Coordinated changes of sea ice over the Beaufort and Chukchi seas: regional and seasonal perspectives

Abstract

One outstanding feature of the recent Arctic climate is the contrast of the changes of sea ice concentration and thickness between the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea. Since the Arctic Oscillation (AO) plays a critical role in driving Arctic sea ice changes and the Beaufort and Chukchi seas have been hypothesized as a region in which sea ice anomalies originate, we employed a coupled sea ice–ocean model and carried out simulations forced by the AO signal to examine sea ice changes in these regions, focusing on seasonality. With the AO phase transition from negative to positive, anticyclonic windstress weakens broadly in both winter and summer; however, the surface air temperature response shows remarkable seasonal dependence. Positive temperature anomalies spread over the entire domain in winter, while negative anomalies occur in the shelf seas in summer, although positive anomalies remain in the deep-water portion. The simulated sea ice concentration resembles the observed concentration. The strong seasonality of sea ice concentration changes suggests that accumulation of sea ice concentration in the Beau fort Sea and reduction in the Chukchi Sea are mainly produced in sum mer. Changes of ice thickness are robust through the seasonal cycle. Generally, sea ice dynamics play a critical role in creating the anomalous sea ice pattern and sea ice thermodynamics partially compensate the dynamically-driven changes. However, considerable seasonal differences occur.