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Revisiting the Cause of the 1989–2009 Arctic Surface Warming Using the Surface Energy Budget: Downward Infrared Radiation Dominates the Surface Fluxes
Author(s) -
Lee Sukyoung,
Gong Tingting,
Feldstein Steven B.,
Screen James A.,
Simmonds Ian
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl075375
Subject(s) - albedo (alchemy) , environmental science , arctic , climatology , atmospheric sciences , earth's energy budget , infrared , flux (metallurgy) , the arctic , radiation , oceanography , geology , physics , materials science , art , quantum mechanics , performance art , optics , metallurgy , art history
The Arctic has been warming faster than elsewhere, especially during the cold season. According to the leading theory, ice‐albedo feedback warms the Arctic Ocean during the summer, and the heat gained by the ocean is released during the winter, causing the cold‐season warming. Screen and Simmonds (2010; SS10) concluded that the theory is correct by comparing trend patterns in surface air temperature (SAT), surface turbulence heat flux (HF), and net surface infrared radiation (IR). However, in this comparison, downward IR is more appropriate to use. By analyzing the same data used in SS10 using the surface energy budget, it is shown here that over most of the Arctic the skin temperature trend, which closely resembles the SAT trend, is largely accounted for by the downward IR, not the HF, trend.