Spatio-temporal analysis of the melt onset dates over Arctic sea ice from 1979 to 2017

• Published in: Acta oceanologica Sinica Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 146 - 156
• Main Authors: Liang, Shuang, Zeng, Jiangyuan, Li, Zhen, Qiao, Dejing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2022; Springer Nature B.V; Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science,Aerospace Information Research Institute,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094,China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China%State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science,Aerospace Information Research Institute,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China%Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science,Aerospace Information Research Institute,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094,China%College of Surveying and Geo-Informatics,North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450045,China
• Subjects: Annual variations; Arctic climate changes; Arctic climates; Arctic Oscillation; Arctic sea ice; Climate change; Climate studies; Climatology; Correlation analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecology; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Environmental Chemistry; Ice; Interannual variations; Investigations; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Mutation; Oceanography; R&D; Radiation; Regions; Research & development; Satellite data; Science; Sea ice; Sea ice properties; Seasonal variation; Solar energy; Solar radiation; Statistical methods; Statistics; Surface properties; Temporal variability; Temporal variations; Trends; Arctic region; Arctic sea ice; melt onset dates; abrupt changes; spatio-temporal analysis; Arctic Oscillation
• ISSN: 0253-505X; 1869-1099
• DOI: 10.1007/s13131-021-1827-x

The melt onset dates (MOD) over Arctic sea ice plays an important role in the seasonal cycle of sea ice surface properties, which impacts Arctic surface solar radiation absorbed by the ice-ocean system. Monitoring interannual variations in MOD is valuable for understanding climate change. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal variability of MOD over Arctic sea ice and 14 Arctic sub-regions in the period of 1979 to 2017 from passive microwave satellite data. A set of mathematical and statistical methods, including the Sen’s slope and Mann-Kendall mutation tests, were used to comprehensively assess the variation trend and abrupt points of MOD during the past 39 years for different Arctic sub-regions. Additionally, the correlation between Arctic Oscillation (AO) and MOD was analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) all Arctic sub-regions show a trend toward earlier MOD except the Bering Sea and St. Lawrence Gulf. The East Siberian Sea exhibits a significantly earlier trend, with the highest rate of −9.45 d/decade; (2) the temporal variability and statistical significance of MOD trend exhibit large interannual differences with different time windows for most regions in the Arctic; (3) during the past 39 years, the MOD changed abruptly in different years for different sub-regions; (4) the seasonal AO has more influence on MOD than monthly AO. The findings in this study can improve our knowledge of MOD changes and are beneficial for further Arctic climate change study.