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Sea-ice retreat in the Sea of Okhotsk and the ice–ocean albedo feedback effect on it

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Abstract

Sea-ice retreat processes are examined in the Sea of Okhotsk. A heat budget analysis in the sea-ice zone shows that net heat flux from the atmosphere at the water surface is about 77 W m−2 on average in the active ice melt season (April) due to large solar heating, while that at the ice surface is about 12 W m−2 because of the difference in surface albedo. The temporal variation of the heat input into the upper ocean through the open water fraction corresponds well to that of the latent heat required for ice retreat. These results suggest that heat input into the ice–upper ocean system from the atmosphere mainly occurs at the open water fraction, and this heat input into the upper ocean is an important heat source for ice melting. The decrease in ice area in the active melt season (April) and the geostrophic wind just before the melt season (March) show a correlation: the decrease is large when the offshoreward wind is strong. This relationship can be explained by the following process. Once ice concentration is decreased (increased) by the offshoreward (onshoreward) wind just before the melt season, solar heating of the upper ocean through the increased (decreased) open water fraction is enhanced (reduced), leading to (suppressing) a further decrease in ice concentration. This positive feedback is regarded as the ice–ocean albedo feedback, and explains in part the large interannual variability of the ice cover in the ice melt season.

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Acknowledgments

The SSM/I data were provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), University of Colorado. The cloud data were provided by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). The ECMWF and GISST data were provided by a data management group in the Course in Atmosphere-Ocean and Climate Dynamics, Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University. Comments from two anonymous reviewers were very helpful for improving the manuscript. This work was supported by Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research (20221001 and 21740337) of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

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Author notes

  1. Haruka Nakasato

    Present address: ROYCE’ Confect Co., Ltd, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tomakomai National College of Technology, 443 Nishikioka, Tomakomai, Hokkaido, 059-1275, Japan

    Sohey Nihashi

  2. Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Kay I. Ohshima

  3. Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Haruka Nakasato

Authors
  1. Sohey Nihashi
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  2. Kay I. Ohshima
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Correspondence to Sohey Nihashi.

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Nihashi, S., Ohshima, K.I. & Nakasato, H. Sea-ice retreat in the Sea of Okhotsk and the ice–ocean albedo feedback effect on it. J Oceanogr 67, 551–562 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-011-0056-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-011-0056-x

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