Project Summary
ARTofMELT targets the spring melt onset in the central Arctic, with a dedicated expedition on the research icebreaker Oden. Every year, the Arctic sea ice melts over the summer, more and more as global warming accelerates. For practical reasons, research expeditions to the central Arctic Ocean usually are focus on late summer, when the melt has generated easier conditions to navigate, and as a consequence there are more observations on the ending of the melt (the freeze up) and almost none on the initiation of melt in spring. ARTofMELT also explores the hypothesis that episodic inflow of warm and moist air from south, so-called "atmospheric rivers" can be a triggering factor for the melt onset. The ARTofMELT field phase collected interdisciplinary observations and samples across a column from several hundred meters into the upper ocean, through ice and snow and up through the atmosphere, with in situ and remote sensing instruments. ARTofMELT was deployed in late winter, on 8 May, and captured the transition to spring, including one warm-air event, into the melt onset in early June, 2023.
Date and Location:
22 – 24 April 2024 I Stockholm, Sweden
IASC Working Groups funding the Project:
- Atmosphere WG
Project Lead
Michael Tjernström, Stockholm University, Sweden
Year funded by IASC
2024
Project Status
Upcoming