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Abstract
Climatologies and annual anomaly patterns (2000–04) of melt season duration and dates of melt onset/freeze-up on Eurasian Arctic ice masses were derived from Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) backscatter data. Severnaya Zemlya, Russia, has later melt onset, earlier freeze-up, and shorter melt seasons than Svalbard, Norway/Novaya Zemlya, Russia. In all three archipelagos 2001 was the longest melt season and 2000 was the shortest. Anomalously long (short) melt seasons on Svalbard were associated with negative (positive) sea ice concentration anomalies along the north coast in June and August. Annual mean melt duration was strongly correlated with the mean (June + August) NCEP–NCAR reanalysis 850-hPa air temperature, allowing reconstruction of melt durations for the period of 1948–2005. The 2000–04 pentad had the second or third longest mean melt duration of all pentads in the 1950–2004 epoch, while the 1950–54 pentad probably had the longest. Integration of these results with previous results from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic identifies 2002 as the longest melt season in the 2000–04 period across the Arctic as a whole, and 2001 as the shortest. Correlation of melt duration anomalies for 19 discrete regions identifies seven spatially coherent areas of the Arctic with common patterns of variability in annual melt duration.
Abstract
Climatologies and annual anomaly patterns (2000–04) of melt season duration and dates of melt onset/freeze-up on Eurasian Arctic ice masses were derived from Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) backscatter data. Severnaya Zemlya, Russia, has later melt onset, earlier freeze-up, and shorter melt seasons than Svalbard, Norway/Novaya Zemlya, Russia. In all three archipelagos 2001 was the longest melt season and 2000 was the shortest. Anomalously long (short) melt seasons on Svalbard were associated with negative (positive) sea ice concentration anomalies along the north coast in June and August. Annual mean melt duration was strongly correlated with the mean (June + August) NCEP–NCAR reanalysis 850-hPa air temperature, allowing reconstruction of melt durations for the period of 1948–2005. The 2000–04 pentad had the second or third longest mean melt duration of all pentads in the 1950–2004 epoch, while the 1950–54 pentad probably had the longest. Integration of these results with previous results from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic identifies 2002 as the longest melt season in the 2000–04 period across the Arctic as a whole, and 2001 as the shortest. Correlation of melt duration anomalies for 19 discrete regions identifies seven spatially coherent areas of the Arctic with common patterns of variability in annual melt duration.
Abstract
To inform the ongoing development of earth system models that aim to incorporate interactive ice, the potential impact of interannual variability associated with synoptic variability and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on the evolution of a large continental ice sheet is explored through a series of targeted numerical modeling experiments. Global and North American signatures of ENSO at the LGM are described based on a multidecadal paleoclimate simulation using an atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM). Experiments in which a thermomechanical North American ice sheet model (ISM) was forced with persistent LGM ENSO composite anomaly maps derived from the AOGCM showed only modest ice sheet thickness sensitivity to ENSO teleconnections. In contrast, very high model sensitivity was found when North American climate variations were incorporated directly in the ISM as a looping interannual time series. Under this configuration, localized transient cold anomalies in the atmospheric record instigated substantial new ice formation through a dynamically mediated feedback at the ice sheet margin, altering the equilibrium geometry and resulting in a bulk 10% growth of the Laurentide ice sheet volume over 5 kyr.
Abstract
To inform the ongoing development of earth system models that aim to incorporate interactive ice, the potential impact of interannual variability associated with synoptic variability and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on the evolution of a large continental ice sheet is explored through a series of targeted numerical modeling experiments. Global and North American signatures of ENSO at the LGM are described based on a multidecadal paleoclimate simulation using an atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM). Experiments in which a thermomechanical North American ice sheet model (ISM) was forced with persistent LGM ENSO composite anomaly maps derived from the AOGCM showed only modest ice sheet thickness sensitivity to ENSO teleconnections. In contrast, very high model sensitivity was found when North American climate variations were incorporated directly in the ISM as a looping interannual time series. Under this configuration, localized transient cold anomalies in the atmospheric record instigated substantial new ice formation through a dynamically mediated feedback at the ice sheet margin, altering the equilibrium geometry and resulting in a bulk 10% growth of the Laurentide ice sheet volume over 5 kyr.
Abstract
The effect of increasing horizontal resolution is examined to assess the response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to freshwater perturbations. Versions of a global climate model with horizontal resolutions ranging from 1.8° (latitude) × 3.6° (longitude) to 0.2° × 0.4° are used to determine if the AMOC response to freshwater forcing is robust to increasing resolution. In the preindustrial equilibrium climate, the representation of western boundary currents and meridional heat transport are improved with resolution. Freshwater forcings similar to the final drainage of proglacial Lakes Agassiz and Ojibway are applied evenly over the Labrador Sea and exclusively along the western boundary. The duration and maximum amplitude of model responses to freshwater forcing showed little sensitivity to increasing resolution. An evaluation with tracers of the forcing impact on different regions of North Atlantic Deep Water formation revealed the possibility that increases in Labrador Sea deep convection at higher resolution mitigate the effect of stronger boundary currents and enhanced mixing. With increasing resolution, there is less cooling in the subpolar west Atlantic, more cooling in the subpolar east Atlantic, and greater variability in the deep ocean response to the boundary forcing. While differences exist, the coarse-resolution model response remains robust at finer horizontal resolutions.
Abstract
The effect of increasing horizontal resolution is examined to assess the response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to freshwater perturbations. Versions of a global climate model with horizontal resolutions ranging from 1.8° (latitude) × 3.6° (longitude) to 0.2° × 0.4° are used to determine if the AMOC response to freshwater forcing is robust to increasing resolution. In the preindustrial equilibrium climate, the representation of western boundary currents and meridional heat transport are improved with resolution. Freshwater forcings similar to the final drainage of proglacial Lakes Agassiz and Ojibway are applied evenly over the Labrador Sea and exclusively along the western boundary. The duration and maximum amplitude of model responses to freshwater forcing showed little sensitivity to increasing resolution. An evaluation with tracers of the forcing impact on different regions of North Atlantic Deep Water formation revealed the possibility that increases in Labrador Sea deep convection at higher resolution mitigate the effect of stronger boundary currents and enhanced mixing. With increasing resolution, there is less cooling in the subpolar west Atlantic, more cooling in the subpolar east Atlantic, and greater variability in the deep ocean response to the boundary forcing. While differences exist, the coarse-resolution model response remains robust at finer horizontal resolutions.
