On the importance of representing snow over sea-ice for simulating the Arctic boundary layer

This can also enhance the all-weather all-surface coupled data assimilation for atmospheric satellite radiances. Using wintertime observations from two Arctic field campaigns, SHEBA and N-ICE2015, and satellite data, we explore the merits of different approaches to represent the snow over sea-ice in a set of 5-day coupled forecasts.

Results show that representing the snow insulation effects is essential for capturing the wintertime surface temperature variability over sea-ice and its response to changes in the atmospheric forcing. Modeling the snow over sea-ice improves the representation of strong cooling events, reduces surface temperature biases in clear-sky conditions and improves the simulation of surface-based temperature inversions. In clear-sky conditions, when using a multi-layer snow scheme the root-mean-squared error in the surface temperature is reduced by about 60% for both N-ICE2015 and SHEBA.