Tjernström, M, Shupe, MD, Brooks, IM orcid.org/0000-0002-5051-1322 et al. (9 more authors) (2015) Warm‐air advection, air mass transformation and fog causes rapid ice melt. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (13). pp. 5594-5602. ISSN 0094-8276
Abstract
Direct observations during intense warm-air advection over the East Siberian Sea reveal a period of rapid sea-ice melt. A semi-stationary, high-pressure system north of the Bering Strait forced northward advection of warm, moist air from the continent. Air-mass transfor-mation over melting sea ice formed a strong, surface-based temperature inversion in which dense fog formed. This induced a positive net longwave radiation at the surface, while reduc-ing net solar radiation only marginally; the inversion also resulted in downward turbulent heat flux. The sum of these processes enhanced the surface energy flux by an average of ~15 W m-2 for a week. Satellite images before and after the episode show sea-ice concentrations decreasing from > 90% to ~50% over a large area affected by the air-mass transformation. We argue that this rapid melt was triggered by the increased heat flux from the atmosphere due to the warm-air advection.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | warm-air advection; surface inversion; fog; surface energy balance; sea-ice melt; Arctic |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/K011820/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jun 2015 13:08 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2023 21:49 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064373 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/2015GL064373 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:87105 |