Air-sea flux characteristics close to the sea-ice edge during Cold Air Outbreaks
Abstract
During Cold Air Outbreaks (CAOs) large heat fluxes from the ocean surface to the atmosphere occur close to the sea-ice edge. Due to the strong air-sea interaction and its implications for the coupled ocean - sea-ice - atmosphere system, the accurate and consistent simulation of CAOs is crucial for weather and climate prediction model systems. In this study we are using hindcasts of a novel operational convective-scale (2.5 km resolution) atmospheric prediction system for the European Arctic (AROME-Arctic). This system is in operation since November 2015, providing short-term atmospheric forecasts and assimilating various conventional and satellite observations every 3 hours. We are using a CAO indicator for the winter season 2015/2016 and compare specific CAO events in the high resolution forecasts with a range of coarser resolution global prediction system results, i.e. ECMWF's medium range forecasting, ensemble prediction and reanalysis systems. The goal is to give an overview of the consistency between the models in simulating air-sea flux characteristics, dependent on their respective spatial resolutions and coupling strategies. Specifically, we will show to which extend the models consistently represent integral fluxes over certain areas and will discuss the spectral characteristics of air-sea interactions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMGC24A..03M
- Keywords:
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- 3355 Regional modeling;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 0750 Sea ice;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL