Sea ice conditions in the Bohai Sea of China are sensitive to large-scale climatic variations. On the basis of CLARA-A1-SAL data, the albedo variations are examined in space and time in the winter (December, January and February) from 1992 to 2008 in the Bohai Sea sea ice region. Time series data of the sea ice concentration (SIC), the sea ice extent (SIE) and the sea surface temperature (SST) are used to analyze their relationship with the albedo. The sea ice albedo changed in volatility appears along with time, the trend is not obvious and increases very slightly during the study period at a rate of 0.388% per decade over the Bohai Sea sea ice region. The interannual variation is between 9.93% and 14.50%, and the average albedo is 11.79%. The sea ice albedo in years with heavy sea ice coverage, 1999, 2000 and 2005, is significantly higher than that in other years; in years with light sea ice coverage, 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2006, has low values. For the monthly albedo, the increasing trend (at a rate of 0.988% per decade) in December is distinctly higher than that in January and February. The mean albedo in January (12.90%) is also distinctly higher than that in the other two months. The albedo is significantly positively correlated with the SIC and is significantly negatively correlated with the SST (significance level 90%).

The reduction in Arctic sea ice in summer has been reported to have a significant impact on the global climate. In this study, Arctic sea ice/snow at the end of the melting season in 2018 was investigated during CHINARE-2018, in terms of its temperature, salinity, density and textural structure, the snow density, water content and albedo, as well as morphology and albedo of the refreezing melt pond. The interior melting of sea ice caused a strong stratification of temperature, salinity and density. The temperature of sea ice ranged from –0.8°C to 0°C, and exhibited linear cooling with depth. The average salinity and density of sea ice were approximately 1.3 psu and 825 kg/m³, respectively, and increased slightly with depth. The first-year sea ice was dominated by columnar grained ice. Snow cover over all the investigated floes was in the melt phase, and the average water content and density were 0.74% and 241 kg/m³, respectively. The thickness of the thin ice lid ranged from 2.2 cm to 7.0 cm, and the depth of the pond ranged from 1.8 cm to 26.8 cm. The integrated albedo of the refreezing melt pond was in the range of 0.28–0.57. Because of the thin ice lid, the albedo of the melt pond improved to twice as high as that of the mature melt pond. These results provide a reference for the current state of Arctic sea ice and the mechanism of its reduction.

An aerial photography has been used to provide validation data on sea ice near the North Pole where most polar orbiting satellites cannot cover. This kind of data can also be used as a supplement for missing data and for reducing the uncertainty of data interpolation. The aerial photos are analyzed near the North Pole collected during the Chinese national arctic research expedition in the summer of 2010 (CHINARE2010). The result shows that the average fraction of open water increases from the ice camp at approximately 87°N to the North Pole, resulting in the decrease in the sea ice. The average sea ice concentration is only 62.0% for the two flights (16 and 19 August 2010). The average albedo (0.42) estimated from the area ratios among snow-covered ice, melt pond and water is slightly lower than the 0.49 of HOTRAX 2005. The data on 19 August 2010 shows that the albedo decreases from the ice camp at approximately 87°N to the North Pole, primarily due to the decrease in the fraction of snow-covered ice and the increase in fractions of melt-pond and open-water. The ice concentration from the aerial photos and AMSR-E (The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System) images at 87.0°-87.5°N exhibits similar spatial patterns, although the AMSR-E concentration is approximately 18.0% (on average) higher than aerial photos. This can be attributed to the 6.25 km resolution of AMSR-E, which cannot separate melt ponds/submerged ice from ice and cannot detect the small leads between floes. Thus, the aerial photos would play an important role in providing high-resolution independent estimates of the ice concentration and the fraction of melt pond cover to validate and/or supplement space-borne remote sensing products near the North Pole.

The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) coupled global climate model was used to investigate the sensitivity of sea ice to improved representations of sea-ice radiative processes:(1) a more sophisticated surface albedo scheme and (2) the penetration of solar radiation in sea ice. The results show that the large-scale sea-ice conditions are very sensitive to the aforementioned parameterizations. Although the more sophisticated surface albedo scheme produces a more realistic seasonal cycle of the surface albedo as compared with the baseline simulation, the resulting higher albedo relative to the baseline simulation generates much more and thicker ice in the arctic. The penetration of solar radiation in sea-ice itself tends to reduce the ice cover and thickness in the entire arctic and the western antarctic, and increase the ice cover and thickness in the eastern antarctic. The combination of (1) and (2) significantly improves the simulations of the average ice thickness and its spatial distribution in the arctic. The atmospheric responses associated with sea-ice changes were also discussed. While improvements are seen, particularly of the ice thickness distribution, there are still some unrealistic aspects that will require further improvements to the sea-ice component.

Under bilateral cooperation between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China, a series of research cruises were conducted over the western Pacific Ocean.It was found that a) the non-sea-salt sulfate aerosol particles are the major source of cloud condensation nuclei, b) the population of clouds and the total albedo are proportional to the concentration of condensation nuclei and consequently to the concentration of the non-sea-salt aerosol particles, and c) the amount of rainfall is inversely proportional to the concentration of non-sea-salt sulfate aerosol particles.It seems that anthropogenic sulfate aerosol particles affect the regional planetary albedo and climate and that the contribution from biogenically derived sulfate aerosol particles is of lesser importance.

