Arctic sea ice coverage and its relation to the surface air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract

The linear relationship between average monthly anomalies of the ice coverage in the Arctic seas and the surface air temperature over the land in the Northern hemisphere in March and September was analyzed for the purpose of finding regions with statistically significant correlations. Possible mechanisms of the revealed interrelations are discussed. Data on the surface temperature and the ice concentration from Met Office Hadley Centre were used in this study. A negative correlation of the sea ice with the temperature in the land regions adjacent to the seas, as well as a number of remote relations was revealed. Specifically, statistically significant relations were found between anomalies of the ice area in the Laptev Sea in September with the temperature anomalies in the Mediterranean region, as well as with the temperature anomalies in Central Asia. In most cases, such relationships may be explained by the influence of atmospheric circulation, including the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and variability in the intensity of the atmospheric centers of action. Characteristics of seasonal variations of the sea ice coverage and climatic trends together with variability and autocorrelation of the coverage anomalies are considered. The largest reduction in the ice area is observed for the recent decades in the Barents Sea in winter while in the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian seas - in summer.

Keywords

• арктические морские льды
• изменчивость климата
• климат арктики
• приземная температура воздуха