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Radiative Control of the Interannual Variability of Arctic Sea Ice
Author(s) -
Huang Yi,
Chou Gina,
Xie Yan,
Soulard Nicholas
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2019gl084204
Subject(s) - albedo (alchemy) , climatology , environmental science , sea ice , shortwave radiation , shortwave , arctic , arctic ice pack , longwave , outgoing longwave radiation , atmospheric sciences , arctic sea ice decline , ice albedo feedback , radiative transfer , radiation , sea ice thickness , geology , oceanography , meteorology , geography , art , physics , convection , quantum mechanics , performance art , art history
On top of a declining trend driven by global warming, the Arctic sea ice extent (SIE) exhibits considerable interannual variations. In this study, we analyze the interannual anomalies of September SIE in relation to the surface radiation anomalies. We find that the accumulation of radiation energy in the early months (June, July, and August) very well explains the September SIE variability (R 2 = 0.81). In Particular, strong correlations are found between September SIE and June radiation anomalies, which in the shortwave is due to cloud and surface albedo changes and in the longwave due to atmospheric warming. The results show that monitoring the radiation anomalies affords a potential means to improve the prediction of the late summer sea ice.