Variation Of The Arctic Sea Ice Using Satellite Data

Sea ice is an important part of the polar climate system.The application ofsatellite remote sensing technology makes the study of sea ice in large scale, longtime series possible. Satellite data show that the arctic sea ice coverage fell sharplyin recent years. The study was based on NOAA/AVHRR albedo, surfacetemperature data and Nimbus-7/SMMR, DMSP/SSM/I sea ice concentration dataduring the period of1982-2004. Seven areas were selected in the Arctic ocean,which are located around the Greenland Sea, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, theLaptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and adjacent area, the Chukchi Sea and theBeaufort Sea and adjacent areas.The albedo and sea ice concentration in Greenland Sea and Barents Sea are lowin summer, when most of the sea surface are open water; while in the Kara Sea, theLaptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and adjacent area, both of the two parameters arehigher in June, sea ice are melting and sea ice concentration decreases significantlyin July and August. In the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea and adjacent areas,surface albedo and sea ice concentration are high in summer. The results show thatthe regional correlation coefficients of the albedo and sea ice concentration are highwith the minimum and the maximum of0.51and0.94respectively. The surfacetemperature and sea ice concentration of all the study areas in the summer time hasdifferent correlation during1982-2004.The albedo and sea ice concentration of all of the study areas show a trend ofdecline during1982-2004. In the west of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea and theBeaufort Sea and adjacent areas drop faster. The slowest decrease appears in theBarents sea.The surface temperature of area E (the East Siberian Sea and adjacentarea), area F (the Chukchi Sea and adjacent area) and area G (the Beaufort Sea andadjacent area) rise; area B (the Barents Sea) and area D (the Laptev Sea) show atrend of decline; the changing trend of area A (the Greenland Sea) and area C(theKara Sea) is not obvious. The results of principal component analysis of the data indicate that the firstmodal of sea ice concentration has a trend of decline. The surface temperature ofarea B and area D show a trend of decline; area E, area F and area G rise; thechanging trend of area A and area C is not obvious. They are consistent with thetrend of regional average series. Fourier spectrum and wavelet analysis werecarried out on the first modal of surface temperatures and sea ice concentrationseries, the results showed there were significant interannual variability below tenyears.