Identification

Title

Arctic atmospheric rivers in a changing climate and the impacts on sea ice

Abstract

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) transport heat and moisture from lower latitudes to the Arctic, contributing to sea ice loss. As climate warming and sea ice decline continue, understanding how Arctic ARs evolve is essential. While studies suggest an increase in Arctic ARs and storms, a comprehensive understanding of their changing behavior, seasonal patterns, and sea ice impacts remains incomplete. This study investigates the changing dynamics of Arctic ARs in response to a warming climate, examining the drivers of these changes and their impact on sea ice. Using the Community Earth System Model, Version 2 (CESM2), we find CESM2 effectively simulates Arctic ARs compared to ERA5. To analyze ARs under different climate conditions, we apply three detection methods: using present climate thresholds, scaling thresholds with projected future moisture changes, and calculating unique thresholds for each decade. Our results show increased AR frequency and intensity in the future, with changes strongly influenced by the chosen AR definition. Depending on the method, we find that AR frequency increases range from 30%–50% up to 400%, or even show decreases in some regions. During fall and winter, the North Atlantic experiences increased AR frequency, while more intense ARs occur in the North Pacific during summer. We also explore the effects of future ARs on sea ice, finding a net increase in sea ice loss, particularly in winter and spring. The extent of sea ice loss is highly sensitive to the AR detection method used.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7cf9vjz

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2025-05-28T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;font-style:normal;" data-sheets-root="1">Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</span>

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact