Impact of model resolution on the representation of the wind field along Nares Strait

Abstract Nares Strait is a major pathway along which multi-year sea ice leaves the Arctic, an ice class that has seen a recent dramatic reduction in extent. The winds that blow along the strait play an important role in modulating this ice export as well as in establishing the Arctic’s largest and m...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: G. W. K. Moore
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/4683bbb5b21b4fffb928efe6497a9ba1
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Nares Strait is a major pathway along which multi-year sea ice leaves the Arctic, an ice class that has seen a recent dramatic reduction in extent. The winds that blow along the strait play an important role in modulating this ice export as well as in establishing the Arctic’s largest and most productive polynya, the North Water, that forms at its southern terminus. However, its remote location has limited our knowledge of the winds along the strait. Here we use automatic weather station data from Hans Island, in the middle of the strait, to assess the ability of a set of atmospheric renalyses and analyses with a common lineage but with varying horizontal resolution to represent the variability in the wind field. We find that the flow is highly bidirectional, consistent with topographic channeling, with the highest wind speeds from the north and that a model resolution of ~ 9 km is required to capture the observed variability. The wind field at Hans Island is also found to be representative of variability in the flow along much of Nares Strait.