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Sunlight, water, and ice: Extreme Arctic sea ice melt during the summer of 2007
Author(s) -
Perovich Donald K.,
RichterMenge Jacqueline A.,
Jones Kathleen F.,
Light Bonnie
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 - 10.1029/2008gl034007
Subject(s) - arctic ice pack , sea ice , arctic sea ice decline , ice albedo feedback , drift ice , cryosphere , antarctic sea ice , arctic geoengineering , arctic , environmental science , oceanography , geology , climatology , sea ice thickness , melt pond
The summer extent of the Arctic sea ice cover, widely recognized as an indicator of climate change, has been declining for the past few decades reaching a record minimum in September 2007. The causes of the dramatic loss have implications for the future trajectory of the Arctic sea ice cover. Ice mass balance observations demonstrate that there was an extraordinarily large amount of melting on the bottom of the ice in the Beaufort Sea in the summer of 2007. Calculations indicate that solar heating of the upper ocean was the primary source of heat for this observed enhanced Beaufort Sea bottom melting. An increase in the open water fraction resulted in a 500% positive anomaly in solar heat input to the upper ocean, triggering an ice–albedo feedback and contributing to the accelerating ice retreat.