Impact of cloud cover on Arctic sea ice surface melt

The objective is to investigate effects of cloud cover on large-scale surface melt over Arctic sea ice. The cloud-ice-albedo feedback mechanism plays a key role in the heat and mass balance of the ice and upper ocean in the Arctic that affects the global climate system. Albedo of snow-covered sea ice has significant changes between phases of freezing and melting during seasonal transition periods. Low values of albedo results in increasing heat absorption and melting over sea ice surface from melt onset to fall freeze-up. Cloud cover interferes with short and long-wave radiation and strongly modifies the net surface heat flux. In summer when sea ice surface is close to the isothermal condition with surface temperatures fluctuating around the freezing point, energy absorption or release associated with net positive or negative heat flux most effectively results in thermodynamic phase changes over sea ice due to melting or refreezing, respectively.