Concurrent Bering Sea and Labrador Sea ice melt extremes in March 2023: a confluence of meteorological events aligned with stratosphere–troposphere interactions

Ballinger, Thomas J.; Moore, Kent; Ding, Qinghua; Butler, Amy H.; Overland, James E.; Thoman, Richard L.; Baxter, Ian; Li, Zhe; Hanna, Edward

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-1473-2024

Articles | Volume 5, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-1473-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-1473-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 5, issue 4

Research article

|

04 Dec 2024

Research article |

| 04 Dec 2024

Concurrent Bering Sea and Labrador Sea ice melt extremes in March 2023: a confluence of meteorological events aligned with stratosphere–troposphere interactions

Thomas J. Ballinger, Kent Moore, Qinghua Ding, Amy H. Butler, James E. Overland, Richard L. Thoman, Ian Baxter, Zhe Li, and Edward Hanna

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-1473-2024-supplement

Data sets

PROMICE and GC-Net automated weather station data in Greenland P. How et al. https://doi.org/10.22008/FK2/IW73UU

Daily NAO index since January 1950 NOAA Climate Prediction Center https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/pna/nao.shtml

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, (G02202, Version 4) W. N. Meier et al. https://doi.org/10.7265/efmz-2t65

A sudden stratospheric warming compendium (https://csl.noaa.gov/groups/csl8/sswcompendium/majorevents.html) A. H. Butler et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-63-2017

Short summary

This study chronicles the meteorological conditions that led to the anomalous, tandem March 2023 ice melt event in the Labrador and Bering seas. A sudden stratospheric warming event initiated the development of an anticyclonic circulation pattern over the Greenland–Labrador region, while the La Niña background state supported ridging conditions over Alaska, both of which aided northward transport of warm, moist air and drove the concurrent sea ice melt extremes.