Coupled Arctic Regional Atmosphere-Ocean-Sea Ice Model

Minwei Qian and Colin Jones

Coupled Model Domain

Atmosphere Model

Ocean-Sea Ice Model

Motive

To study air-sea interaction via Arctic sea-ice and snow over the sea-ice. To understand recent reduction of arctic sea-ice extent andsea-ice thickness.

Coupling Strategy

Ocean-Sea Ice Model runs using 10 minutes time step while atmospheric model runs using 30 minutestime step. Every 3 hours, the two models exchange information via a Coupler (OASIS & Gossip). The forcing data from atmosphere model to ocean-sea ice model are all fluxes in order to keep energy conservation at air-sea interface.

1. SST2. Surface temp. over ice3. Sea-ice concentration4. Sea-ice albedo

1. Sensible heat flux2. Latent heat flux3. Momentum fluxes4. Solar radiation5. Long-wave radiation6. Rain and snow rates

OASIStmod

tcoup

ocean

atmos

rivers

landsurf

iceRCO

RCA

Ocean-Sea Ice

Atmosphere

OASIS & GossipCC

Results: Simulated and observed sea-ice concentration for 1985-1994 period

Simulation in March

Simulation in March

Observation in March

Observation in March

In March, sea-ice concentration is underestimated only in the east side of the Greenland (see arrow in left figure)

In September, sea-ice concentration is overestimated only in Siberian coast (see arrow in right figure)