The Climatic Response to Meridional Sea-Ice Transport

Abstract Sea ice is an important factor in controlling the exchange of energy between the ocean and atmosphere in the polar regions and has an important impact on climate. A coupled energy balance climate-sea-ice model is used here to examine the effect of sea-ice transport on the ocean-atmosphere energy exchange and atmospheric temperature. The model results show that the transport of sea ice thins the pack ice in the central Arctic and around Antarctica. This thinning produces a larger lead fraction within the ice pack, a longer period of ice-free conditions near the poles, and extends sea ice equatorward. This results in an increased transfer of energy from the ocean to the atmosphere near the poles, which through meridional energy transports produces warmer conditions at all latitudes. If the effects simulated in this study reflect the real climate system, then the results have implications for climate change on a wide variety of time scales.