Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Regional atmospheric patterns and the delayed sea-ice freeze-up in the western Arctic

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The western Arctic sea ice cover has dramatically changed since the late 1970s, particularly the timing of the autumn freeze-up. While atmospheric dynamic and thermodynamic processes associated with synoptic-scale weather patterns largely impact the onset of regional ice formation, linkages between the subseasonal occurrences of these patterns, across interannual to multidecadal time scales, and the freeze-up are not well understood. This manuscript takes a synoptic climatological atmospheric pattern (AP) classification approach to evaluate the role of warm season-dominant (i.e., May-October) mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) and 1000–500 hPa thickness APs, derived from daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis fields, on the passive microwave-derived freeze-up dates for the marginal Beaufort/Chukchi Seas and western Arctic Ocean from 1979 to 2013. Analysis of the respective classifications’ frequencies and their relationships to the freeze-up reveals that approximately one-third of freeze-up variance may be explained by early/middle warm season Beaufort Sea High surface pressure pattern frequency changes. A similar amount of freeze-up variance is explained by the occurrence of mid-warm season dominant thermal patterns, either earlier or later than their predominant season. Both results suggest that pattern changes may be associated with changing ocean–atmosphere heat exchanges affiliated with lengthened periods of melt conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Asplin MG, Lukovich JV, Barber DG (2009) Atmospheric forcing of the Beaufort Sea ice gyre: surface pressure climatology and sea ice motion. Journal of Geophysical Research 114: C00A06. doi:10.1029/2008JC005127

  • Ballinger TJ, Rogers JC (2013) Atmosphere and ocean impacts on recent western Arctic summer sea ice melt. Geography Compass 7:686–700. doi:10.1111/gec3.12077

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger TJ, Rogers JC (2014) Climatic and atmospheric teleconnection indices and western Arctic sea ice variability. Physical Geography 35:459–477. doi:10.1080/02723646.2014/949338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger TJ, Sheridan SC (2014) Associations between circulation pattern frequencies and sea ice minima in the western Arctic. International Journal of Climatology 34:1385–1394. doi:10.1002/joc3767

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger TJ, Sheridan SC, Hanna E (2014) Resolving the Beaufort Sea high using synoptic climatological methods. International Journal of Climatology 34:3312–3319. doi:10.1002/joc.3907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belleflamme A, Fettweis X, Erpicum M (2015) Recent summer Arctic atmospheric circulation anomalies in a historical perspective. The Cryosphere 9:53–64. doi:10.5194/tc-9-53-2015

  • Bezeau P, Sharp M, Gascon G (2014) Variability in summer anticyclonic circulation over the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and west Greenland in the late 20th/early 21st centuries and its effect on glacier mass balance. International Journal of Climatology, in press. doi:1002/joc.4000.

  • Candlish LM, Iacozza J, Lukovich JV, Horton B, Barber DG (2014) Sea ice climatology in the Canadian Western Arctic: thermodynamic versus dynamic controls. International Journal of Climatology, in press. doi:10.1002/joc.4094.

  • Coleman JSM, Rogers JC (2007) A synoptic climatology of the central United States and associations with Pacific teleconnection pattern frequency. Journal of Climate 20:3485–3497. doi:10.1175/JCLI4201.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comiso JC (2012) Large decadal decline of the Arctic multiyear ice cover. Journal of Climate 25:1176–1193. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00113.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drobot SD, Maslanik JA (2003) Interannual variability in summer Beaufort Sea ice conditions: Relationship to winter and summer surface and atmospheric variability. Journal of Geophysical Research 108. doi:10.1029/2002JC001537

  • Fettweis X, Mabille G, Erpicum M, Nicolay S, Van den Broeke M (2011) The 1958–2009 Greenland ice sheet surface melt and the mid-tropospheric atmospheric circulation. Climate Dynamics 36:139–159. doi:10.1007/s00382-010-0772-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fettweis X, Hanna E, Lang C, Belleflamme A, Erpicum M, Gallée H (2013) Important role of the mid-tropospheric atmospheric circulation in the recent surface melt increase over the Greenland ice sheet. Cryosphere 7:241–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis JA, Vavrus SJ (2012) Evidence linking Arctic amplification to extreme weather in mid-latitudes. Geophysical Research Letters 39: L06801. doi:10.1029/2012GL051000

  • Kalnay E, Kanamitsu M, Kistler R, Collins W, Deaven D, Gandin L, Iredell M, Saha S, White G, Woollen J, Zhu Y, Chelliah M, Ebisuzaki W, Higgins W, Janowiak J, Mo KC, Ropelewski C, Wang J, Leetmaa A, Reynolds R, Jenne R, Joseph D (1996) The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 77:437–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwok R, Cunningham GF (2010) Contribution of melt in the Beaufort Sea to the decline in Arctic multiyear sea ice coverage: 1993–2009. Geophysical Research Letters 37. doi:10.1029/2010GL044678

  • Lee CC, Sheridan SC (2012) A six-step approach to developing future synoptic classifications based on GCM output. International Journal of Climatology 32:1792–1802. doi:10.1002/joc.2394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markus T, Stroeve JC, Miller J (2009) Recent changes in Arctic sea ice melt onset, freezeup, and melt season length. Journal of Geophysical Research 114, C12024. doi:10.1029/2009JC005436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maslanik J, Drobot S, Fowler C, Emery W, Barry R (2007) On the Arctic climate paradox and the continuing role of atmospheric circulation in affecting sea ice conditions. Geophysical Research Letters 34, L03711. doi:10.1029/2006GL028269

