This paper provides the analysis of the role of the marginal ice zone into the air-sea interaction processes over the Arctic during the period 1979-2010 on the basis of NCEP CFSR reanalysis data. One of the major conclusion of this study is the fact that widely used boundary of the interacting with the ocean atmosphere and thermally isolated atmosphere from the ocean of 15% for the sea ice concentration is not optimal for studies of the air-sea interaction processes. We demonstrated that significant amount of the surface turbulent heat flux is transferred from the ocean to the atmosphere through the areas with sea ice concentrations higher than 15%, while this sea ice concentration criteria is widely used as a boundary of the ice-covered and ice-free ocean. We also show that the spatial pattern of the response of turbulent heat flux to sea ice variability is observed over the Barents and Bering Seas during a cold season and over the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during a warm season.
Surface turbulent heat fluxes, marginal ice zone, sea ice concentration, sea ice thickness, Arctic
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