About this Research Topic

Background

The evolution of the Arctic climate system is of great societal relevance, both inside and outside the Arctic, due to its response to, and impact on global climate change including sea level rise, atmosphere and ocean heat transport, carbon storage and release, and extreme events. Accurate predictions of the Arctic climate system have significant implications not just for the related Earth Science fields but also for the global economy and security. An improved understanding of the processes driving Arctic climate change, enables the reduction of uncertainty in the climate change projections needed to support informed adaptation and mitigation strategies.

The Arctic is a system in transition. Recent decades have illustrated rapid, and in some cases unprecedented, changes in this very sensitive region regarded as an early warning sign for global climate change. Rapid Arctic climate change results from the phenomenon called Arctic Amplification, characterized by enhanced surface warming in the Arctic, relative to the rest of the globe (roughly 2-3 times faster) in response to increased CO2. Yet, the process drivers and the relative roles of local and remote mechanisms on Arctic Amplification remain unclear.

In the decade or so since its emergence above natural variability, our understanding of Arctic Amplification has evolved from considering it as a consequence of a single feedback process, the ice-albedo feedback, to a phenomenon that results from the complex interplay between the atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice. In light of this, we organize this Research Topic.

The aim of this Research Topic is to focus research efforts towards a better understanding of how local and remote atmosphere, land, ocean, sea ice, and coupled physical processes drive Arctic Amplification.

This Research Topic includes observational and modeling studies of the processes contributing to Arctic Amplification in the form of Original Research, Review, Brief Research Report, Mini Review, and Perspective articles.

We welcome submissions that discuss:

• Multi-scale climate feedback contributions to Arctic Amplification from the top-of-atmosphere and surface energy budget perspectives in observations and model simulations;
• How radiative feedbacks are affected by underlying processes (e.g., sea ice physics/mechanics, ocean mixed layer dynamics, cloud microphysics, atmospheric circulation, boundary layer dynamics);
• Coupled interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, land, and biosphere in Arctic Amplification (e.g., atmosphere-ocean circulation dynamics, wind-wave interactions, surface turbulent fluxes, snow cover and vegetation, aerosol-cloud interactions); and
• Attribution and process contributions to the forced and unforced Arctic climate response;
• Hazards, extreme events, and societal impacts related to rapid Arctic climate change.

Submissions that leverage coordinated international research expeditions and multi-scale modeling activities, such as the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project (PAMIP), Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), and from the Arctic Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and Surface Processes, and Feedback Mechanisms (AC)3 are strongly encouraged.

By bringing together our current understanding of the physical drivers of Arctic Amplification in a manner that elucidates the influence of coupled processes, this collection aims to accelerate advances in our understanding of Arctic Amplification with the goal to reduce uncertainty in Arctic climate change projections.

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Karoline Block has acted as coordinator and has contributed to the preparation of the proposal for this Research Topic.

Keywords: arctic amplification, land-ocean-atmosphere-sea ice coupled processes, climate feedbacks, local processes, remote interactions

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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