June 4-6 2019, Brest, France


Sea ice is an essential component of the Earth system through the modulation of the atmospheric circulation, the global ocean overturning circulation, albedo and air-sea gas exchanges. Sea ice has also implications beyond climate change, with large effects on marine biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry and the living conditions of unique polar marine ecosystems and indigenous populations. While better satellite and in situ observations, longer and more reliable (paleo-)reconstructions as well as more advanced models have contributed to better understanding the role of sea ice in the Earth system, there are many important questions that are still unanswered, especially about the robustness of sea ice projections and the impacts on related environments.

The goal of the workshop was to bring together scientists from the ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere, (paleo-)climate, and marine biogeochemistry communities interested in Arctic and/or Antarctic sea ice and its role in the Earth System to foster collaboration and better structure the community at the national level through discussions of cross-cutting issues.


We had contributions based on in situ observations, paleoclimate reconstructions, present-day reanalyses, numerical models simulating the past, present and future climate, that can contribute to the following general topics: 

  • Sea ice observations (in situ, remote sensing, ship logs, ...)
  • Sea ice data assimilation and applications to predictions
  • Representation of sea ice-related processes in Earth System models, high-resolution models and operational systems
  • Sea ice response to past, current and projected atmospheric and oceanic changes
  • Sea ice influence on the atmospheric and oceanic circulation
  • Role of sea ice on marine biogeochemistry, ecosystems, and atmospheric chemistry


Rym Msadek (CECI/ Cerfacs), Camille Lique (LOPS, Ifremer), Xavier Crosta (EPOC), Martin Vancoppenolle (LOCEAN, IPSL), Damien Cardinal (LOCEAN, IPSL).

The programme and the practical informations can be found here: Programme.pdf

Presentations given during the meeting:

Session 1: Sea ice zone dynamics, thermodynamics and biogeochemistry

Chair: Camille Lique

Robert Ricker (Invited)

Monitoring of the sea Ice cover in a changing Polar Environment using satellite remote sensing

Sara Fleury

Snow Depth and Sea Ice Thickness Observations from Satellite Altimeters

Catherine Prigent

Development of an innovative Sea Ice Concentration algorithm for the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) mission

Pierre Rampal (Invited)

On the Simulation of the Brittle Nature of Sea Ice in Next Generation Models: Why and How?

Francois Fripiat (Invited)

Sea-ice biogeochemistry: from micro-environments to the scale of Antarctic sea ice

Martin Vancoppenolle

Understanding and simulating sea ice thermodynamic processes at small and large scales

Bruno Delille

Gases in sea ice: update of recent findings, caveats and open questions

Justin Dodd

A Pliocene marine diatom oxygen isotope record of cryogenic brine formation in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

Session 2 : Drivers of sea ice variability and changes

Chair: Damien Cardinal & Martin Vancoppenolle

Francois Massonnet (Invited)

Challenges in the evaluation of large-scale sea ice models

Rym Msadek

Predicting sea ice extent on seasonal time scales

Nicolas Kolodziejczyk

L-Band Sea Surface Salinity in the Polar Oceans: a validation study

Anastasiia Tarasenko

Surface waters in the Eastern Arctic ocean and it's marginal ice zone based on satellite and NABOS expedition in situ data

Casimir De Lavergne

Antarctic sea-ice trends sustained by vertical ocean heat redistribution

Peter Sutherland (Invited)

Wave-ice feedbacks in the Arctic Ocean

Guillaume Boutin

Coupling a spectral wave model with a coupled ocean-ice model: impact on lateral melting, effects on the ice edge and sea surface properties

Chair: Martin Vancoppenolle

 Xavier Crosta

Antarctic sea ice in the Pleistocene climate system: Drivers and feedbacks at different timescales

Anais Orsi (Invited)

Antarctic climate variability over the past 2000 years

Session 3: Impacts of sea ice variations on its environment

Chair: Martin Vancoppenolle

Mark Hague

Phytoplankton Phenology and Sea Ice in the Southern Ocean

Marcel Babin

The role of snow and sea ice in constraining the phytoplankton phenology in the Arctic Ocean

Florian Sevellec

Arctic sea ice decline weakens the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

Alexey Fedorov (Invited)

The mechanisms and impacts of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slow-down induced by Arctic sea ice decline

Heather Regan

Dynamics of the Beaufort Gyre from satellite observations and a high resolution model

Jean-Baptiste Sallée (Invited)

How sea-ice shapes large-scale Southern Ocean circulation?

Jean-Yves Royer

Evidence of interactions between icebergs and blue whales from a soundscape analysis in Sea ice thermodynamics from small to large-scale Southern Indian Ocean

Presentation of the national and international programs on polar activities

(Chairs: Damien Cardinal and Rym Msadek)

Marie-Noëlle Houssais

Presentation of the national polar research programs

Gilles Garric

Polar Regions provisions by the Copernicus Marine Service

Jennie Thomas

Enhancing multidisciplinary international science cooperation: The Cryosphere and ATmospheric CHemistry (CATCH)

Session 3: Impacts of sea ice variations on its environment

Chair: Rym Msadek

Claude Frankignoul

An observational estimate of the direct atmospheric response to the Arctic sea ice loss

Svenya Chripko

Northern Hemisphere autumn and winter atmospheric response to Arctic summer sea ice loss in the CNRM-CM6 climate model

Louis Marelle

Simulating Arctic boundary layer ozone depletion events in a regional atmospheric model

Camille Lique
Future emergence of deep convection in the Arctic and impact on the AMOC

Diana Ruiz Pino

Increases CO2 sink and acidification on Antarctic (Weddell Sea) and Western Arctic oceans

Nicola Elionor Sabata

Acidification since the last decade in the Pacific Arctic: pH and Alkalinity measured by an autonomous sensor

Marie-Alexandrine Sicre

Biomarker and diatom fluxes in a one-year sediment trap experiment over the Northwind Ridge, western Arctic Ocean