Overview of the Arctic Sea state and boundary layer physics program

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 123(12), (2018): 8674-8687, doi:10.1002/2018JC013766.A large collaborative program has studied the coupled air‐ice‐ocean‐wave processes occurring in the Arctic during the autumn ice advance. The program included a field campaign in the western Arctic during the autumn of 2015, with in situ data collection and both aerial and satellite remote sensing. Many of the analyses have focused on using and improving forecast models. Summarizing and synthesizing the results from a series of separate papers, the overall view is of an Arctic shifting to a more seasonal system. The dramatic increase in open water extent and duration in the autumn means that large surface waves and significant surface heat fluxes are now common. When refreezing finally does occur, it is a highly variable process in space and time. Wind and wave events drive episodic advances and retreats of the ice edge, with associated variations in sea ice formation types (e.g., pancakes, nilas). This variability becomes imprinted on the winter ice cover, which in turn affects the melt season the following year.This program was supported by the Office of Naval Research, Code 32, under Program Managers Scott Harper and Martin Jeffries. The crew of R/V Sikuliaq provide outstanding support in collecting the field data, and the US National Ice Center, German Aerospace Center (DLR), and European Space Agency facilitated the remote sensing collections and daily analysis products. RADARSAT‐2 Data and Products are from MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates Ltd., courtesy of the U.S. National Ice Center. Data, supporting information, and a cruise report can be found at http://www.apl.uw.edu/arcticseastat