Melt pond on the sea ice surface during summer and its connection with Arctic climate change

Abstract

The formation of melt ponds on the surface of sea ice during summer is one of the main factors affecting variability in surface albedo over the ice cover. Also melt ponds influence on the surface temperature regime and on air-surface interaction. The role and impact of pond formation on both the direction and size of CO2 fluxes between air and sea is also significant. In the paper on the base on data field measurement the thermal, radiative properties of melt ponds are investigated. Also its effect on energy- and gas air-surface exchange is studied. The passive microwave satellite data were used. Processing of satellite data permits to estimate the trend of mean relative melt pond fraction in the Arctic and its role in ice extend minimum formation.

Keywords

• sea ice
• arctic climate
• melt ponds
• albedo
• remote sensing