HR: 1340h
AN: A33D-0936    [Abstracts]
TI: The Impact of Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature on Storm Intensity in the Western Arctic
AU: * Cassano, E N
EM: ecassano@cires.colorado.edu
AF: Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, UCB 216 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309
AU: Maslanik, J
EM: james.maslanik@colorado.edu
AF: Aerospace Engineering Sciences, UCB 431 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309
AB: Increasing extent of open water, melting permafrost, and increasing population and infrastructure combine to increase the vulnerabilities of Arctic coastal communities to storms. Risks to coastal communities due to storms include flooding, erosion, and wind damage. With the recent retreat of sea ice in the western Arctic, it is expected that storms will have an even greater impact on communities in these areas. Previous work has shown that large areas of open water along the track of a storm during storm development can have an impact on the storm intensity and the location of the storm track. The current work will compare storm development, intensity, and track under varying sea ice and sea surface temperature scenarios to ascertain how storms respond to these conditions. These MM5-modeling scenarios will include experiments with no sea ice in the western Arctic along with more typical scenarios including observed surface conditions, and experiments with a strong baroclinic zone, such as can occur when open water persists late into the season, creating a large temperature contrast between the sea ice and open water. The intent is to gain a greater understanding of how changing sea ice and sea surface temperature conditions can affect the characteristics of cyclones in the western Arctic.
DE: 3329 Mesoscale meteorology
DE: 3349 Polar meteorology
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005