Pré-Publication, Document De Travail (Preprint/Prepublication) Année : 2024

Is the surface forcing through sea ice leads transferred to the Arctic Ocean interior?

Résumé

The Arctic sea ice, in particular the ice pack, acts as an insulator between the atmosphere and the ocean. Leads, commonly found in the Arctic, facilitate ocean-atmosphere flux exchanges. Local observations have captured heat fluxes through some leads one order of magnitude larger than those outside of the leads, leading to the speculation that air-sea exchanges through leads contribute significantly to the Arctic Ocean surface buoyancy forcing. Here, we quantify the magnitude and impact on the ocean surface of the leads using SEDNA, a subkilometer pan-Arctic hindcast. Leads account for 22% of the sea ice cover surface, and within them, there is approximately 25% of the total surface water mass transformation. In other words, the water mass transformation in leads is similar to those underneath the surrounding ice-covered oceans. Thus, the present estimate indicates that leads have a small contribution to Arctic Ocean dynamics, contrary to previous hypotheses.

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Dates et versions

hal-05598953 , version 1 (22-04-2026)

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Josué Martínez-Moreno, Camille Lique, Claude Talandier. Is the surface forcing through sea ice leads transferred to the Arctic Ocean interior?. 2026. ⟨hal-05598953⟩
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