Modeling the salinity profile of undeformed Arctic sea ice

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The salinity of sea ice affects its physical and ecological properties. Here, a multilayer one‐dimensional halo‐thermodynamic sea ice model is used to simulate the vertical salinity profile of undeformed Arctic sea ice. The model successfully reproduces the desalination pattern observed in first‐year (FY) and multi‐year (MY) ice. The model can also be integrated with a prescribed, time‐independent salinity profile. Substantial differences in the simulated mass balance and ice‐ocean salt flux arise depending on the salinity. After 10 years into the simulation, the annual mean ice thickness is 2.85 m with the interactive halodynamic component, compared to 2.53 m (2.29 m) with a prescribed, time‐independent, vertically varying (constant) salinity profile. Modelling sea ice salinity is especially important when sea ice is transitioning from a MY to FY ice regime. Thus including a halodynamic component in sea ice models would significantly improve simulations of future climate.