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Publication Abstracts

Roach and Blanchard-Wrigglesworth 2022

Roach, L.A., and E. Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, 2022: Observed winds crucial for September Arctic sea ice loss. Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, no. 6, e2022GL097884, doi:10.1029/2022GL097884.

Arctic sea ice has declined strikingly over the past 40 years under climate change. The physical processes driving these changes and the relative roles of external forcing versus natural variability remain under debate, partly due to lack of confidence in the simulation of Arctic sea ice by coupled climate models. Here, we nudge a widely-used CMIP5-class model (CESM1) towards observed winds above the boundary layer. These simulations reproduce observed Arctic trend patterns and Arctic-average interannual fluctuations in near-surface temperature. We find that atmospheric circulation plays a crucial role in September Arctic sea ice loss and interannual variability. Trends in the observed atmospheric circulation that are not part of the modeled forced response cause approximately 20-25% of the modelled September sea ice decline, which is in close agreement with the observed trend. However, our simulations do not capture sea ice loss in other seasons, pointing to important model biases in winter and spring.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ro04810c,
  author={Roach, L. A. and Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E.},
  title={Observed winds crucial for September Arctic sea ice loss},
  year={2022},
  journal={Geophysical Research Letters},
  volume={49},
  number={6},
  pages={e2022GL097884},
  doi={10.1029/2022GL097884},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ro04810c
AU  - Roach, L. A.
AU  - Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E.
PY  - 2022
TI  - Observed winds crucial for September Arctic sea ice loss
JA  - Geophys. Res. Lett.
JO  - Geophysical Research Letters
VL  - 49
IS  - 6
SP  - e2022GL097884
DO  - 10.1029/2022GL097884
ER  -

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