Weekly interactions between sea ice concentrations and the North Atlantic Oscillation in the Odden Sea ice peninsula, Greenland Sea

In this study, we use principal components analysis and a discrete wavelet decomposition to examine changing patterns of sea ice within the Odden ice peninsula, Greenland Sea. Daily passive microwave satellite imagery collected by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Colorado have been subset to include ice concentrations within a 22/spl times/40 pixel region located between 72 and 74 degrees North latitude. The Odden is a curious feature because it rapidly changes form in the course of days to weeks, whereby shape is highly dependent upon areas of ice melt and growth. In L. Chasmer (2001) we found numerous connections between the Odden and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a Northern Hemisphere atmospheric teleconnection pattern. The most prominent similarities occurred seasonally, as is to be expected from the seasonal properties of the NAO. However by examining smaller spatial and temporal changes within the Odden, we find both correspondence and anomalies between the NAO and changing sea ice concentrations. During some weeks/months we find a strong positive correlation between the Odden and the NAO, whereby the NAO leads sea ice development by a few days. However, during other times, we find that the NAO signal may be dampened by other meteorological/oceanographic events, and therefore, the signals are opposite or un-related.