EGU2020-20077
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20077
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Air-Sea Fluxes following the Unusually Early Ice Retreats in the Arctic

Dongxiao Zhang1, Chidong Zhang2, Jessica Cross2, Calvin Mordy1, Edward Cokelet2, Chelle Gentemann3, Andy Chiodi1, Phyllis Stabeno2, Richard Jenkins4, Christian Meinig2, Noah Lawrence-Slava2, Heather Tabisola1, and Muyin Wang1
Dongxiao Zhang et al.
  • 1JISAO/University of Washington and NOAA/PMEL, SEATTLE, United States of America (dongxiao.zhang@noaa.gov)
  • 2NOAA/PMEL, SEATTLE, United States of America
  • 3Farallon Institute, United States of America
  • 4Saildrone, Inc.

The Arctic has been rapidly changing over the last decade, with more frequent unusually early ice retreats in late spring and summer. Vast Arctic areas that were usually covered by sea ice are now exposed to the atmosphere because of earlier ice retreat and later arrival. Assessment of consequential changes in the energy cycle of the Arctic and their potential feedback to the variability of Arctic sea ice and marine ecosystems critically depends on the accuracy of surface flux estimates. In the Pacific sector of the Arctic, earlier ice retreat generally follows the warm Pacific water inflow into the Arctic through the Bering and Chukchi Seas. Due to ice coverage and irregularity of seasonal ice retreats, air-sea flux measurements following the ice retreats has been difficult to plan and execute. A recent technology development is the Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs): The long-range USV saildrones are powered by green energy with wind for propulsion and solar energy for instrumentation and vehicle control. NOAA/PMEL and University of Washington scientists have made surface measurements of the ocean and atmosphere in the Pacific Arctic using saildrones for the past several years. In 2019, for the 1st time a fleet of six saildrones capable of measuring both turbulent and radiative heat fluxes, wind stress, air-sea CO2 flux and upper ocean currents was deployed to follow the ice retreat from May to October, with five of the USVs into the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas while one staying in the Bering Sea. These in situ measurements provide rare opportunities of estimating air-sea energy fluxes during a period of rapid reduction in Arctic sea ice in different scenarios: open water after ice melt, free-floating ice bands, and marginal ice zones. In this study, Arctic air-sea heat and momentum fluxes measured by the saildrones are compared to gridded flux products based on satellite data and numerical models to investigate the circumstances under which they agree and differ, and the main sources of their discrepancies. The results will quantify the uncertainty margins in the gridded flux products and provide insights needed to improve their accuracy. We will also discuss the feasibility of using USVs in sustained Arctic observing system to collect benchmark datasets of the changing surface energy fluxes due to rapid sea ice reduction and provide real time data for improved weather and ocean forecasts.  

How to cite: Zhang, D., Zhang, C., Cross, J., Mordy, C., Cokelet, E., Gentemann, C., Chiodi, A., Stabeno, P., Jenkins, R., Meinig, C., Lawrence-Slava, N., Tabisola, H., and Wang, M.: Air-Sea Fluxes following the Unusually Early Ice Retreats in the Arctic, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-20077, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20077, 2020

Displays

Display file