Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)

Abstract The Arctic climate system is host to many processes which interact vertically over the tightly coupled atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. The coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM) allows to decouple local small‐scale and large‐scale processes to investigate the model performance...

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Main Authors: Kerstin Hartung, Gunilla Svensson, Jareth Holt, Anna Lewinschal, Michael Tjernström
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2022-06-01
Series:Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002593
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author Kerstin Hartung
Gunilla Svensson
Jareth Holt
Anna Lewinschal
Michael Tjernström
author_facet Kerstin Hartung
Gunilla Svensson
Jareth Holt
Anna Lewinschal
Michael Tjernström
author_sort Kerstin Hartung
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The Arctic climate system is host to many processes which interact vertically over the tightly coupled atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. The coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM) allows to decouple local small‐scale and large‐scale processes to investigate the model performance in an idealized setting. Here, an observed Arctic warm air intrusion event is used to show how to identify model deficiencies using the AOSCM. The AOSCM allows us to effectively produce a large number of perturbation simulations, around 1,000, to map sensitivities of the model results due to changes in physical and model properties as well as to the large‐scale tendencies. The analysis of the summary diagnostics, that is, aggregated results from sensitivity experiments evaluated against modeled physical properties, such as surface energy budget and mean sea ice thickness, reveals sensitivities to the chosen parameters. Further, we discuss how the conclusions can be used to understand the behavior of the global host model. The simulations confirm that the horizontal advection of heat and moisture plays an important role for maintaining a low‐level cloud cover, as in earlier studies. The combined cloud layers increase the energy input to the surface, which in turn enhances the ongoing melt. The clouds present an additional sensitivity in terms of how they are represented but also their interaction with the large‐scale advection and the model time step. The methodology can be used for a variety of other regions, where the coupling to the ocean is important.
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spelling doaj-art-65e047bb8705412daf4f21877dfd68aa2025-08-20T02:16:02ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems1942-24662022-06-01146n/an/a10.1029/2021MS002593Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)Kerstin Hartung0Gunilla Svensson1Jareth Holt2Anna Lewinschal3Michael Tjernström4Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität Munich Munich GermanyDepartment of Meteorology Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenDepartment of Meteorology Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenDepartment of Meteorology Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenDepartment of Meteorology Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenAbstract The Arctic climate system is host to many processes which interact vertically over the tightly coupled atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. The coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM) allows to decouple local small‐scale and large‐scale processes to investigate the model performance in an idealized setting. Here, an observed Arctic warm air intrusion event is used to show how to identify model deficiencies using the AOSCM. The AOSCM allows us to effectively produce a large number of perturbation simulations, around 1,000, to map sensitivities of the model results due to changes in physical and model properties as well as to the large‐scale tendencies. The analysis of the summary diagnostics, that is, aggregated results from sensitivity experiments evaluated against modeled physical properties, such as surface energy budget and mean sea ice thickness, reveals sensitivities to the chosen parameters. Further, we discuss how the conclusions can be used to understand the behavior of the global host model. The simulations confirm that the horizontal advection of heat and moisture plays an important role for maintaining a low‐level cloud cover, as in earlier studies. The combined cloud layers increase the energy input to the surface, which in turn enhances the ongoing melt. The clouds present an additional sensitivity in terms of how they are represented but also their interaction with the large‐scale advection and the model time step. The methodology can be used for a variety of other regions, where the coupling to the ocean is important.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002593parameter uncertaintysingle‐column model experimental setupatmosphere sea‐ice interactionArctic warm air intrusionArctic boundary layerArctic clouds
spellingShingle Kerstin Hartung
Gunilla Svensson
Jareth Holt
Anna Lewinschal
Michael Tjernström
Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
parameter uncertainty
single‐column model experimental setup
atmosphere sea‐ice interaction
Arctic warm air intrusion
Arctic boundary layer
Arctic clouds
title Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)
title_full Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)
title_fullStr Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)
title_short Exploring the Dynamics of an Arctic Sea Ice Melt Event Using a Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean Single‐Column Model (AOSCM)
title_sort exploring the dynamics of an arctic sea ice melt event using a coupled atmosphere ocean single column model aoscm
topic parameter uncertainty
single‐column model experimental setup
atmosphere sea‐ice interaction
Arctic warm air intrusion
Arctic boundary layer
Arctic clouds
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002593
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