Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors

The spatial size and variation of Arctic sea ice play an important role in Earth’s climate system. These are affected by conditions in the polar atmosphere and Arctic sea temperatures. The Arctic sea ice concentration is calculated from brightness temperature data derived from the Defense Meteorol...

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Main Authors: Seongsuk Lee, Yu Yi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Korean Space Science Society 2016-12-01
Series:Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ocean.kisti.re.kr/downfile/volume/kosss/OJOOBS/2016/v33n4/OJOOBS_2016_v33n4_305.pdf
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author Seongsuk Lee
Yu Yi
author_facet Seongsuk Lee
Yu Yi
author_sort Seongsuk Lee
collection DOAJ
description The spatial size and variation of Arctic sea ice play an important role in Earth’s climate system. These are affected by conditions in the polar atmosphere and Arctic sea temperatures. The Arctic sea ice concentration is calculated from brightness temperature data derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite program (DMSP) F13 Special Sensor Microwave/Imagers (SSMI) and the DMSP F17 Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) sensors. Many previous studies point to significant reductions in sea ice and their causes. We investigated the variability of Arctic sea ice using the daily and monthly sea ice concentration data from passive microwave observations to identify the sea ice melting regions near the Arctic polar ice cap. We discovered the abnormal melting of the Arctic sea ice near the North Pole even during the summer and the winter. This phenomenon is hard to explain only surface air temperature or solar heating as suggested by recent studies. We propose a hypothesis explaining this phenomenon. The heat from the deep sea in Arctic Ocean ridges and/or the hydrothermal vents might be contributing to the melting of Arctic sea ice. This hypothesis could be verified by the observation of warm water column structure below the melting or thinning arctic sea ice through the project such as Coriolis dataset for reanalysis (CORA).
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spelling doaj.art-4afb28df4fc5444fb08869d19c7b8b312024-01-02T12:26:09ZengThe Korean Space Science SocietyJournal of Astronomy and Space Sciences2093-55872093-14092016-12-0133430531110.5140/JASS.2016.33.4.305Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave SensorsSeongsuk Lee0Yu Yi1Department of Astronomy, Space Science and Geology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, KoreaDepartment of Astronomy, Space Science and Geology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, KoreaThe spatial size and variation of Arctic sea ice play an important role in Earth’s climate system. These are affected by conditions in the polar atmosphere and Arctic sea temperatures. The Arctic sea ice concentration is calculated from brightness temperature data derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite program (DMSP) F13 Special Sensor Microwave/Imagers (SSMI) and the DMSP F17 Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) sensors. Many previous studies point to significant reductions in sea ice and their causes. We investigated the variability of Arctic sea ice using the daily and monthly sea ice concentration data from passive microwave observations to identify the sea ice melting regions near the Arctic polar ice cap. We discovered the abnormal melting of the Arctic sea ice near the North Pole even during the summer and the winter. This phenomenon is hard to explain only surface air temperature or solar heating as suggested by recent studies. We propose a hypothesis explaining this phenomenon. The heat from the deep sea in Arctic Ocean ridges and/or the hydrothermal vents might be contributing to the melting of Arctic sea ice. This hypothesis could be verified by the observation of warm water column structure below the melting or thinning arctic sea ice through the project such as Coriolis dataset for reanalysis (CORA).http://ocean.kisti.re.kr/downfile/volume/kosss/OJOOBS/2016/v33n4/OJOOBS_2016_v33n4_305.pdfthe Arcticsea icesea ice concentrationDMSPpassive microwave sensor
spellingShingle Seongsuk Lee
Yu Yi
Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors
Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
the Arctic
sea ice
sea ice concentration
DMSP
passive microwave sensor
title Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors
title_full Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors
title_fullStr Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors
title_full_unstemmed Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors
title_short Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors
title_sort abnormal winter melting of the arctic sea ice cap observed by the spaceborne passive microwave sensors
topic the Arctic
sea ice
sea ice concentration
DMSP
passive microwave sensor
url http://ocean.kisti.re.kr/downfile/volume/kosss/OJOOBS/2016/v33n4/OJOOBS_2016_v33n4_305.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT seongsuklee abnormalwintermeltingofthearcticseaicecapobservedbythespacebornepassivemicrowavesensors
AT yuyi abnormalwintermeltingofthearcticseaicecapobservedbythespacebornepassivemicrowavesensors