Articles | Volume 15, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-803-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-803-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
WIFF1.0: a hybrid machine-learning-based parameterization of wave-induced sea ice floe fracture
Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Lettie A. Roach
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Related authors
Aikaterini Tavri, Chris Horvat, Brodie Pearson, Guillaume Boutin, Anne Hansen, and Ara Lee
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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In the Arctic, thin sea ice lets ocean waves travel into ice-covered areas. When waves, wind, and currents interact, they create Langmuir turbulence—strong mixing near the surface that helps move heat, gases, and nutrients between the ocean and air. Scientists understand this process in open water, but not well in polar regions. This study uses a new wave–ice model to find out where and how Langmuir turbulence affects ocean mixing in the Arctic.
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Since the late 1970s, standard methods for observing sea ice area from satellite contrast its passive microwave emissions to that of the ocean. Since 2018, a new satellite, ICESat-2, may offer a unique and independent way to sample sea ice area at high skill and resolution, using laser altimetry. We develop a new product of sea ice area for the Arctic using ICESat-2 and constrain the biases associated with the use of altimetry instead of passive microwave emissions.
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Sea ice coverage is a key indicator of changes in polar and global climate. There is a long (40+ year) record of sea ice concentration and area from passive microwave measurements. In this work we show the biases in these data based on high resolution imagery. We also suggest the use of ICESat-2, a high resolution satellite laser, that can supplement the passive microwave estimates.
Momme C. Hell and Christopher Horvat
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Sea ice is heavily impacted by waves on its margins, and we currently do not have routine observations of waves in sea ice. Here we propose two methods to separate the surface waves from the sea-ice height observations along each ICESat-2 track using machine learning. Both methods together allow us to follow changes in the wave height through the sea ice.
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Sea ice is composed of small, discrete pieces of ice called floes, whose size distribution plays a critical role in the interactions between the sea ice, ocean and atmosphere. This study provides an assessment of sea ice models using new high-resolution floe size distribution observations, revealing considerable differences between them. These findings point not only to the limitations in models but also to the need for more high-resolution observations to validate and calibrate models.
Jill Brouwer, Alexander D. Fraser, Damian J. Murphy, Pat Wongpan, Alberto Alberello, Alison Kohout, Christopher Horvat, Simon Wotherspoon, Robert A. Massom, Jessica Cartwright, and Guy D. Williams
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The marginal ice zone is the region where ocean waves interact with sea ice. Although this important region influences many sea ice, ocean and biological processes, it has been difficult to accurately measure on a large scale from satellite instruments. We present new techniques for measuring wave attenuation using the NASA ICESat-2 laser altimeter. By measuring how waves attenuate within the sea ice, we show that the marginal ice zone may be far wider than previously realised.
Eric P. Chassignet, Stephen G. Yeager, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Alexandra Bozec, Frederic Castruccio, Gokhan Danabasoglu, Christopher Horvat, Who M. Kim, Nikolay Koldunov, Yiwen Li, Pengfei Lin, Hailong Liu, Dmitry V. Sein, Dmitry Sidorenko, Qiang Wang, and Xiaobiao Xu
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This paper presents global comparisons of fundamental global climate variables from a suite of four pairs of matched low- and high-resolution ocean and sea ice simulations to assess the robustness of climate-relevant improvements in ocean simulations associated with moving from coarse (∼1°) to eddy-resolving (∼0.1°) horizontal resolutions. Despite significant improvements, greatly enhanced horizontal resolution does not deliver unambiguous bias reduction in all regions for all models.
Aikaterini Tavri, Chris Horvat, Brodie Pearson, Guillaume Boutin, Anne Hansen, and Ara Lee
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3438, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3438, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
Short summary
Short summary
In the Arctic, thin sea ice lets ocean waves travel into ice-covered areas. When waves, wind, and currents interact, they create Langmuir turbulence—strong mixing near the surface that helps move heat, gases, and nutrients between the ocean and air. Scientists understand this process in open water, but not well in polar regions. This study uses a new wave–ice model to find out where and how Langmuir turbulence affects ocean mixing in the Arctic.
Christopher Horvat, Ellen M. Buckley, and Madelyn Stewart
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3864, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3864, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Since the late 1970s, standard methods for observing sea ice area from satellite contrast its passive microwave emissions to that of the ocean. Since 2018, a new satellite, ICESat-2, may offer a unique and independent way to sample sea ice area at high skill and resolution, using laser altimetry. We develop a new product of sea ice area for the Arctic using ICESat-2 and constrain the biases associated with the use of altimetry instead of passive microwave emissions.
