Sea ice forms in those portions of the high-latitude oceans where the water temperature falls below the freezing point (approximately 271.2 K). Once it has formed, a sea ice cover generally fractures into floes with typical dimensions of 10–1000 m. The fracturing is a response to stresses imposed by the oceans and the winds, which also cause the ice to drift at speeds of up to 10kmday−1.
In the Antarctic, the area covered by sea ice varies seasonally from 2.5 × 106 km2 to 2.0 × 106 km2. Only slightly more than 10% of the ice survives the summer melt. The average thickness is 1.5 m, and recent satellite observations indicate that typical concentrations are 60–85%. Because the ice is unconstrained by land at its equatorward boundary, it is free to interact with the open ocean. In contrast, much of the Arctic ice cover is constrained by land areas. The seasonal range is much less (7.0 × 106 km2 to 14.1 × 106 km2) than in the Antarctic, and much of the ice has survived at least one summer...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Aagard, K., and Carmack, E.C., 1994. The Arctic Ocean and climate: a perspective. In The Polar Oceans and their Role in Shaping the Global Environment. Geophysical Monograph 85. American Geophysical Union, Washington DC.
Alfred Wegener Institute, 1997. Sea Ice-An Antarctic Habitat, http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/Eistour/index-e.html
Antarctic Adventure, 1997. Sea Ice, Antarctic Adventure (Tasmania), http://www.antarctic.com.au/encyclopaedia/physical/SeaIce.html
Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., and Shackleton, N.J., 1976. Variations of the Earth’s orbit: pacemaker of the ice ages. Science, 194: 1121–1132.
Herman, G.F., and Johnson, W.T., 1978. The sensitivity of the general circulation to arctic sea ice boundaries. Monthly Weather Review, 106: 1649–1664.
Hibler, W.D., 1989. Arctic ice-ocean dynamics. In Herman, I., ed. The Arctic Seas. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Kukla, G., and Gavin, J., 1981. Summer ice and carbon dioxide. Science, 214: 497–503.
Manabe, S., and Stouffer, R.J., 1980. Sensitivity of a global climate model to an increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Journal of Geophysics Research, 85: 5529–5554.
Parkinson, C.L., and Gloersen, P., 1993. Global sea ice coverage. In Gurney, R., Foster, J., and Parkinson, C., eds. Atlas of Satellite Observations Related to Global Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 371–384.
Parkinson, C.L., and Kellogg, W.W., 1979. Arctic sea ice decay simulated for a CO2 induced temperature rise, Climate Change, 2: 149–162.
Parkinson, C.L., Comiso, J.C., Zwally, H.J., Gloersen, P., Cambell, W.J., and Cavalieri, D.J., 1987. Arctic Sea Ice, 1973–1976. ASA SP-489. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Parkinson, C., 2000. Recent trend reversals in Arctic Sea ice extents: Possible connections to the North Atlantic Oscillation. Polar Geography, 24: 1–12.
Schwerdtfeger, W., 1970. The climate of the Antarctic. In Orvig, S., ed., Climates of the Polar Regions. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 253–322.
Semtner, A.J., 1984. The climatic response of the Arctic Ocean to Soviet river diversions. Climate Change, 6: 109–130.
Zwally, H.J., Parkinson, C.L., and Comiso, J., 1983. Variability of Antarctic sea ice and CO2 change. Science, 220: 1005–1012.
Cross-references
Antarctic Climates
Arctic Climates
Climatic Variation: Historical
Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction
Oscillations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this entry
Cite this entry
Walsh, J.E. (2005). Sea Ice and Climate. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_178
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_178
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3264-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3266-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences