PIOMAS Arctic Sea Ice Volume and excerpts from an interview with Axel Schweiger are covered in Science News. Click to read full story
Posts Tagged «Axel Schweiger»
Alkire, M.B., J. Morison, A. Schweiger, J. Zhang, M. Steele, C. Peralta-Ferriz, and S. Dickinson, A meteoric water budget for the Arctic Ocean, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 122, doi:10.1002/2017JC012807, 2017.
In mid-September Arctic sea ice reaches its minimum extent and volume. There are annual fluctuations — 2012 was a record low for both measures — but reports of a recent ‘rebound’ are short-sighted. Axel Schweiger explains why the downward long-term trend is clear.
The Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly time series is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) developed at APL/PSC. Updates will be generated at approximately monthly intervals.
This project will produce authoritative SAT data sets covering the Arctic Ocean from 1901 to present, which will be used to better understand Arctic climate change.
The role and magnitude of feedback processes, such as the ice-albedo feedback cannot be observed. They must be diagnosed from validated models that include the appropriate physics. For example, observational studies, attempting to discern the effect of clouds on sea ice (e.g. Schweiger et al 2008) confront the difficulty of separating cloud variability from other changes, such as atmospheric circulation. Model experiments that can isolate the role of a specific mechanism (e.g. Bitz, 2009) are needed to test and advance our current understanding of feedbacks in the atmosphere-ice-ocean system and to ultimately improve predictive capabilities for weather and climate. The…
Barry, R.G., R.G. Crane, A. Schweiger, and J. Newell, “Arctic cloudiness in spring from satellite imagery”, Journal of Climatology, 7(5), 423-451, 1987.
Barry, R.G., R.G. Crane, A. Schweiger, and J. Newell, “Arctic cloudiness in spring from satellite imagery: a response”, Journal of Climatology, 8(5), 539-540, 1988.
Baxter, I., Ding, Q., Schweiger, A., L’Heureux, M., Baxter, S., Wang, T., . . . Lu, J. (2019). How Tropical Pacific Surface Cooling Contributed to Accelerated Sea Ice Melt from 2007 to 2012 as Ice Is Thinned by Anthropogenic Forcing. Journal of Climate, 32(24), 8583-8602. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0783.1
The primary objective of this research is to construct a comprehensive bias-corrected sea ice thickness record and use it to better quantify and understand the dramatic changes that have been observed in the Arctic ice pack. To do this all available Arctic sea ice thickness observations will be integrated, from satellite, aircraft, and subsurface measurements, and used to identify and correct systematic errors through comparisons with a common reference. With the resultant record four science questions will be answered:• What are the systematic differences between different measurement systems for sea ice thickness?• What are the spatial patterns in the trends…
September 17, 2019 – Research by Axel Schweiger and Jinlun Zhang in Collaboration with Kevin Wood from JISAO reconstructs sea ice volume and thickness since 1901.
A new study finds that an area of the Arctic Ocean critical for the survival of polar bears is fast becoming vulnerable to climate change.
The region, dubbed the “last ice area” had been expected to stay frozen far longer than other parts of the Arctic.
But this new analysis says that this area suffered record melting last summer.
The researchers say that high winds allied to a changing climate were behind the unexpected decline.
Ding, Q., Schweiger, A., L’Heureux, M., Steig, E. J., Battisti, D. S., Johnson, N. C., Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E., Po-Chedley, S., Zhang, Q., Harnos, K., Bushuk, M., Markle, B., and Baxter, I. (2018), Fingerprints of internal drivers of Arctic sea ice loss in observations and model simulations. Nature Geoscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0256-8
Ding, Q., A. Schweiger, M. L’Heureux, D. S. Battisti, S. Po-Chedley, N. C. Johnson, E. Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, K. Harnos, Q. Zhang, R. Eastman and E. J. Steig (2017), Influence of high-latitude atmospheric circulation changes on summertime Arctic sea ice, Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate3241
Axel Schweiger, Jinlun Zhang, and Mike Steele are co-authors on an article that earned the Editor’s Highlight for AGU’s recent Geophysical Research Letters. Read on to learn why the article, Collapse of the 2017 Winter Beaufort High: A Response to Thinning Sea Ice?, drew such attention…
Francis, J.A., and A.J. Schweiger, “A new window to the Arctic”, Eos Trans. AGU( 81), 77-78, 2000.
