Coupling of Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Processes: From Sea-Ice Biogeochemistry to Aerosols and Clouds (CIce2Clouds)

Photo credit: Ilka Peeken, AWI, Germany

Principal Investigators:
Megan Willis, Colorado State University
Nadja Steiner, Fisheries and Oceans Canada

The polar oceans, sea-ice, and atmosphere are a tightly coupled system. These Earth system components must be studied together if we are to effectively understand and project the changes underway. Coupled biological, physical and chemical processes drive complex interactions between sea-ice, snow on sea-ice, and the overlying atmosphere in the polar regions. Knowledge of these interactions is key to projecting sea-ice impacts on atmospheric gases and aerosols, and cloud cover over polar oceans, which in turn impact sea-ice melt, freeze-up and biogeochemical activity through nutrient exchange and solar radiation scattering. As the climate and sea-ice at both poles are changing, these core polar processes warrant more focused attention from Earth system scientists. Currently, interconnected processes are only poorly represented in climate and Earth system models. Communities that treat individual system components (ocean, sea-ice, snow, atmosphere) are working in parallel, but not necessarily together, in part because of the inherently disparate spatial and temporal scales of most oceanic and atmospheric in-situ observations. These challenges limit our ability to describe and quantify key processes and develop coupled descriptions for climate and Earth system models. By bringing together the ocean and sea-ice oriented BEPSII (Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at Sea-Ice Interfaces) community and the atmospheric chemistry and sea-ice oriented CATCH (Cryosphere and ATmospheric CHemistry) community, the Scientific Committee of Ocean Research (SCOR) working group #163, CIce2Clouds, is (1) synthesizing and refining the conceptual representation of relevant processes and, (2) addressing key uncertainties in the biological and chemical controls on atmospheric chemistry, aerosol and clouds in polar ocean environments.

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