The seasonal ice-free period in the Hudson Bay Complex (HBC) has grown longer in recent decades in response to warming, both from progressively earlier sea-ice retreat in summer and later sea-ice advance in fall. Such changes disrupt the HBC ecosystem and ice-based human activities. In this study, we compare 102 simulations from 37 models participating in phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project to the satellite passive microwave record and atmospheric reanalyses. We show that, throughout the HBC, models simulate an ice-free period that averages 30 d longer than in satellite observations. This occurs because seasonal sea-ice advance is unrealistically late and seasonal sea-ice retreat is unrealistically early. We find that much of the ice-season bias can be linked to a warm bias in the atmosphere that is associated with a southerly wind bias, especially in summer. Many models also exhibit an easterly wind bias during winter and spring, which reduces sea-ice convergence on the east side of Hudson Bay and impacts the spatial patterns of summer sea-ice retreat. These results suggest that, for many models, more realistic simulation of atmospheric circulation would improve their simulation of HBC sea ice.

Related Collections and Datasets

Metadata

Field Value
Title Sources of seasonal sea-ice bias for CMIP6 models in the Hudson Bay Complex
Publication general type journal article
Project Name
Keyword Vocabulary
Keyword Vocabulary URL
Theme Cryosphere
Version 1.0
Publisher Annals of Glaciology
Date Published 2023
DOI 10.1017/aog.2023.42
Language
Field Value
Authors
Authors 1
Author Name
Crawford, Alex D
Type of Name
Personal
Email
alex.crawford@umanitoba.ca
Affiliation
Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources - University of Manitoba
ORCID ID
0000-0003-1561-290X
Authors 2
Author Name
Rosenblum, Erica
Type of Name
Personal
Email
Affiliation
ORCID ID
Authors 3
Author Name
Lukovich, Jennifer V
Type of Name
Personal
Email
Affiliation
ORCID ID
Authors 4
Author Name
Stroeve, Julienne C
Type of Name
Personal
Email
Affiliation
ORCID ID
Field Value
License Name Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Licence Type Open
Licence Schema Name SPDX
Licence URL https://spdx.org/licenses
Field Value
Awards
Awards 1
Funded by
Website
Funder Name
Funder Identifier Code
Funder Identifier Type
Funder Identifier Scheme
Grant Number