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Evolution of Arctic sea ice concentration trends and the role of atmospheric circulation forcing, 1979–2007
Author(s) -
Deser Clara,
Teng Haiyan
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2007gl032023
Subject(s) - climatology , sea ice , arctic sea ice decline , atmospheric circulation , arctic ice pack , arctic , forcing (mathematics) , arctic geoengineering , environmental science , climate change , arctic dipole anomaly , oceanography , arctic oscillation , circulation (fluid dynamics) , geology , drift ice , northern hemisphere , physics , thermodynamics
The retreat of Arctic sea ice in recent decades is a pre‐eminent signal of climate change. What role has the atmospheric circulation played in driving the sea ice decline? To address this question, we document the evolution of Arctic sea ice concentration trends during the period January 1979–April 2007 in light of changing atmospheric circulation conditions, in particular an upward trend in the wintertime Northern Annular Mode during the first half of the record and a downward trend during the second half. The results indicate that concurrent atmospheric circulation trends contribute to forcing winter and summer sea ice concentration trends in many parts of the marginal ice zone during both periods. However, there is also an emerging signal of overall Arctic sea ice decline since 1979 in both winter and summer that is not directly attributable to a trend in the overlying atmospheric circulation.