The polar climate system is strongly affected by interactions between the atmosphere and the cryosphere. Feedback mechanisms between snow, land ice, sea ice and the atmosphere, such as blowing snow, ice melt, polynya formation, and sea ice production play an important role. Atmosphere-ice interactions are also triggered by synoptic weather phenomena such as cold air outbreaks, katabatic winds, polar cyclones, atmospheric rivers, Foehn winds and heatwaves. However, our understanding of these processes is still incomplete, and to fully capture how atmosphere, land ice and sea ice are coupled on different spatial and temporal scales, remains a major challenge.
This session will provide a setting to foster discussion on the atmosphere-ice coupling in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It will offer the opportunity to review newly acquired knowledge, identify gaps, and which instruments, tools, and studies can be designed to address these open questions.
We invite contributions on all observational and modelling aspects of Arctic and Antarctic meteorology and climatology that address atmospheric interactions with the cryosphere. This may include studies of atmospheric dynamics that influence sea-ice dynamics or ice-sheet mass balance, or investigations into the variability of the atmospheric circulation such as polar jets, the circumpolar trough, storm tracks and their link to changes in the cryosphere.