Séminaire
The 2010 summer was appreciably low ice concentration in the Eurasian Basin, Arctic Ocean. This study examines the ice reduction in the basins using ice-based autonomous buoy systems that collect temperature and salinity at underwater depths along the course of buoy track.
Oceanic heat flux estimated using buoy motion and mixed-layer (ML) temperature suggests significant spatial difference between zones consisting of first-year and multi-year ice. In the former, the ML temperature reached 0.5◦C, providing>60–70 W m^2 of heat flux to the overlying ice, equivalent to about
1.5 m of ice melt. In contrast, multiyear ice region indicates ~40 W m^2 at most corresponding to 0.8 m ice melt.
The ice concentration was also found to be reduced in association with an extensive low pressure system that persisted over the central Eurasian Basin. SSM/I indicates that ice concentration was reduced by 30–50% while the low persisted over the region. Such low concentration lasted for 30 days even after the low passed away. It is thus considered that ice divergence led to a catastrophic ice melt owing to further absorption of incident solar energy at the expanded open water.
francesco.dovidio@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr