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We characterize the differences in the upward planetary‐scale wave propagation during observed weak polar vortex (WPV) events between heavy‐ and light‐sea‐ice years in the Barents‐Kara Sea based on a composite analysis for the period of 1979–2015. Upward wave propagation during WPV events in heavy‐ice years is dominated by the wavenumber 1 component. In contrast, WPV events occurring in light‐ice years are characterized by stronger wavenumber 2 propagation, which is caused by the tropospheric wavenumber 2 response to sea‐ice reduction in the Barents‐Kara Sea. The above observed features are supported by an Atmospheric General Circulation Model experiment. Thus, under present climate conditions, Arctic sea‐ice loss is a possible factor modulating the wave propagation during the WPV events. We also find that the WPV events in light‐ice years have stronger stratosphere‐troposphere coupling, followed by colder midlatitude surface conditions particularly over Eurasia.

Recent evidence from both observations and model simulations suggests that an Arctic sea ice reduction tends to cause a negative Arctic Oscillation (AO) phase with severe winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere, which is often preceded by weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex. Although this evidence hints at a stratospheric involvement in the Arctic-midlatitude climate linkage, the exact role of the stratosphere remains elusive. Here we show that tropospheric AO response to the Arctic sea ice reduction largely disappears when suppressing the stratospheric wave mean flow interactions in numerical experiments. The results confirm a crucial role of the stratosphere in the sea ice impacts on the midlatitudes by coupling between the stratospheric polar vortex and planetary-scale waves. Those results and consistency with observation-based evidence suggest that a recent Arctic sea ice loss is linked to midlatitudes extreme weather events associated with the negative AO phase.

Heat transfer coefficients, and relative importance of factors affecting surface turbulent heat flux in sea-ice covered ocean, were investigated using data obtained by rawinsonde observations over, and around, the southwestern region of the Sea of Okhotsk from Jan. to Feb. in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The range of the fluxes estimated by an atmospheric heat budget analysis was large, associated with the ice concentration and synoptic situation. The turbulent heat fluxes from the open water surrounded by the sea ice are always positive (upward). However, the heat flux through sea-ice surface tends to be negative (downward) over sea-ice area associated with the relationship between the air and ice-surface temperature. Using the obtained turbulent heat fluxes and a bulk formula, relationships of turbulent heat fluxes with ice concentrations and atmospheric parameters were investigated, and a representative value of the bulk heat transfer coefficient was obtained. The estimated conditional bulk heat transfer coefficient (1:33 × 10-3) in the Sea of Okhotsk shows a smaller value than that in the Arctic region, reflecting the difference of the ice conditions, and thermal conditions in the boundary layer. Through an idea of the insulating coefficient, which measures degrees of the insulating effect of sea ice on the heat transfer, we explained that the sea ice works as a more effective insulator in weaker cold-air outbreaks. From a regression analysis, we found that the primary contribution to the amount of turbulent heat flux is the ice concentration, and second is the air temperature in the boundary layer.

Radio sounding and in-situ observations at land-based (26 January-11 February 1998) and ship stations (4-11 February 1998) were performed over the southwestern Sea of Okhotsk covered with sea ice to estimate turbulent heat flux and investigate characteristics of thermodynamic air mass transformation processes during cold-air outbreaks. Surface heat flux estimations were carried out using two indirect methods; an atmospheric heat budget analysis using the radio sounding data at three stations and a bulk method utilizing meteorological and sea ice thickness data obtained by the ship observations. The estimated total upward turbulent heat flux over the analyzed area was approximately 100 Wm-2 even within the intense cold-air outbreak period. The height of the mixing layer associated with this small amount of the heat flux is only about 1 km, which implies that sea ice acts as an insulating material between the ocean and atmosphere and thus significantly reduces the turbulent heat fluxes. Nevertheless, the upward turbulent heat flux from the ice surface was found to be non-negligible during cold-air outbreaks and it is suggested that the sea ice grows through the sea or ice surface cooling.

Influence of sea-ice extent anomalies within the Sea of Okhotsk on the large-scale atmospheric circulation is investigated through an analysis of the dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the response in an atmospheric general circulation model to specified anomalous sea-ice cover. Significant response appears not only around the Sea of Okhotsk, but also downstream over the Bering Sea, Alaska, and North America in the form of a stationary wave train in the troposphere. This remote response, associated with wave activity flux emanating from the Okhotsk area to the downstream, is regarded as a stationary Rossby wave generated thermally by the anomalous turbulent heat fluxes from the ocean surface as a result of the anomalous sea-ice cover. The Pacific storm track in the model that extends zonally at 35°N is located too far south of the Sea of Okhotsk to exert substantial feedback forcing on the local and remote response. Since a similar stationary wave train is identified in the composite di...

