More frequent atmospheric rivers slow the seasonal recovery of Arctic sea ice

Pengfei Zhang (), Gang Chen, Mingfang Ting, L. Ruby Leung, Bin Guan and Laifang Li
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Pengfei Zhang: The Pennsylvania State University
Gang Chen: University of California Los Angeles
Mingfang Ting: Columbia University
L. Ruby Leung: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Bin Guan: University of California Los Angeles
Laifang Li: The Pennsylvania State University

Nature Climate Change, 2023, vol. 13, issue 3, 266-273

Abstract: Abstract In recent decades, Arctic sea-ice coverage underwent a drastic decline in winter, when sea ice is expected to recover following the melting season. It is unclear to what extent atmospheric processes such as atmospheric rivers (ARs), intense corridors of moisture transport, contribute to this reduced recovery of sea ice. Here, using observations and climate model simulations, we find a robust frequency increase in ARs in early winter over the Barents–Kara Seas and the central Arctic for 1979–2021. The moisture carried by more frequent ARs has intensified surface downward longwave radiation and rainfall, caused stronger melting of thin, fragile ice cover and slowed the seasonal recovery of sea ice, accounting for 34% of the sea-ice cover decline in the Barents–Kara Seas and central Arctic. A series of model ensemble experiments suggests that, in addition to a uniform AR increase in response to anthropogenic warming, tropical Pacific variability also contributes to the observed Arctic AR changes.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01599-3

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