The impact of Arctic cyclone energetics on sea ice evolution

The frequency of strong cyclones in the Arctic is increasing, potential impacting sea ice and upper ocean evolution through both dynamic and thermodynamic effects. For example, dynamic processes involve coupling between tropopause and surface disturbances, vertical momentum transports, and modulation by mid-tropospheric and boundary-layer stability, while thermodynamic processes linked to cyclone dynamics include cloud and precipitation formation and cloud microphysical structure that generally impact the surface energy budget of the sea ice through radiative effects. The dynamics of Arctic cyclones differs from lower-latitudes due to the lack of lateral wind shear and the magnitude and juxtaposition of profiles of upper-level radiative cooling combined with mid-tropospheric latent heating, which can cause the persistence of upper-tropospheric potential vorticity anomalies and increased coupling between upper and lower-tropospheric anomalies. In addition, because of the unique aspects of the Arctic environment compared to mid-latitudes, such as cold, dry, and stable air masses, Arctic cyclone evolution and their coupling to the surface are not as well understood and modeled. In this presentation we present results from fully-coupled high-resolution Arctic climate system model simulations of Arctic cyclones observed during the Arctic Cloud Summer Experiment (ACSE) campaign, July-Oct 2014. These simulations are used to examine processes related to Arctic cyclone energetics and their impact on sea ice evolution.