Study Observes What Happens to Ocean and Sea Ice When Cyclone Hits
Written by AZoCleantechApr 30 2021
A huge storm on par with a Category 2 hurricane was hit the Arctic Ocean in August 2016. The cyclone resulted in the third-lowest sea ice extent that has been recorded so far.
The Korean icebreaker Araon, which unexpectedly found itself in an Arctic cyclone in 2016, unlocked the key to how these storms wreak havoc on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Image Credit: Joo-Hong Kim, Korea Polar Research Institute.
However, the closeness of the Korean icebreaker Araon is what made the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2016 especially attractive to researchers. For the very first time, researchers were able to observe precisely what happens to the ocean and sea ice during a cyclone.
E-Mail
IMAGE: The Korean icebreaker Araon, which unexpectedly found itself in an Arctic cyclone in 2016, unlocked the key to how these storms wreak havoc on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. view more
Credit: Photo by Joo-Hong Kim, Korea Polar Research Institute
In August 2016 a massive storm on par with a Category 2 hurricane churned in the Arctic Ocean. The cyclone led to the third-lowest sea ice extent ever recorded. But what made the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2016 particularly appealing to scientists was the proximity of the Korean icebreaker Araon.
For the first time ever, scientists were able to see exactly what happens to the ocean and sea ice when a cyclone hits. University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers and their international colleagues recently published a new study showing that sea ice declined 5.7 times faster than normal during the storm. They were also able to prove that the rapid decline was driven by cyclone-triggered processes within the ocean.