The Cryosphere

Sea ice response to an extreme negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation during winter 2009/2010

  1. Julienne C. Stroeve1,
  2. James Maslanik2,
  3. Mark C. Serreze1,
  4. Ignatius Rigor3,
  5. Walter Meier1,
  6. Charles Fowler2

Article first published online: 29 JAN 2011

DOI: 10.1029/2010GL045662

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Stroeve, J. C., J. Maslanik, M. C. Serreze, I. Rigor, W. Meier, and C. Fowler (2011), Sea ice response to an extreme negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation during winter 2009/2010, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L02502, doi:10.1029/2010GL045662.

Author Information

  1. 1

    National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA

  2. 2

    Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA

  3. 3

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

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 29 JAN 2011
  2. Article first published online: 29 JAN 2011
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 29 NOV 2010
  4. Manuscript Revised: 27 OCT 2010
  5. Manuscript Received: 27 SEP 2010

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Keywords:

  • Arctic sea ice;
  • atmospheric circulation

[1] Based on relationships established in previous studies, the extreme negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) that characterized winter of 2009/2010 should have favored retention of Arctic sea ice through the 2010 summer melt season. The September 2010 sea ice extent nevertheless ended up as third lowest in the satellite record, behind 2007 and barely above 2008, reinforcing the long-term downward trend. This reflects pronounced differences in atmospheric circulation during winter of 2009/2010 compared to the mean anomaly pattern based on past negative AO winters, low ice volume at the start of the melt season, and summer melt of much of the multiyear ice that had been transported into the warm southerly reaches of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

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