A method to estimate the thickness of the sea ice of the Bohai Sea is proposed using geostationary ocean color imager (GOCI) data and then applied to the dynamic monitoring of the sea ice thickness in the Bohai Sea during the winter of 2014 to 2015. First of all, a model is given between the GOCI shortwave broadband albedo and the reflectance of each band with high temporal resolution GOCI data. Then, the relationship model between the sea ice thickness and the GOCI shortwave broadband albedo is established and applied to the thickness extraction of the sea ice in the Bohai Sea. Finally, the sea ice thickness extraction method is tested by the results based on the MODIS data, thermodynamic empirical models (Lebedev and Zubov), and the in situ ice thickness data. The test results not only indicated that the sea ice thickness retrieval method based on the GOCI data was a good correlation (r²>0.86) with the sea ice thickness retrieved by the MODIS and thermodynamic empirical models, but also that the RMS is only 6.82 cm different from the thickness of the sea ice based on the GOCI and in situ data.

Over the past decades, sea ice in the polar regions has been significantly affecting local and even hemispheric climate through a positive ice albedo feedback mechanism. The role of fast ice, as opposed to drift ice, has not been well-studied due to its relatively small coverage over the earth. In this paper, the optical properties and surface energy balance of land fast ice in spring are studied using in situ observations in Barrow, Alaska. The results show that the albedo of the fast ice varied between 0.57 and 0.85 while the transmittance increased from 1.3×10⁻³ to 4.1×10⁻³ during the observation period. Snowfall and air temperature affected the albedo and absorbance of sea ice, but the transmittance had no obvious relationship with precipitation or snow cover. Net solar shortwave radiation contributes to the surface energy balance with a positive 99.2% of the incident flux, with sensible heat flux for the remaining 0.8%. Meanwhile, the ice surface loses energy through the net longwave radiation by 18.7% of the total emission, while the latent heat flux accounts for only 0.1%. Heat conduction is also an important factor in the overall energy budget of sea ice, contributing 81.2% of the energy loss. Results of the radiative transfer model reveal that the spectral transmittance of the fast ice is determined by the thickness of snow and sea ice as well as the amount of inclusions. As major inclusions, the ice biota and particulates have a significant influence on the magnitude and distribution of the spectral transmittance. Based on the radiative transfer model, concentrations of chlorophyll and particulate in the fast ice are estimated at 5.51 mg/m² and 95.79 g/m², which are typical values in the spring in Barrow.

The research on sea ice resources is the academic base of sea ice exploitation in the Bohai Sea. According to the ice-water spectrum differences and the correlation between ice thickness and albedo, this paper comes up with a sea ice thickness inversion model based on the NOAA/AVHRR data. And then a sea ice resources quantity (SIQ) time series of Bohai Sea is established from 1987 to 2009. The results indicate that the average error of inversion sea ice thickness is below 30%. The maximum sea ice resources quantity is about 6×10⁹ m³ and the minimum is 1.3×10⁹ m³. And a preliminary analysis has been made on the errors of the estimate of sea ice resources quantity (SIQ).

Information on the Arctic sea ice climate indicators is crucial to business strategic planning and climate monitoring. Data on the evolvement of the Arctic sea ice and decadal trends of phenology factors during melt season are necessary for climate prediction under global warming. Previous studies on Arctic sea ice phenology did not involve melt ponds that dramatically lower the ice surface albedo and tremendously affect the process of sea ice surface melt. Temporal means and trends of the Arctic sea ice phenology from 1982 to 2017 were examined based on satellite-derived sea ice concentration and albedo measurements. Moreover, the timing of ice ponding and two periods corresponding to it were newly proposed as key stages in the melt season. Therefore, four timings, i.e., date of snow and ice surface melt onset (MO), date of pond onset (PO), date of sea ice opening (DOO), and date of sea ice retreat (DOR); and three durations, i.e., melt pond formation period (MPFP, i.e., MO–PO), melt pond extension period (MPEP, i.e., PO–DOR), and seasonal loss of ice period (SLIP, i.e., DOO–DOR), were used. PO ranged from late April in the peripheral seas to late June in the central Arctic Ocean in Bootstrap results, whereas the pan-Arctic was observed nearly 4 days later in NASA Team results. Significant negative trends were presented in the MPEP in the Hudson Bay, the Baffin Bay, the Greenland Sea, the Kara and Barents seas in both results, indicating that the Arctic sea ice undergoes a quick transition from ice to open water, thereby extending the melt season year to year. The high correlation coefficient between MO and PO, MPFP illustrated that MO predominates the process of pond formation.

Synchronous or quasi-synchronous sea-land-air observations were conducted using advanced sea ice,atmospheric and marine instruments during China's First Arctic Expedition.Based on the Precious data from the expedition,it was found that in the Arctic Ocean,most part of which is covered with ice or is mixed with ice,various kinds of sea fog formed such as advection fog,radiation fog and vapor fog.Each kind has its own characteristic and mechanics of creation.In the southern part of the Arctic Ocean,due to the sufficient warm and wet flow there,it is favorable for advection fog to form,which is dense and lasts a long time.On ice cap or vast floating ice,due to the strong radiation cooling effect,stable radiating fog is likely to form.In floating ice area there forms vapor fog with the appearance of masses of vapor from a boiling pot,which is different from short-lasting land fog.The study indicates that the reason why there are many kinds of sea fog form in the Arctic Ocean is because of the complicated cushion and the consequent sea-air interaction caused by the sea ice distribution and its unique physical characteristics.Sea fog is the atmospheric phenomenon of sea-air heat exchange.Especially,due to the high albedo of ice and snow surface,it is diffcult to absorb great amount of solar radiation during the polar days.Besides,ice is a poor conductor of heat; it blocks the sea-air heat exchange.The sea-air exchange is active in floating ice area where the ice is broken.The sea sends heat to the atmosphere in form of latent heat; vapor fog is a way of sea-air heat exchange influencing the climate and an indicator of the extent of the exchange.The study also indicates that the sea also transports heat to the atmosphere in form of sensible heat when vapor fog occurs.