Sea Ice Variability of the Amur Estuary: Survey Data Analysis

Abstract

The sea ice variability of the Amur estuary was analyzed for the period 1970–2018 to identify trends and patterns in ice period statistics. Important aspect of this research is a demonstration of the impact of global climate change on the local ice situation in the Sea of Okhotsk. Time series of ice characteristics in the Amur estuary from the five monitoring stations (Baidukov Island, Ozerpah, Pronge cape, Jaore and Lasarev cape) were analyzed. Six main characteristics were selected for analysis: maximum ice thickness, date of persistent ice formation; date of final ice freezing; date of fast ice breaking, date of complete ice clearance and number of days with ice during the ice period. Baseline data for annual time series of these characteristics was taken from annual hydrological monitoring tables. It was found that all the ice period characteristics in the Amur estuary have temporal long-term trends defined by the global warming in the Sea of Okhotsk region. One of the clearest warming process trends appears to be the increasing autumn ice forming period. Negative linear trend was found for the maximum ice thickness.