Kwok Ron

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Kwok
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Ron
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  • Preprint
    Greater role for Atlantic inflows on sea-ice loss in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean
    ( 2017-03) Polyakov, Igor V. ; Pnyushkov, Andrey ; Alkire, Matthew ; Ashik, Igor M. ; Baumann, Till M. ; Carmack, Eddy C. ; Goszczko, Ilona ; Guthrie, John D. ; Ivanov, Vladimir V. ; Kanzow, Torsten ; Krishfield, Richard A. ; Kwok, Ron ; Sundfjord, Arild ; Morison, James H. ; Rember, Robert ; Yulin, Alexander
    Arctic sea-ice loss is a leading indicator of climate change and can be attributed, in large part, to atmospheric forcing. Here we show that recent ice reductions, weakening of the halocline, and shoaling of intermediate-depth Atlantic Water layer in the eastern Eurasian Basin have increased winter ventilation in the ocean interior, making this region structurally similar to that of the western Eurasian Basin. The associated enhanced release of oceanic heat has reduced winter sea-ice formation at a rate now comparable to losses from atmospheric thermodynamic forcing, thus explaining the recent reduction in sea-ice cover in the eastern Eurasian Basin. This encroaching “atlantification” of the Eurasian Basin represents an essential step toward a new Arctic climate state, with a substantially greater role for Atlantic inflows.
  • Article
    Toward quantifying the increasing role oceanic heat in sea ice loss in the new Arctic
    (American Meteorological Society, 2015-12) Carmack, Eddy C. ; Polyakov, Igor V. ; Padman, Laurie ; Fer, Ilker ; Hunke, Elizabeth C. ; Hutchings, Jennifer K. ; Jackson, Jennifer M. ; Kelley, Daniel E. ; Kwok, Ron ; Layton, Chantelle ; Melling, Humfrey ; Perovich, Donald K. ; Persson, Ola ; Ruddick, Barry R. ; Timmermans, Mary-Louise ; Toole, John M. ; Ross, Tetjana ; Vavrus, Steve ; Winsor, Peter
    The loss of Arctic sea ice has emerged as a leading signal of global warming. This, together with acknowledged impacts on other components of the Earth system, has led to the term “the new Arctic.” Global coupled climate models predict that ice loss will continue through the twenty-first century, with implications for governance, economics, security, and global weather. A wide range in model projections reflects the complex, highly coupled interactions between the polar atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere, including teleconnections to lower latitudes. This paper summarizes our present understanding of how heat reaches the ice base from the original sources—inflows of Atlantic and Pacific Water, river discharge, and summer sensible heat and shortwave radiative fluxes at the ocean/ice surface—and speculates on how such processes may change in the new Arctic. The complexity of the coupled Arctic system, and the logistic and technological challenges of working in the Arctic Ocean, require a coordinated interdisciplinary and international program that will not only improve understanding of this critical component of global climate but will also provide opportunities to develop human resources with the skills required to tackle related problems in complex climate systems. We propose a research strategy with components that include 1) improved mapping of the upper- and middepth Arctic Ocean, 2) enhanced quantification of important process, 3) expanded long-term monitoring at key heat-flux locations, and 4) development of numerical capabilities that focus on parameterization of heat-flux mechanisms and their interactions.