An atmospheric general circulation model was used to investigate the influence of Okhotsk sea ice on large-scale atmospheric circulation. Significant differences in the model responses between heavy and light ice cover are evident not only around the Sea of Okhotsk but also downstream towards North America in the form of a stationary wavetrain in the troposphere. Because the wave activity flux associated with the wavetrain emanates downstream from the Sea of Okhotsk, this remote response is regarded as a stationary Rossby wave excited thermally through an anomalous surface heat flux over the Sea of Okhotsk. The wavetrain is thermally reinforced downstream by the anomalous heat flux associated with wind anomalies over the ocean surface, which are induced by the wavetrain itself.

We investigated the interannual variation of the sea ice over the Sea of Okhotsk by using radar observation data and gridded ice-coverage data for the years 1969-1994. It became evident that the abrupt decrease of sea ice over the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk occurred in 1989, and that this reduced-ice condition has continued since then. In addition, the winter time Aleutian low has abruptly weakened since 1989. According to the lag-correlation analysis, this weakening has brought about the reduction in extent of the ice-coverage.

[1] Influence of low Arctic sea-ice minima in early autumn on the wintertime climate over Eurasia is investigated. Observational evidence shows that significant cold anomalies over the Far East in early winter and zonally elongated cold anomalies from Europe to Far East in late winter are associated with the decrease of the Arctic sea-ice cover in the preceding summer-to-autumn seasons. Results from numerical experiments using an atmospheric general circulation model support these notions. The remote response in early winter is regarded as a stationary Rossby wave generated thermally through an anomalous turbulent heat fluxes as a result of anomalous ice-cover over the Barents-Kara Seas in late autumn, which tends to induce an amplification of the Siberian high causing colder conditions over the Far East. The late-winter cold anomalies over Eurasia are also reproduced in our experiment, which is associated with the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation.

[1] An intra-seasonal relationship, including a possible feedback, is investigated between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and a hemispheric-scale seesaw-like pattern dominant in sea ice variability over the wintertime Northern Hemisphere, with one polarity in the Bering and Labrador Seas and the other in the Okhotsk and Greenland-Barents Seas. Statistical analysis using observational data suggests that a particular phase of NAO and anomalous atmospheric circulation in the Pacific during early winter contribute toward the development of the midwinter hemispheric sea-ice seesaw. In contrast, the ice seesaw tends to damp the preexisting NAO signal during late winter, indicating a reversal of the phase relation between them. This NAO damping may be triggered by the Pacific sea-ice anomalies. Results from numerical experiments generally support this notion and further suggests a stationary Rossby wave train emanated from the North Pacific as a dynamical mechanism for damping the NAO signal.

An analysis of satellite sea-ice records for recent decades reveals a highly coherent spatial and temporal structure of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) wintertime sea-ice variability and its close link to anomalous atmospheric circulation. The dominant mode of the wintertime sea-ice variability is characterized by a double-dipole composed of one dipole over the North Atlantic and the other over the North Pacific, which are mutually correlated interannually. This dominant sea-ice mode is lag correlated with the winter-averaged North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index at lags up to two winters when the NAO leads. In the sub-Arctic, significant lead–lag relationships exist between sea-ice extent (SIE) anomalies on regional scales, which are closely associated with atmospheric circulation anomalies. An eastward evolving pattern is identified in regional SIE anomalies from the Labrador to Nordic and farther to the Okhotsk Sea at multi-year time-scales, led by anomalously weak Aleutian and strong Icelandic lows. The results suggest the presence of climate memories over the North Atlantic and Eurasia, which are crucial for recent downward trends in the NH SIE by transforming atmospheric influences into slower changes in sea-ice conditions. The summer Okhotsk high, which leads to a sea-ice reduction along the east Siberian coast and further affects sea-ice conditions over the Arctic Ocean, is a key link between summer Arctic and winter sub-Arctic sea-ice trends. We also conjecture that variations and changes in the NH sea-ice conditions are linked to climate variability in the tropics.