Response of the Arctic sea ice–ocean system to meltwater perturbations based on a one-dimensional model study

Zhang, Haohao; Bai, Xuezhi; Wang, Kaiwen

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1649-2023

Articles | Volume 19, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1649-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1649-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 6

Research article

|

29 Nov 2023

Research article |

| 29 Nov 2023

Response of the Arctic sea ice–ocean system to meltwater perturbations based on a one-dimensional model study

Haohao Zhang, Xuezhi Bai, and Kaiwen Wang

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1649-2023-supplement

Data sets

NCEP–DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2) (https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html) M. Kanamitsu, W. Ebisuzaki, J. Woollen, S.-K. Yang, J. J. Hnilo, M. Fiorino, and G. L. Potter https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-83-11-1631

Ice-Tethered Profiler observations: Vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, oxygen, and ocean velocity from an Ice-Tethered buoy system J. M. Toole, R. A. Krishfield, J. K. O’Brien, A. Houk, S. T. Cole, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ice-Tethered Profiler Program https://doi.org/10.7289/v5mw2f7x

Data Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution https://www2.whoi.edu/site/itp/data

Model code and software

Response of the Arctic sea ice-ocean system to melt water perturbations based on a one-dimensional model study H. Zhang, X. Bai, and K. Wang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10208222

Short summary

Meltwater is a critical factor affecting the upper Arctic Ocean, but there has been little research on its specific effects. By artificially removing meltwater from a column model, we found that reducing meltwater weakened ocean stratification and increased summer sea ice melting. The role of meltwater in winter sea ice formation varies by region – removing meltwater increased winter sea ice formation in areas with strong stratification, while decreasing it in areas with weak stratification.