New research shows two widely used computer models that predict summer melt pond formation on sea ice greatly overestimate their extent, a key finding as scientists work to make accurate projections about Arctic climate change.
New research shows two widely used computer models that predict summer melt pond formation on sea ice greatly overestimate their extent, a key finding as scientists work to make accurate projections about Arctic climate change.
The finding comes from measurements made during a year-long expedition aboard the research vessel Polarstern. For the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate expedition, or MOSAiC, the ship was allowed to freeze into place in the Arctic and drift with the ice pack from September 2019 to October 2020.
The NASA-funded work, which compared computer model assessments to observations made during the last four months of the expedition, was led by Melinda Webster of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. Webster, a research assistant professor, spent several months aboard the Polarstern.
The results were published in the journal Elementa in May.
Read more at University of Alaska Fairbanks
Image: Photograph shows an Arctic Ocean melt pond that has melted through to open water. (Photo by Melinda Webster)
