Journal of Physical Oceanography,
2004 (in press)
A simplified ice-ocean coupled model for the Antarctic ice melt season
Kay I. Ohshima and Sohey Nihashi
In the Antarctic Ocean, sea ice melts mostly by warming of the ocean mixed layer
through heat input (mainly solar radiation) in open water area. We propose a
simplified ice-upper ocean coupled model in which sea ice melts only by the
ocean heat supplied from the air.
The model shows that the relationship between ice concentration and mixed layer
temperature converges asymptotically with time (CT-relationship), which agrees
with observed CT-plots during summer in the sector 25o- 45o E.
This relationship can be used for estimating the bulk heat transfer coefficient
between ice and ocean by fitting to observations and a value of 1.2 ×10-4
ms-1 is obtained.
The model shows that the ratio of the heat used for melting to the heat input
through open water is inclined to be determined as a function of ice
concentration.
For typical conditions in the Antarctic ice melt season, the ratio ranges mostly
between 0.7 and 0.9.
When the model is extended to two-dimensions in the meridional direction, with
the inclusion of wind forcing, it approximately reproduces the meridional
retreat of the Antarctic sea ice.
This two-dimensional model can describe the open water-albedo feedback effect,
which partly explains the year-to-year variation of the sea ice retreat in the
Antarctic Ocean.