Premium
The Impact of Sea‐Ice Loss on Arctic Climate Feedbacks and Their Role for Arctic Amplification
Author(s) -
Jenkins Matthew,
Dai Aiguo
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2021gl094599
Subject(s) - ice albedo feedback , environmental science , arctic , arctic ice pack , albedo (alchemy) , arctic geoengineering , sea ice , atmospheric sciences , climatology , water vapor , cloud feedback , arctic sea ice decline , positive feedback , climate change , climate model , sea ice thickness , oceanography , geology , meteorology , climate sensitivity , geography , art , engineering , performance art , electrical engineering , art history
Sea‐ice loss and radiative feedbacks have been proposed to explain Arctic amplification (AA)—the enhanced Arctic warming under increased greenhouse gases, but their relationship is unclear. By analyzing coupled CESM1 simulations with 1%/year CO 2 increases, we show that without large sea‐ice loss and AA, the lapse rate, Planck, and surface albedo feedbacks are greatly reduced, while the positive water vapor feedback changes little. The positive Arctic lapse rate feedback, which results from enhanced surface warming rather than the high stability of Arctic air, and changes in atmospheric energy transport across the Arctic Circle are a result, not a cause, of AA; while the water vapor feedback also plays a minor role. Instead, AA results from enhanced winter oceanic heating associated with sea‐ice loss that is aided by a positive surface albedo feedback in summer and positive cloud feedback in winter.