Climate

Summer retreat of Arctic sea ice: Role of summer winds

  1. Masayo Ogi1,2,
  2. Ignatius G. Rigor1,3,
  3. Miles G. McPhee4,
  4. John M. Wallace5

Article first published online: 18 DEC 2008

DOI: 10.1029/2008GL035672

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Ogi, M., I. G. Rigor, M. G. McPhee, and J. M. Wallace (2008), Summer retreat of Arctic sea ice: Role of summer winds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L24701, doi:10.1029/2008GL035672.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

  2. 2

    Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

  3. 3

    Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

  4. 4

    McPhee Research Company, Naches, Washington, USA

  5. 5

    Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 18 DEC 2008
  2. Article first published online: 18 DEC 2008
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 12 NOV 2008
  4. Manuscript Revised: 15 OCT 2008
  5. Manuscript Received: 11 AUG 2008

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Keywords:

  • Arctic sea ice extent;
  • Arctic climate;
  • summer in 2007

[1] The unprecedented retreat of first-year ice during summer 2007 was enhanced by strong poleward drift over the western Arctic induced by anomalously high sea-level pressure (SLP) over the Beaufort Sea that persisted throughout much of the summer. Comparison of the tracks of drifting buoys with monthly mean SLP charts shows a substantial Ekman drift. By means of linear regression analysis it is shown that Ekman drift during summer has played an important role in regulating annual minimum Arctic sea-ice extent in prior years as well. In combination, the preconditioning by events in prior years, as represented by an index of May multi-year ice, and current atmospheric conditions, as represented by an index of July–August–September SLP anomalies over the Arctic basin account for ∼60% of the year-to-year variance of September sea-ice extent since 1979.

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