Research project ARTofMELT: Atmospheric rivers and the onset of sea ice melt 2023
The project ARTofMELT (Atmospheric rivers and the onset of sea ice melt 2023) centers on an international interdisciplinary research expedition onboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden to the central Arctic Ocean in May and June 2023.
The expedition was led by Professor Michael Tjernström (Department of Meteorology) and Associate Professor Paul Zieger (Department of Environmental Science) with logistical support provided by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat.
The researchers studied in detail when the sea-ice surface of the Arctic Ocean started to melt in spring, an under-observed phase in the Arctic annual cycle. Specifically, they explored if the so-called “atmospheric rivers” play a role in the timing of the melt onset. This date is important for the annual sea-ice melt-back that has increased substantially over the last several decades, as a consequence of global warming.
On site in the Arctic Ocean they used advanced weather forecasts to guide the team to optimal locations. The nature of the problem necessitated an expedition when the sea ice was at maximum, challenging the capacity of icebreaker Oden and the logistics. They brought back unique observations of the processes that will contribute to determining the time for when the summer melt starts.
Follow the ARTofMELT project on its own webpage su.se/artofmelt
The project has held its first follow-up workshop in Stockholm in April 2024:
1st ARTofMELT Science Workshop
Project description
What are “atmospheric rivers” and what is their role in the Arctic?
The fast-changing Arctic climate is ultimately determined by a balance between heat imported from the south, predominantly in the atmosphere, and energy lost to space by radiation at the top of the Arctic atmosphere. A disproportionately large fraction of the heat import happens in spatially narrow events with intrusions of warm and moist air, sometimes referred to as “atmospheric rivers” (ARs).
ARs have a very large effect on the surface energy budget, and also bring pollutants aerosols and other trace gases from lower latitude into the Arctic. In spring, they are thought to have the capacity to trigger the onset of the summer sea-ice melt by altering the surface characteristrics. The interplay between ARs and the initiation of the summer melt season is poorly understood and under-sampled.
Atmospheric rivers can also bring large amounts of aerosol particles to the high Arctic, including manmade pollution such as black carbon, commonly known as soot. These particles can have a pronounced impact on clouds or be deposited on the snow and sea ice, potentially further accelerating the melting of sea ice. Expedition scientists studied in great detail the properties and distribution of aerosols transported by atmospheric rivers as well as the clouds formed during these events.
Main research areas of ARTofMELT
Understanding the interactions between midlatitude and the Arctic as well as what happens when the sea ice melt starts is at the heart of many Arctic scientific disciplines:
- Atmospheric sciences: meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, aerosols and aerosol/cloud interaction and air pollution transport;
- Physics and chemistry of snow, as melt starts
- Sea-ice physics; ice response to a changing surface energy budget
- Upper-ocean mixing and heat transfer, from the ice and downward
- Marine chemistry, biology and biogeochemistry
- Coupled vertical fluxes of energy, momentum, gases and matter between all of the above.
We are eager to collaborate with any discipline that may contribute to understanding the strongly coupled Arctic system – or else that can benefit from our sampling strategy, e.g. on Arctic fish or mammals.
Read much more about the ARTofMELT expedition
- at the ARTofMELT website su.se/artofmelt,
- at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat website for the expedition,
- and in Warm intrusions into the Arctic in April 2020, page 2 of ECMWF Newsletter #164.
In April 2024, session AS4.2 at EGU in Vienna: "As spring arrives: Processes leading up to annual Arctic sea-ice melt" will present ARTofMELT and related research.
Also in April 2024, the First ARTofMELT 2023 Open Science Conference will be held in Stockholm.
Project members
Project managers
Michael Tjernström
Professor Emeritus of Boundary layer meteorology
Paul Christoph Zieger
Associate Professor
Members
Fredrik Mattsson
PhD student
Gabriel Pereira Freitas
Research assistant
John Prytherch
Guest Researcher
Julia Asplund
PhD Student
Lea Habberstock
Master Student
Michael Tjernström
Professor Emeritus of Boundary layer meteorology
Michail Karalis
PhD student
Paul Christoph Zieger
Associate Professor
Sonja Murto
Postdoctor
Styliani Papadopoulou
Research communicator
