The Arctic's cooling effect is critical as it helps cool the planet by losing the Sun's energy transported from tropical regions to space. To study these processes, NASA has deployed three aircraft over the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland. These aircraft are equipped with instruments to observe surface sea ice, clouds, and aerosol particles, which influence the Arctic's energy budget and cloud properties.

"More sea ice makes that air conditioning effect more efficient. Less sea ice lessens the Arctic's cooling effect," says Patrick Taylor, a climate scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. "Over the last 40 years, The Arctic has lost a significant amount of sea ice making the Arctic warm faster. As the Arctic warms and sea ice melts, it can cause ripple effects that impact weather conditions thousands of miles away, how fast our seas are rising, and how much flooding we get in our neighborhoods."

The mission's first series of flights occurred in May and June, coinciding with the seasonal ice melt onset. Flights resumed on July 24 during the peak of summer when sea ice melting is most intense.

"We can't do this kind of Arctic science without having two campaigns," said Taylor, the deputy science lead for ARCSIX. "The sea ice surface in the spring was very bright white and snow covered. We saw some breaks in the ice. What we will see in the second campaign is less sea ice and sea ice that is bare, with no snow. It will be covered with all kinds of melt ponds - pooling water on top of the ice - that changes the way the ice interacts with sunlight and potentially changes how the ice interacts with the atmosphere and clouds above."

Sea ice, along with the snow covering it, insulates the ocean from the atmosphere, reflecting the Sun's radiation back into space, aiding in planetary cooling. Reduced sea ice and darker surfaces lead to more solar radiation absorption at the surface or being trapped between the surface and clouds.

Understanding these interactions and the role of clouds will help scientists refine satellite data and improve predictions for future Arctic climate changes.

"This unique team of pilots, engineers, scientists, and aircraft can only be done by leveraging expertise from multiple NASA centers and our partners," said Linette Boisvert, cryosphere lead for the mission from NASA's Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We gathered great data of the snow and ice pre-melt and at the onset of melt. I can't wait to see the changes at the height of melt as we measure the same areas covered with melt ponds."

NASA has collaborated with the University of Colorado Boulder for the ARCSIX mission, revealing some early surprises from spring data analysis. One intriguing discovery, referred to by Taylor as a "sea ice sandwich," involves a younger layer of sea ice trapped between two older layers. Unexpected drizzle within clouds was also noted, requiring further investigation upon full data processing.

"A volcano erupted in Iceland, and we believe the volcanic aerosol plume was indicated by our models four days later," Taylor said. "Common scientific knowledge tells us volcanic particles, like ash and sulfate, would have already been removed from the atmosphere. More work needs to be done, but our initial results suggest these particles might live in the atmosphere much longer than previously thought."

Previous research indicates that aerosol particles in clouds can affect sea ice melt. Data from ARCSIX's spring flights showed multiple aerosol particle layers in the Arctic atmosphere, including wildfire smoke, pollution, and dust from Asia and North America.

"We got everything we hoped for and more in the first campaign," Taylor added. "The data from this summer will help us better understand how clouds and sea ice behave. We'll be able to use these results to improve predictive models. In the coming years, scientists will be able to better predict how to mitigate and adapt to the rapid changes in climate we're seeing in the Arctic."

Related Links
ESPO.NASA.gov
AIR.LARC.NASA.gov
Beyond the Ice Age