The dramatic melt expected over the next week signals that global warming is having a major impact on the polar region
The Washington Post reports that although “Arctic Sea Ice Blog: Interesting News and Data” will be going on hiatus, the Arctic Sea Ice Forum will remain open and monthly PIOMAS updates will continue. Axel Schweiger comments on how the blog and the PSC dataset has helped create a thoughtful and detailed real-time public discourse.
June 18, 2019 – This week is ICESat-2 Hackweek 2019, held at the University of Washington. Participants are learning about technologies used to access and process ICESat-2 data with a focus on the cryosphere.
In recent years the ice extent in the Arctic has been much reduced from that of historical norms and the ice-albedo feedback is often cited as a major factor in causing this accelerated summer ice retreat. An important countervailing feedback is the ice thickness-growth feedback wherein thin ice grows much more quickly in the winter than thick ice. The strength of this negative feedback mechanism depends on the rate heat is lost from the surface to the atmosphere. The primary objectives of this project are to better understand how rapidly the extra summer heat absorbed in the Arctic Ocean in…
Key, J. R., J. A. Maslanik, and A. J. Schweiger, “Classification of merged AVHRR and SMMR Arctic data with neural networks”, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 55(9), 1331-1338, 1989.
Key, J. R., J. A. Maslanik, T. Papakyriakou, M. C. Serreze, and A. J. Schweiger, “On the Validation of Satellite-Derived Sea-Ice Surface-Temperature”, Arctic, 47(3), 280-287, 1994.
Key, J. R., A. J. Schweiger, and R. S. Stone, “Expected uncertainty in satellite-derived estimates of the surface radiation budget at high latitudes“, J.Geophys.Res., 102(C7), 15837-15847, 1997.
Key, J.R., and A.J. Schweiger, “Tools for atmospheric radiative transfer: Streamer and FluxNet”, Comput. Geosci., 24(5), 443-451, 1998.
Kwok, R., A. Schweiger, D. A. Rothrock, S. Pang, and C. Kottmeier, “Sea ice motion from satellite passive microwave imagery assessed with ERS SAR and buoy motions“, J.Geophys.Res., 103(C4), 8191-8214, 1998.
November 12, 2019 – Former UW Arctic Fulbright Chair, Kent Moore with PSC researchers Axel Schweiger, Jinlun Zhang and Mike Steele on how the oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing twice as fast as ice in the rest of the Arctic Ocean.
Laxon, W.S, K. A. Giles, A. L. Ridout, D. J. Wingham, R. W., R.Cullen, R. Kwok, A. Schweiger, J. Zhang, C. Haas, S. Hendricks, R. Krishfield, N.Kurtz, S Farrell, M Davidson, CryoSat-2 estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1002/grl.5019, 2013.
Li, Z., Q. Ding, M. Steele, and A. Schweiger, Recent upper Arctic Ocean warming expedited by summertime atmospheric processes. Nat. Commun., 13, 362, doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28047-8, 2022.
Lindsay, R., M. Wensnahan, A. Schweiger, and J Zhang, 2014, Evaluation of seven different atmospheric reanalysis products in the Arctic, J. Climate, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-13-0014.1.
Lindsay, R. and A. Schweiger, Arctic sea ice thickness loss determined using subsurface, aircraft, and satellite observations, The Cryosphere, 9, 269-283, doi:10.5194/tc-9-269-2015, 2015
Lindsay, R. W., J. A. Francis, O. G. Persson, D. A. Rothrock, and A. J. Schweiger, “Surface Turbulent Fluxes over Pack Ice Inferred from TOVS observations”, Annals of Glaciology, 33(8), 948-963, 1997.