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore GWK (2012) Decadal variability and a recent amplification of the summer Beaufort Sea High. Geophysical Research Letters 39, L10807. doi:10.1029/2012GL051570

    Google Scholar 

  • Mote TL (1998) Mid-tropospheric circulation and surface melt on the Greenland ice sheet. Part II: synoptic climatology. International Journal of Climatology 18:131–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogi M, Wallace JM (2012) The role of summer surface wind anomalies in summer Arctic sea ice extent in 2010 and 2011. Geophysical Research Letters 39, L09704. doi:10.1029/2012GL051330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Overland JE (2009) Meteorology of the Beaufort Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research 114: C00A07. doi:10.1029/2008JC004861

  • Overland JE, Francis JA, Hanna E, Wang M (2012) The recent shift in early summer Arctic atmospheric circulation. Geophysical Research Letters 39:L19804. doi:10.1029/2012GL053268

  • Rogers JC (1978) Meteorological factors affecting interannual variability of summertime ice extent in the Beaufort Sea. Monthly Weather Review 106:890–897

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serreze MC, Barrett AP (2011) Characteristics of the Beaufort Sea high. Journal of Climate 24:159–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serreze MC, Barrett AP, Stroeve JC, Kindig DN, Holland MM (2009) The emergence of surface-based Arctic amplification. Cryosphere 3:11–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmonds I (2015) Comparing and contrasting the behavior of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice over the 35 year period 1979–2013. Annals of Glaciology 56:18–28. doi:10.3189/2015AoG69A909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroeve JC, Barrett A, Serreze M, Schweiger A (2014a) Using records from submarine, aircraft and satellite to evaluate climate model simulations of Arctic sea ice thickness. The Cryosphere Discussions 8:2179–2212. doi:10.5194/tcd-8-2179-2014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroeve JC, Markus T, Boisvert L, Miller J, Barrett A (2014b) Changes in Arctic melt season and implications for sea ice loss. Geophysical Research Letters 41:1216–1225. doi:10.1002/2013GL058951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang Q, Zhang X, Francis JA (2014) Extreme summer weather in northern mid-latitudes linked to a vanishing cryosphere. Nature Climate Change 4:45–50. doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE2065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vihma T (2014) Effects of arctic sea ice decline on weather and climate: a review. Surveys in Geophysics 35:1175–1214. doi:10.1007/s10712-014-9284-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wendler G, Moore B, Galloway K (2014) Strong temperature increase and shrinking sea ice in arctic Alaska. The Open Atmospheric Science Journal 8:7–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood KR, Overland JE, Salo SA, Bond NA, Williams WJ, Dong X (2013) Is there a “new normal” climate in the Beaufort Sea? Polar Research 32:19552. doi:10.3402/polar.v32i0.19552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Q, Zhang J, Zhang X, Tao W (2014) Interannual and long-term changes of atmospheric circulation over the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Journal of Climate 27:4871–4889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia W, Xie H, Changqing K (2014) Assessing trend and variation of Arctic sea-ice extent during 1979–2012 from a latitude perspective of ice edge. Polar Research 33:21249. doi:10.3402/polar.v33.21249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yarnal B (1993) Synoptic Climatology in Environmental Analysis: A primer. Belhaven Press, 195 pp.

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Jeffrey Miller (NASA Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory/Wyle, Inc.), Stephen Howell (Environment Canada), Mary Haley (NCAR/CISL), and Cameron Lee (Kent State University, Department of Geography) for their assistance with aspects of data acquisition/processing and figure creation.

The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data is obtained from the NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division (http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/reanalysis/ reanalysis.shtml), while the freeze-up data is acquired from the NASA Cryosphere Science Research Portal (http://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/csb/index.php?section=54) with updates for 2012 and 2013 supplied by Jeffrey Miller.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Kent State University, 413 McGilvrey Hall, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    Thomas J. Ballinger & Scott C. Sheridan

Authors
  1. Thomas J. Ballinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Scott C. Sheridan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas J. Ballinger.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 24 kb)

ESM 2

(DOCX 22 kb)

ESM 3

(DOCX 24 kb)

ESM 4

(DOCX 21 kb)

Figure S1

Freeze-up dates for the Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Western Arctic Ocean for the 1979-2013 study period (PNG 117 kb)

Figure S2

Same as Figure S1, but for melt onset dates (PNG 103 kb)

Figure S3

Full catalogue of the 15 MSLP patterns (1979-2013) (PNG 455 kb)

Figure S4

Full catalogue of the 15 1000-500 hPa thickness patterns (PNG 293 kb)

Figure S5

Time series of P11 across the warm season months for the Early, Middle, and Late periods described in Figure 3. The frequency represents the total number of days classified for each day (May-October) within each period. A 14-day centered moving average is then applied to smooth the time series across all months (PNG 88 kb)

Figure S6

Time series of T9 across the warm season months for the Early, Middle, and Late periods described in Figure 4. The frequency represents the total number of days classified for each day (May-October) within each period. A 14-day centered moving average is then applied to smooth the time series across all months (PNG 101 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ballinger, T.J., Sheridan, S.C. Regional atmospheric patterns and the delayed sea-ice freeze-up in the western Arctic. Climatic Change 131, 229–243 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1383-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1383-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation