Is the Dipole Anomaly a major driver to record lows in Arctic summer sea ice extent?
Jia Wang (Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, NOAA, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.), Jinlun Zhang (Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.), Eiji Watanabe (International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, U.S.A.), Moto Ikeda (Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan), Kohei Mizobata (Department of Ocean Sciences, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan), John E. Walsh (International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, U.S.A.), Xuezhi Bai (Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.), and Bingyi Wu (Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China)
Abstract
Recent record lows of Arctic summer sea ice extent are found to be triggered by the Arctic atmospheric Dipole Anomaly (DA) pattern. This local, second–leading mode of sea–level pressure (SLP) anomaly in the Arctic produced a strong meridional wind anomaly that drove more sea ice out of the Arctic Ocean from the western to the eastern Arctic into the northern Atlantic during the summers of 1995, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2007. In the 2007 summer, the DA also enhanced anomalous oceanic heat flux into the Arctic Ocean via Bering Strait, which accelerated bottom and lateral melting of sea ice and amplified the ice–albedo feedback. A coupled ice–ocean model was used to confirm the historical record lows of summer sea ice extent.
Received 17 November 2008, accepted 28 January 2009, published 6 March 2009.
Citation: (2009), Is the Dipole Anomaly a major driver to record lows in Arctic summer sea ice extent?, Geophysical Researcg Letters, 36, L05706; doi: 10.1029/2008GL036706.
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