EGU2020-10729
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10729
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Trends and variations in heat uptake of the Arctic climate system

Michael Mayer1,2, Leopold Haimberger1, Johannes Mayer1, Takamasa Tsubouchi3, Steffen Tietsche2, and Hao Zuo2
Michael Mayer et al.
  • 1Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  • 2ECMWF, Reading, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • 3Geophysical Institute and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

A recent assessment of the coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea-ice energy budget of the Arctic using largely independent observational data sources demonstrated a high level of consistency of yearly means and annual cycles of lateral and vertical energy fluxes and storage terms. Moreover, contemporary Arctic regional energy imbalance has been found to be of similar magnitude (~1Wm-2) as Earth’s global energy imbalance. This suggests that Arctic amplification is predominantly a surface phenomenon and its imprint on the vertically integrated energy budget is small. Nevertheless, the annual cycle of the observed Arctic energy budget has amplified over the past two decades, with marked changes in seasonal patterns of energy fluxes and storage. This contribution draws on satellite observations, mooring-derived oceanic fluxes, data from the fifth European Re-Analysis (ERA5), and state-of-the-art ocean reanalyses to examine recent changes in Arctic heat accumulation as well as trends and variability in seasonal energy budgets. Implications for seasonal energy transports from mid-latitudes towards the Arctic will be discussed as well.

How to cite: Mayer, M., Haimberger, L., Mayer, J., Tsubouchi, T., Tietsche, S., and Zuo, H.: Trends and variations in heat uptake of the Arctic climate system, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10729, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10729, 2020

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