Atmospheric highs drive asymmetric sea ice drift during lead opening from Point Barrow

Abstract

Throughout winter, the winds of migrating weather systems drive the recurrent opening of sea ice leads from Alaska's northernmost headland, Point Barrow. As leads extend offshore into the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, they produce sea ice velocity discontinuities that are challenging to represent in models. We investigate how synoptic wind patterns form leads originating from Point Barrow and influence patterns of sea ice drift across the Pacific Arctic. We identify 135 leads from satellite thermal infrared imagery between January–April 2000–2020 and generate an ensemble of lead-opening sequences by averaging atmospheric conditions and ice velocity across events. On average, leads open as migrating atmospheric highs drive differing ice–coast interactions across Point Barrow. Northerly winds compress the Beaufort ice pack against the coast over several days, slowing ice drift. As winds west of Point Barrow shift offshore, the ice cover fractures and a lead extends from the headland into the pack interior. Ice west of the lead accelerates as it separates from the coast, drifting twice as fast (relative to winds) as ice east of the lead, which remains coastally bound. Consequently, sea ice drift and its contribution to climatological ice circulation becomes zonally asymmetric across Point Barrow. These findings highlight how coastal boundaries modify the response of the consolidated ice pack to wind forcing in winter, producing spatially varying regimes of ice stress and kinematics. Observed connections between winds, ice drift, and lead opening provide test cases for sea ice models aiming to capture realistic ice transport during these recurrent deformation events.