A New Structure for the Sea Ice Essential Climate Variables of the Global Climate Observing System

Author:

Lavergne Thomas1,Kern Stefan2,Aaboe Signe3,Derby Lauren4,Dybkjaer Gorm5,Garric Gilles6,Heil Petra7,Hendricks Stefan8,Holfort Jürgen9,Howell Stephen10,Key Jeffrey11,Lieser Jan L12,Maksym Ted13,Maslowski Wieslaw14,Meier Walt15,Muñoz-Sabater Joaquín16,Nicolas Julien16,Özsoy Burcu17,Rabe Benjamin8,Rack Wolfgang18,Raphael Marilyn19,de Rosnay Patricia16,Smolyanitsky Vasily20,Tietsche Steffen21,Ukita Jinro22,Vichi Marcello23,Wagner Penelope24,Willmes Sascha25,Zhao Xi26

Affiliation:

1. Research and Development Department, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway;

2. Integrated Climate Data Center, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Germany;

3. Research and Development Department, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Tromsø, Norway;

4. Global Cryosphere Watch Project Office, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland;

5. Research and Development, Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark;

6. Mercator Ocean International, Toulouse, France;

7. Australian Antarctic Division and Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;

8. Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany;

9. Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, Rostock, Germany;

10. Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Canada;

11. National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Madison, Wisconsin;

12. Bureau of Meteorology, and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;

13. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts;

14. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California;

15. National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado;

16. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom;

17. Polar Research Institute, TUBITAK Marmara Research Center, Maritime Faculty, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey;

18. Gateway Antarctica, School for Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand;

19. Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California;

20. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia;

21. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Bonn, Germany;

22. Faculty of Science, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan;

23. Department of Oceanography, and Marine and Antarctic Research Centre for Innovation and Sustainability, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa;

24. Norwegian Ice Service, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Tromsø, Norway;

25. Earth Observation and Climate Processes, Trier University, Trier, Germany;

26. School of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai, China

Abstract

Abstract Climate observations inform about the past and present state of the climate system. They underpin climate science, feed into policies for adaptation and mitigation, and increase awareness of the impacts of climate change. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), a body of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), assesses the maturity of the required observing system and gives guidance for its development. The Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) are central to GCOS, and the global community must monitor them with the highest standards in the form of Climate Data Records (CDR). Today, a single ECV—the sea ice ECV—encapsulates all aspects of the sea ice environment. In the early 1990s it was a single variable (sea ice concentration) but is today an umbrella for four variables (adding thickness, edge/extent, and drift). In this contribution, we argue that GCOS should from now on consider a set of seven ECVs (sea ice concentration, thickness, snow depth, surface temperature, surface albedo, age, and drift). These seven ECVs are critical and cost effective to monitor with existing satellite Earth observation capability. We advise against placing these new variables under the umbrella of the single sea ice ECV. To start a set of distinct ECVs is indeed critical to avoid adding to the suboptimal situation we experience today and to reconcile the sea ice variables with the practice in other ECV domains.

Publisher

American Meteorological Society

Subject

Atmospheric Science

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