The MOSAiC ice floe: sediment-laden survivor from the Siberian shelf

• Published in: The cryosphere 2020-07, Vol.14 (7), p.2173-2187
• Main Authors: Krumpen, Thomas, Birrien, Florent, Kauker, Frank, Rackow, Thomas, von Albedyll, Luisa, Angelopoulos, Michael, Belter, H. Jakob, Bessonov, Vladimir, Damm, Ellen, Dethloff, Klaus, Haapala, Jari, Haas, Christian, Harris, Carolynn, Hendricks, Stefan, Hoelemann, Jens, Hoppmann, Mario, Kaleschke, Lars, Karcher, Michael, Kolabutin, Nikolai, Lei, Ruibo, Lenz, Josefine, Morgenstern, Anne, Nicolaus, Marcel, Nixdorf, Uwe, Petrovsky, Tomash, Rabe, Benjamin, Rabenstein, Lasse, Rex, Markus, Ricker, Robert, Rohde, Jan, Shimanchuk, Egor, Singha, Suman, Smolyanitsky, Vasily, Sokolov, Vladimir, Stanton, Tim, Timofeeva, Anna, Tsamados, Michel, Watkins, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air temperature; Analysis; Arctic climates; Arctic expeditions; Atmosphere; Atmospheric models; Biodiversity; Biogeochemistry; Carbon monoxide; Climate; Climate drift; Climate models; Cores; Drift; Energy budget; Expeditions; Gases; Heat transfer; High temperature; Ice; Ice cores; Ice cover; Ice thickness; Icebreakers; Long-range transport; Momentum; Observatories; Oceans; Organic matter; Pollutants; Pollution dispersion; Polynyas; Primary production; Research ships; Satellite observation; Satellites; Sea ice; Sea ice models; Sediment; Sediments; Sediments (Geology); Shallow water; Shelving; Studies; Summer; Surveys; Survival; Trace gases; Tracking; Tracking equipment; Transport; Weather; Weather stations; Winter
• ISSN: 1994-0424; 1994-0416; 1994-0424; 1994-0416
• DOI: 10.5194/tc-14-2173-2020

In September 2019, the research icebreaker Polarstern started the largest multidisciplinary Arctic expedition to date, the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) drift experiment. Being moored to an ice floe for a whole year, thus including the winter season, the declared goal of the expedition is to better understand and quantify relevant processes within the atmosphere–ice–ocean system that impact the sea ice mass and energy budget, ultimately leading to much improved climate models. Satellite observations, atmospheric reanalysis data, and readings from a nearby meteorological station indicate that the interplay of high ice export in late winter and exceptionally high air temperatures resulted in the longest ice-free summer period since reliable instrumental records began. We show, using a Lagrangian tracking tool and a thermodynamic sea ice model, that the MOSAiC floe carrying the Central Observatory (CO) formed in a polynya event north of the New Siberian Islands at the beginning of December 2018. The results further indicate that sea ice in the vicinity of the CO (