EGU24-929, updated on 01 Jun 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-929
EGU General Assembly 2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Potential effects of summer Cryosat-2 sea ice thickness observations on sea ice forecast

Ruizhe Song1,2,4, Longjiang Mu3, Xianyao Chen2,3, Frank Kauker1, Svetlana Loza1, and Martin Losch1
Ruizhe Song et al.
  • 1Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
  • 2Frontier Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Physical Oceanography Laboratory, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
  • 3Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, China
  • 4Academy of the Future Ocean, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

Skillful Arctic sea ice forecast for the melting season remains a great challenge because there is no reliable pan-Arctic sea ice thickness (SIT) data set for the summertime. A new summer Cryosat-2 SIT observation data set based on an artificial intelligence algorithm may mitigate the situation. We assess the impact of this new data set on the initialization of both short-term and long-term sea ice forecasts in the melting seasons of 2015 and 2016 in a sea-ice couple model with data assimilation. We find that the assimilation of the new summer CryoSat-2 SIT observations can reduce the summer ice edge prediction error. Further, adding SIT observations to an established forecast system with sea ice concentration assimilation leads to a more realistic short-term summer ice edge forecast in the Arctic Pacific sector. The long-term Arctic-wide SIT prediction is also improved especially before the onset of freezing. In spite of remaining uncertainties,  summer CryoSat-2 SIT observations have the potential to enhance Arctic sea ice forecast on multiple time scales.

How to cite: Song, R., Mu, L., Chen, X., Kauker, F., Loza, S., and Losch, M.: Potential effects of summer Cryosat-2 sea ice thickness observations on sea ice forecast, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-929, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-929, 2024.