Ice-ocean-atmosphere interactions in the Arctic

Loss of land ice has been a key player in the local freshwater budget and impact thermohaline forcing in the North Atlantic. Furthermore, the dynamic response of land ice to climate forcing constitutes the main uncertainty in global sea level projections for the next century. Melting is driven primarily by external forcings including atmospheric temperature, ocean temperature and sea-ice concentration variabilities. With global warming, climate predictions show amplified warming near the poles. This warming heats the surface of the oceans and also melts the freshwater stored in ice. When freshwater is released to the ocean, it adds buoyancy to the surface layers of the ocean, thereby reducing its susceptibility to deep water formation under the influence of strong wintertime storms. Freshwater influences have been used to explain paleo-climate shifts through shutting down the large-scale ocean overturning circulation and have been observed to halt deep water convection in observational records. Aim and Key Research Questions
The aim of the research is to identify connections and processes linking loss of land-ice to processes in the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice across the Arctic region. The key objectives of the work will be to:
Consolidate a record of pan-arctic time-dependant land-ice change from spaceborne Earth-Observation (i.e. Swath and laser altimetry, SAR, Optical) and compile existing records of ocean, atmosphere and sea-ice trends. Develop, test and apply novel time-series analysis and complex network method to unearth spatio-temporal teleconnections in Arctic climate system, Northern Atlantic circulation and land ice masses. Propose a quantitative framework that links atmospheric and oceanic forcings to land-ice loss and sea level change.