Journal article
Emerging trends in the sea state of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas
J Thomson, Y Fan, S Stammerjohn, J Stopa, WE Rogers, F Girard-Ardhuin, F Ardhuin, H Shen, W Perrie, H Shen, S Ackley, A Babanin, Q Liu, P Guest, T Maksym, P Wadhams, C Fairall, O Persson, M Doble, H Graber Show all
Ocean Modelling | ELSEVIER SCI LTD | Published : 2016
Abstract
The sea state of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas is controlled by the wind forcing and the amount of ice-free water available to generate surface waves. Clear trends in the annual duration of the open water season and in the extent of the seasonal sea ice minimum suggest that the sea state should be increasing, independent of changes in the wind forcing. Wave model hindcasts from four selected years spanning recent conditions are consistent with this expectation. In particular, larger waves are more common in years with less summer sea ice and/or a longer open water season, and peak wave periods are generally longer. The increase in wave energy may affect both the coastal zones and the remaini..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This work relies heavily on publicly available datasets, including those from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, Code 322, "Arctic and Global Prediction", directed by Drs. Martin Jeffries and Scott Harper. (Grant numbers and Principal Investigators are: Ackley, N000141310435; Babanin, N000141310278; Doble, N000141310290; Fairall, N0001413IP20046; Gemmrich, N000141310280; Girard-Ardhuin and Ardhuin, N000141612376; Graber, N000141310288; Guest, N0001413WX20830; Holt, N0001413IP20050; Lehner, N000141310303; Maksym, N000141310446; Perrie, N00014-15-1-2611; Rogers, N0001413WX20825; Shen, N000141310294; Squire, N000141310279; Stammerjohn, N000141310434; Thomson, N000141310284; Wadhams, N000141310289.)