  • Article
    Evaluation of Arctic sea ice thickness simulated by Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison Project models
    (American Geophysical Union, 2012-03-15) Johnson, Mark ; Proshutinsky, Andrey ; Aksenov, Yevgeny ; Nguyen, An T. ; Lindsay, Ron ; Haas, Christian ; Zhang, Jinlun ; Diansky, Nikolay ; Kwok, Ron ; Maslowski, Wieslaw ; Hakkinen, Sirpa M. A. ; Ashik, Igor M. ; de Cuevas, Beverly
    Six Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison Project model simulations are compared with estimates of sea ice thickness derived from pan-Arctic satellite freeboard measurements (2004–2008); airborne electromagnetic measurements (2001–2009); ice draft data from moored instruments in Fram Strait, the Greenland Sea, and the Beaufort Sea (1992–2008) and from submarines (1975–2000); and drill hole data from the Arctic basin, Laptev, and East Siberian marginal seas (1982–1986) and coastal stations (1998–2009). Despite an assessment of six models that differ in numerical methods, resolution, domain, forcing, and boundary conditions, the models generally overestimate the thickness of measured ice thinner than ∼2 m and underestimate the thickness of ice measured thicker than about ∼2 m. In the regions of flat immobile landfast ice (shallow Siberian Seas with depths less than 25–30 m), the models generally overestimate both the total observed sea ice thickness and rates of September and October ice growth from observations by more than 4 times and more than one standard deviation, respectively. The models do not reproduce conditions of fast ice formation and growth. Instead, the modeled fast ice is replaced with pack ice which drifts, generating ridges of increasing ice thickness, in addition to thermodynamic ice growth. Considering all observational data sets, the better correlations and smaller differences from observations are from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II and Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System models.
  • Article
    Snow depth of the Weddell and Bellingshausen sea ice covers from IceBridge surveys in 2010 and 2011 : an examination
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2014-07-08) Kwok, Ron ; Maksym, Ted
    We examine the snow radar data from the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas acquired by eight IceBridge (OIB) flightlines in October of 2010 and 2011. In snow depth retrieval, the sidelobes from the stronger scattering snow-ice (s-i) interfaces could be misidentified as returns from the weaker air-snow (a-s) interfaces. In this paper, we first introduce a retrieval procedure that accounts for the structure of the radar system impulse response followed by a survey of the snow depths in the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas. Limitations and potential biases in our approach are discussed. Differences between snow depth estimates from a repeat survey of one Weddell Sea track separated by 12 days, without accounting for variability due to ice motion, is −0.7 ± 13.6 cm. Average snow depth is thicker in coastal northwestern Weddell and thins toward Cape Norvegia, a decrease of >30 cm. In the Bellingshausen, the thickest snow is found nearshore in both Octobers and is thickest next to the Abbot Ice Shelf. Snow depth is linearly related to freeboard when freeboards are low but diverge as the freeboard increases especially in the thicker/rougher ice of the western Weddell. We find correlations of 0.71–0.84 between snow depth and surface roughness suggesting preferential accumulation over deformed ice. Retrievals also seem to be related to radar backscatter through surface roughness. Snow depths reported here, generally higher than those from in situ records, suggest dissimilarities in sample populations. Implications of these differences on Antarctic sea ice thickness are discussed.
  • Article
    CryoSat-2 estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2013-02-28) Laxon, Seymour W. ; Giles, Katharine A. ; Ridout, Andy L. ; Wingham, Duncan J. ; Willatt, Rosemary ; Cullen, Robert ; Kwok, Ron ; Schweiger, Axel ; Zhang, Jinlun ; Haas, Christian ; Hendricks, Stefan ; Krishfield, Richard A. ; Kurtz, Nathan ; Farrell, Sinéad L. ; Davidson, Malcolm
    Satellite records show a decline in ice extent over more than three decades, with a record minimum in September 2012. Results from the Pan-Arctic Ice-Ocean Modelling and Assimilation system (PIOMAS) suggest that the decline in extent has been accompanied by a decline in volume, but this has not been confirmed by data. Using new data from the European Space Agency CryoSat-2 (CS-2) mission, validated with in situ data, we generate estimates of ice volume for the winters of 2010/11 and 2011/12. We compare these data with current estimates from PIOMAS and earlier (2003–8) estimates from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ICESat mission. Between the ICESat and CryoSat-2 periods, the autumn volume declined by 4291 km3 and the winter volume by 1479 km3. This exceeds the decline in ice volume in the central Arctic from the PIOMAS model of 2644 km3 in the autumn, but is less than the 2091 km3 in winter, between the two time periods.