Ellen M. Buckley, Christopher Horvat, and Pittayuth Yoosiri
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3861, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3861, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice coverage is a key indicator of changes in polar and global climate. There is a long (40+ year) record of sea ice concentration and area from passive microwave measurements. In this work we show the biases in these data based on high resolution imagery. We also suggest the use of ICESat-2, a high resolution satellite laser, that can supplement the passive microwave estimates.
Momme C. Hell and Christopher Horvat
The Cryosphere, 18, 341–361, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-341-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-341-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice is heavily impacted by waves on its margins, and we currently do not have routine observations of waves in sea ice. Here we propose two methods to separate the surface waves from the sea-ice height observations along each ICESat-2 track using machine learning. Both methods together allow us to follow changes in the wave height through the sea ice.
Yanan Wang, Byongjun Hwang, Adam William Bateson, Yevgeny Aksenov, and Christopher Horvat
The Cryosphere, 17, 3575–3591, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3575-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3575-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice is composed of small, discrete pieces of ice called floes, whose size distribution plays a critical role in the interactions between the sea ice, ocean and atmosphere. This study provides an assessment of sea ice models using new high-resolution floe size distribution observations, revealing considerable differences between them. These findings point not only to the limitations in models but also to the need for more high-resolution observations to validate and calibrate models.
Hugues Goosse, Sofia Allende Contador, Cecilia M. Bitz, Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, Clare Eayrs, Thierry Fichefet, Kenza Himmich, Pierre-Vincent Huot, François Klein, Sylvain Marchi, François Massonnet, Bianca Mezzina, Charles Pelletier, Lettie Roach, Martin Vancoppenolle, and Nicole P. M. van Lipzig
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Using idealized sensitivity experiments with a regional atmosphere–ocean–sea ice model, we show that sea ice advance is constrained by initial conditions in March and the retreat season is influenced by the magnitude of several physical processes, in particular by the ice–albedo feedback and ice transport. Atmospheric feedbacks amplify the response of the winter ice extent to perturbations, while some negative feedbacks related to heat conduction fluxes act on the ice volume.
Jill Brouwer, Alexander D. Fraser, Damian J. Murphy, Pat Wongpan, Alberto Alberello, Alison Kohout, Christopher Horvat, Simon Wotherspoon, Robert A. Massom, Jessica Cartwright, and Guy D. Williams
The Cryosphere, 16, 2325–2353, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2325-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The marginal ice zone is the region where ocean waves interact with sea ice. Although this important region influences many sea ice, ocean and biological processes, it has been difficult to accurately measure on a large scale from satellite instruments. We present new techniques for measuring wave attenuation using the NASA ICESat-2 laser altimeter. By measuring how waves attenuate within the sea ice, we show that the marginal ice zone may be far wider than previously realised.
Eric P. Chassignet, Stephen G. Yeager, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Alexandra Bozec, Frederic Castruccio, Gokhan Danabasoglu, Christopher Horvat, Who M. Kim, Nikolay Koldunov, Yiwen Li, Pengfei Lin, Hailong Liu, Dmitry V. Sein, Dmitry Sidorenko, Qiang Wang, and Xiaobiao Xu
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 4595–4637, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4595-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4595-2020, 2020
Short summary
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This paper presents global comparisons of fundamental global climate variables from a suite of four pairs of matched low- and high-resolution ocean and sea ice simulations to assess the robustness of climate-relevant improvements in ocean simulations associated with moving from coarse (∼1°) to eddy-resolving (∼0.1°) horizontal resolutions. Despite significant improvements, greatly enhanced horizontal resolution does not deliver unambiguous bias reduction in all regions for all models.
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Short summary
Sea ice is a composite of individual pieces, called floes, ranging in horizontal size from meters to kilometers. Variations in sea ice geometry are often forced by ocean waves, a process that is an important target of global climate models as it affects the rate of sea ice melting. Yet directly simulating these interactions is computationally expensive. We present a neural-network-based model of wave–ice fracture that allows models to incorporate their effect without added computational cost.
Sea ice is a composite of individual pieces, called floes, ranging in horizontal size from...