Momentum flux conservation across the air-sea-ice interface within marginal ice zone in Earth System Models

Sea ice floes within the marginal ice zone (MIZ), the transitional area between open ocean and pack ice, exert a significant influence on the momentum flux across the air-sea-ice interface.

Nevertheless, their impact remains poorly understood and inadequately represented in state-of-the-art climate models, leading to challenges in accurately capturing the rapid climate changes in polar regions.

To address these knowledge gaps, this project aims to unravel and quantify the influence of ice floes on the momentum flux among the atmosphere, ocean, waves, and ice within the MIZ, and its implications for polar climate dynamics.

To achieve this overarching objective, satellite imagery will be utilized to investigate the variation of sea ice floe size distribution with environmental conditions using a deep learning approach.

The insights acquired from this pioneering investigation will be applied to quantify the momentum flux from waves to ice and the momentum flux affected by discrete ice obstacles to the flow.

Moreover, this refined understanding will be parameterized and integrated into an atmosphere-wave-ocean-ice coupled model to assess their role in polar cyclones and broader climate change.

These outcomes hold significant potential to enhance current climate models in accurately depicting polar climate changes, thereby aiding in the formulation of effective climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.