Researchers have created the first complete picture of the Arctic Sea ice freeze-thaw cycle, which has brought about a clearer picture of the effects of climate change on the Arctic and changes in the atmospheric–ocean system.
The multinational team of scientists published their findings in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere. The team used multisource data from 2001 to 2018 to explain and gain an understanding of the mechanisms behind the melt/freeze onsets.
According to Long Lin, the lead author from the Polar Research Institute of China:
“Thinner ice thickness and thinner snow cover favors earlier basal freeze onset. The ocean plays a cross-seasonal role in regulating the growth or decay of sea ice… Based on synchronous ice and underlying ocean observations, we found the ice basal freeze-up delay relative to the surface, which can be attributed to the regulation of heat capacity of sea ice itself and the oceanic heat release from the ocean mixed layer and subsurface layer… From another point of view, the self-regulation of the Arctic sea ice-ocean system will delay the loss of Arctic sea ice.”
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