Conveners of the follow session invite abstracts.

SESSION AS4.2 - As Spring Arrives: Processes leading up to annual Arctic sea-ice melt

Conveners: Michael Tjernström, Paul Zieger, Penny Vlahos, Jessie Creamean, and Cort Zang

Session Description:

While observed volume, concentration, and extent of Arctic sea ice have decreased dramatically over the last decades, climate model simulations of the recent past feature a slower sea-ice decline than observed. These same models are then used to project future sea ice changes, raising the question if even the most optimistic future emission scenarios will be enough to preserve the summer sea ice in the future.

Although the sea-ice decrease is the most pronounced in late summer, understanding coupled key processes of ocean/sea-ice/atmosphere-system during the so-called shoulder seasons, the onsets of the melt in spring and freeze up in autumn, is important since the timing of these set the boundaries for the length of the melt season and therefore strongly influence the total melt in any given year.

While the autumn freeze onset has received some attention, substantially less is known about the spring melt onset, partly because of a lack of observations to characterize and understand the processes controlling or leading up to it, on different scales. An improved understanding of this season is important, to inform model development crucial for simulations and assessments of future changes in the Arctic climate system.

This session focuses on the late winter and early spring in the Arctic and especially the onset of the summer sea-ice melt. Conveners invite presentations broadly on ocean, sea-ice, and atmospheric processes over a large spectrum of scales governing or being strongly affected by this transition, from long-term observations and reanalysis, process and climate modeling and especially from observations from new field campaigns covering this time period, such as MOSAiC and ARTofMELT.

Abstract submission deadline: 10 January 2024

Early registration deadline: 18 March 2024

To submit an abstract to this session, go to: Session programme (copernicus.org)

For more information, go to: EGU24 - Home

For questions about this session, contact:

Michael Tjernström, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University

Email: michaelt@misu.su.se