Lindsay, R.W., J. Zhang, A. Schweiger, and M.A. Steele, Seasonal predictions of ice extent in the Arctic Ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 113, C02023, doi:10.1029/2007JC004259, 2008.
Lindsay, R. W., J. Zhang, A. Schweiger, M. Steele, and H. Stern, Arctic sea ice retreat in 2007 follows thinning trend, J. Climate, 22, 165-176, doi:10.1175/2008JCLI2521.1, 2009.
Liu, Z., A. Schweiger, and R. Lindsay (2015), Observations and Modeling of Atmospheric Profiles in the Arctic Seasonal Ice Zone, Monthly Weather Review, 143(1), 39-53.
Liu, Y. H., J.R. Key, A. J. Schweiger and J. A Francis, “Characteristics of satellite-derived clear-sky atmospheric temperature inversion strength in the Arctic 1980-96”, J Climate, 19(19), 4902-4913, 2006.
Liu, Z., Schweiger, A. (2017), Synoptic conditions, clouds, and sea ice melt-onset in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seasonal Ice Zone, J. Climate, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0887.1 .
Liu, Z., & Schweiger, A., 2019. Low-level and surface wind jets near sea ice edge in the Beaufort Sea in late autumn. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124, 6873– 6891. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029770
June 6, 2019 – The latest paper authored by Zheng Liu and Axel Schweiger has been published in JGR Atmospheres. Read how dropsonde observations made from Seasonal Ice Zone Reconnaissance Survey flights were used to examine low‐level and surface “ice edge jets” in the Beaufort Sea.
McGuffie, K., R. G. Barry, A. Schweiger, D. A. Robinson, and J. Newell, “Intercomparison of satellite-derived cloud analyses for the Arctic Ocean in spring and summer”, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 9(3), 447-467, 1988.
Moore, G. W. K., Schweiger, A., Zhang, J., & Steele, M., Spatiotemporal variability of sea ice in the arctic’s last ice area. Geophysical Research Letters, 46. DOI: 10.1029/2019GL083722, 2019.
Moore, G., Steele, M., Schweiger, A.J., Zhang, J., and Laidre, K.L., Thick and old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during summer 2020/21 was associated with enhanced transport. Commun Earth Environ 3, 198, doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00530-6, 2022.
Moore, G.W.K., Schweiger, A., Zhang, J., & Steele, M.; Collapse of the 2017 winter Beaufort High: A response to thinning sea ice? Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 2860–2869, doi:10.1002/2017GL076446, 2018.
Moore, G.W.K., A. Schweiger, J. Zhang, and M. Steele, What caused the remarkable February 2018 North Greenland Polynya? Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, doi:10.1029/2018GL080902, 2018.
On Oct 1, 2021 after 12.5 years at the helm of PSC, Axel Schweiger stepped back from his role as Chair of PSC. PSC sea ice researcher Bonnie Light has taken on the leadership role.
Scientific American reports on a new study deriving ice thickness trends from measurements by the Polar Science Center’s Ron Lindsay and Axel Schweiger’s article published in The Cryosphere.
Increasing summer ice melt in the Arctic Ocean could shift global weather patterns and make polar waters more navigable. But scientists say forecasting Arctic ice and weather remains a massive challenge. The prospect of more ice-free water during Arctic Ocean summers has triggered efforts to improve ice and weather forecasts at the top of the world
This data set contains Arctic TOVS-derived Level-3 atmospheric parameters obtained using the physical-statistical retrieval method of Chedin et al. (1985, Improved Iteration Inversion Algorithm, 3I). The method has been improved for use in sea ice-covered areas (Francis 1994) and the data set has been designed to address the particular needs of the Polar research community. The data set represents the so called Path-P as designated by the TOVS Science Working Group. This research is part of the EOS Interdisciplinary Science (IDS) effort POLar Exchange at the Sea surface (POLES) Funding for this project has been provided by the NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program.
Perovich D.K., S.V. Nghiem, T. Markus, A. Schweiger, “Seasonal evolution and interannual variability of the local solar energy absorbed by the Arctic sea ice-ocean system”, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 112 (C3): Art. No. C03005, 2007.