Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow
Southern Ocean sea-ice cover exerts critical control on local albedo and Antarctic precipitation, but simulated Antarctic sea-ice concentration commonly disagrees with observations. Here we show that the radiative effects of precipitating ice (falling snow) contribute substantially to this discrepan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7a17 |
| _version_ | 1797748198349996032 |
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| author | J-L F Li Mark Richardson Yulan Hong Wei-Liang Lee Yi-Hui Wang Jia-Yuh Yu Eric Fetzer Graeme Stephens Yinghui Liu |
| author_facet | J-L F Li Mark Richardson Yulan Hong Wei-Liang Lee Yi-Hui Wang Jia-Yuh Yu Eric Fetzer Graeme Stephens Yinghui Liu |
| author_sort | J-L F Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Southern Ocean sea-ice cover exerts critical control on local albedo and Antarctic precipitation, but simulated Antarctic sea-ice concentration commonly disagrees with observations. Here we show that the radiative effects of precipitating ice (falling snow) contribute substantially to this discrepancy. Many models exclude these radiative effects, so they underestimate both shortwave albedo and downward longwave radiation. Using two simulations with the climate model CESM1, we show that including falling-snow radiative effects improves the simulations relative to cloud properties from CloudSat-CALIPSO, radiation from CERES-EBAF and sea-ice concentration from passive microwave sensors. From 50–70°S, the simulated sea-ice-area bias is reduced by 2.12 × 10 ^6 km ^2 (55%) in winter and by 1.17 × 10 ^6 km ^2 (39%) in summer, mainly because increased wintertime longwave heating restricts sea-ice growth and so reduces summer albedo. Improved Antarctic sea-ice simulations will increase confidence in projected Antarctic sea level contributions and changes in global warming driven by long-term changes in Southern Ocean feedbacks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:02:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4248189a2b4b46aea9bc77a01ef8e74e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:02:28Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-4248189a2b4b46aea9bc77a01ef8e74e2023-08-09T14:34:36ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262017-01-0112808401010.1088/1748-9326/aa7a17Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snowJ-L F Li0Mark Richardson1Yulan Hong2Wei-Liang Lee3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1419-315XYi-Hui Wang4Jia-Yuh Yu5Eric Fetzer6Graeme Stephens7Yinghui Liu8Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States of America; Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science , Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States of AmericaRCEC , Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanJet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences , National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taipei, TaiwanJet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States of AmericaJet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States of AmericaCooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies , UW-Madison, WI, United States of AmericaSouthern Ocean sea-ice cover exerts critical control on local albedo and Antarctic precipitation, but simulated Antarctic sea-ice concentration commonly disagrees with observations. Here we show that the radiative effects of precipitating ice (falling snow) contribute substantially to this discrepancy. Many models exclude these radiative effects, so they underestimate both shortwave albedo and downward longwave radiation. Using two simulations with the climate model CESM1, we show that including falling-snow radiative effects improves the simulations relative to cloud properties from CloudSat-CALIPSO, radiation from CERES-EBAF and sea-ice concentration from passive microwave sensors. From 50–70°S, the simulated sea-ice-area bias is reduced by 2.12 × 10 ^6 km ^2 (55%) in winter and by 1.17 × 10 ^6 km ^2 (39%) in summer, mainly because increased wintertime longwave heating restricts sea-ice growth and so reduces summer albedo. Improved Antarctic sea-ice simulations will increase confidence in projected Antarctic sea level contributions and changes in global warming driven by long-term changes in Southern Ocean feedbacks.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7a17GCMsea ice concentrationprecipitating icesea ice albedocloud radiationCMIP5 |
| spellingShingle | J-L F Li Mark Richardson Yulan Hong Wei-Liang Lee Yi-Hui Wang Jia-Yuh Yu Eric Fetzer Graeme Stephens Yinghui Liu Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow Environmental Research Letters GCM sea ice concentration precipitating ice sea ice albedo cloud radiation CMIP5 |
| title | Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow |
| title_full | Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow |
| title_fullStr | Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow |
| title_short | Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow |
| title_sort | improved simulation of antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow |
| topic | GCM sea ice concentration precipitating ice sea ice albedo cloud radiation CMIP5 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7a17 |
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