940712

Merged grids of sea-ice or snow freeboard from helicopter-borne laser scanner during the MOSAiC expedition N. Hutter et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.950896

Magnaprobe snow and melt pond depth measurements from the 2019-2020 MOSAiC expedition P. Itkin et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.937781

Physical oceanography measurements from a hand-held CTD during Leg 4 and 5 of POLARSTERN cruise PS122 - MOSAiC S. Karam et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.956142

First-year sea-ice salinity, temperature, density, oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition from the main coring site (MCS-FYI) during MOSAiC legs 1 to 4 in 2019/2020 M. Oggier et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.956732

Second-year sea-ice salinity, temperature, density, oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition from the main coring site (MCS-SYI) during MOSAiC legs 1 to 4 in 2019/2020 M. Oggier et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.959830

Short summary

The fate of freshwater from Arctic sea ice and snowmelt impacts interactions of the atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean. We complete a comprehensive analysis of datasets from a 2020 central Arctic field campaign to understand the drivers of the sea ice freshwater budget and the fate of this water. Over half of the freshwater comes from surface melt, and a majority fraction is incorporated into the ocean. Results suggest that the representation of melt ponds is a key area for future development.