Role of Changing Atmospheric Temperature and Radiation on Sea Ice Conditions Over Laptev and Greenland Seas for the Recent Decade

The recent climate change coupled with extreme anthropogenic activities which enhance greenhouse gases has highly impacted the existence of sea ice over the Northern Poles. The temperature rise has a first-order impact on sea ice conditions over the Arctic. Analyses of seas, namely the Laptev and Greenland seas give a general understanding of the influence of these atmospheric parameters (air temperature, sea surface temperature and outgoing longwave radiation) on the cryosphere (sea ice area, sea ice extent and sea ice concentration) for the recent time scales; 2012–16 and 2017–21. Laptev being a marginal sea of the Arctic shows high variability in sea ice area compared with the Greenland Sea which is only an outlying portion of the Arctic Ocean. While classifying the life cycle of sea ice into the growth and decay phase, it is observed that the temperatures are high during 2017–21 compared with those during 2012–16. During the growth phase of sea ice, over Laptev, 2012–16 r2(SIA, SST) = 0.69 and r2(SIA, T2M)  = 0.74 is lower compared to r2(SIA, SST) = 0.92 and r2(SIA, T2M) = 0.76 during 2017–21. Similarly over Greenland Sea, r2(SIA, SST)  = 0.88 and r2(SIA, T2M)  = 0.70 during the time frame: 2012–16 and r2(SIA, SST) = 0.89 and r2(SIA, T2M) = 0.84 during the period: 2017–21. Since outgoing longwave radiation positively influences both the seas during both spans; r2(SIA, OLR) = 0.76 for Laptev and r2(SIA, OLR) = 0.37 for the Greenland Sea show positive trend. The sea ice extent and area trends vary widely by month depending on region and season. For both Laptev and Greenland Seas, the influence of temperatures is seen more during the growing season than the melt, indicating the recent hike in winter warming causing Arctic amplification. This work demonstrates the importance and the extent of influence of atmospheric temperatures and outgoing longwave radiation on the sea ice conditions over the two geographically distinct seas of the Arctic.