ADVANCES IN POLAR SCIENCE ›› 2004, Vol. 15 ›› Issue (2-English): 137-142.

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Definition of Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Variation Index

 Chen Hongxia1,2,3, Liu Na3,4, Pan Zengdi5 and Zhang Qinghua3   

  1. 1 Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China;
    2 Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;
    3 Key Lab of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, First Institute of Oceanography, SOA, Qingdao 266061, China;
    4 College of Physical and Environmental Oceanography, Chinese Ocean University, Qingdao 266003, China;
    5 Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China
  • Online:1954-06-30 Published:1954-06-30
  • Contact: Chen Hongxia

Abstract:

It is well known that varying of the sea ice not only in the Antarctic but also in the Arctic has an active influence on the globe atmosphere and ocean. In order to understand the sea ice variation in detail, for the first time, an objective index of the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice variation is defined by projecting the monthly sea ice concentration anomalies poleward of 20°N or 20°S onto the EOF (empirical orthogonal function)-1 spatial pattern. Comparing with some work in former studies of polar sea ice, the index has the potential for clarifying the variability of sea ice in northern and southern high latitudes.

Key words: Arctic sea ice, Antarctic sea ice, variation index