Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations
Bohai Sea ice creates obstacles for maritime navigation and offshore activities. A better understanding of ice conditions is valuable for sea-ice management. The evolution of 67 years of seasonal ice thickness in a coastal region (Yingkou) in the Northeast Bohai Sea was simulated by using a snow/ice...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/1/182 |
| _version_ | 1827667685221072896 |
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| author | Yuxian Ma Bin Cheng Ning Xu Shuai Yuan Honghua Shi Wenqi Shi |
| author_facet | Yuxian Ma Bin Cheng Ning Xu Shuai Yuan Honghua Shi Wenqi Shi |
| author_sort | Yuxian Ma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Bohai Sea ice creates obstacles for maritime navigation and offshore activities. A better understanding of ice conditions is valuable for sea-ice management. The evolution of 67 years of seasonal ice thickness in a coastal region (Yingkou) in the Northeast Bohai Sea was simulated by using a snow/ice thermodynamic model, using local weather-station data. The model was first validated by using seasonal ice observations from field campaigns and a coastal radar (the season of 2017/2018). The model simulated seasonal ice evolution well, particularly ice growth. We found that the winter seasonal mean air temperature in Yingkou increased by 0.33 °C/decade slightly higher than air temperature increase (0.27 °C/decade) around Bohai Sea. The decreasing wind-speed trend (0.05 m/s perdecade) was a lot weaker than that averaged (0.3 m/s per decade) between the early 1970s and 2010s around the entire Bohai Sea. The multi-decadal ice-mass balance revealed decreasing trends of the maximum and average ice thickness of 2.6 and 0.8 cm/decade, respectively. The length of the ice season was shortened by 3.7 days/decade, and ice breakup dates were advanced by 2.3 days/decade. All trends were statistically significant. The modeled seasonal maximum ice thickness is highly correlated (0.83, <i>p</i> < 0.001) with the Bohai Sea Ice Index (BoSI) used to quantify the severity of the Bohai Sea ice condition. The freezing-up date, however, showed a large interannual variation without a clear trend. The simulations indicated that Bohai ice thickness has grown continuously thinner since 1951/1952. The time to reach 0.15 m level ice was delayed from 3 January to 21 January, and the ending time advanced from 6 March to 19 February. There was a significant weakening of ice conditions in the 1990s, followed by some recovery in 2000s. The relationship between large-scale climate indices and ice condition suggested that the AO and NAO are strongly correlated with interannual changes in sea-ice thickness in the Yingkou region. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:22:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0bf078e00a9f4034b14c15c202c1c5ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:22:43Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-0bf078e00a9f4034b14c15c202c1c5ba2023-11-23T12:14:27ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-01-0114118210.3390/rs14010182Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and ObservationsYuxian Ma0Bin Cheng1Ning Xu2Shuai Yuan3Honghua Shi4Wenqi Shi5College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, ChinaFinnish Meteorological Institute, FI-00101 Helsinki, FinlandNational Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, ChinaNational Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, ChinaThe First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, ChinaNational Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, ChinaBohai Sea ice creates obstacles for maritime navigation and offshore activities. A better understanding of ice conditions is valuable for sea-ice management. The evolution of 67 years of seasonal ice thickness in a coastal region (Yingkou) in the Northeast Bohai Sea was simulated by using a snow/ice thermodynamic model, using local weather-station data. The model was first validated by using seasonal ice observations from field campaigns and a coastal radar (the season of 2017/2018). The model simulated seasonal ice evolution well, particularly ice growth. We found that the winter seasonal mean air temperature in Yingkou increased by 0.33 °C/decade slightly higher than air temperature increase (0.27 °C/decade) around Bohai Sea. The decreasing wind-speed trend (0.05 m/s perdecade) was a lot weaker than that averaged (0.3 m/s per decade) between the early 1970s and 2010s around the entire Bohai Sea. The multi-decadal ice-mass balance revealed decreasing trends of the maximum and average ice thickness of 2.6 and 0.8 cm/decade, respectively. The length of the ice season was shortened by 3.7 days/decade, and ice breakup dates were advanced by 2.3 days/decade. All trends were statistically significant. The modeled seasonal maximum ice thickness is highly correlated (0.83, <i>p</i> < 0.001) with the Bohai Sea Ice Index (BoSI) used to quantify the severity of the Bohai Sea ice condition. The freezing-up date, however, showed a large interannual variation without a clear trend. The simulations indicated that Bohai ice thickness has grown continuously thinner since 1951/1952. The time to reach 0.15 m level ice was delayed from 3 January to 21 January, and the ending time advanced from 6 March to 19 February. There was a significant weakening of ice conditions in the 1990s, followed by some recovery in 2000s. The relationship between large-scale climate indices and ice condition suggested that the AO and NAO are strongly correlated with interannual changes in sea-ice thickness in the Yingkou region.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/1/182Bohai Seasea-ice thicknessthermodynamic ice modelcoastal radarinterannual and seasonal variability |
| spellingShingle | Yuxian Ma Bin Cheng Ning Xu Shuai Yuan Honghua Shi Wenqi Shi Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations Remote Sensing Bohai Sea sea-ice thickness thermodynamic ice model coastal radar interannual and seasonal variability |
| title | Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations |
| title_full | Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations |
| title_fullStr | Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations |
| title_short | Long-Term Ice Conditions in Yingkou, a Coastal Region Northeast of the Bohai Sea, between 1951/1952 and 2017/2018: Modeling and Observations |
| title_sort | long term ice conditions in yingkou a coastal region northeast of the bohai sea between 1951 1952 and 2017 2018 modeling and observations |
| topic | Bohai Sea sea-ice thickness thermodynamic ice model coastal radar interannual and seasonal variability |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/1/182 |
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