Associations of April Barents Sea ice extent with the Arctic Oscillation Index, 1950–2001

A historical record of April Barents Sea ice extent was constructed for the 1950 to 2001 period from Soviet aircraft reconnaissance charts (1950-1966), and Norwegian ice charts (1966-2001). After establishing the mean April ice edge position, a time-series of April ice edge position anomalies was computed and correlated to both the current and antecedent Arctic Oscillation Indices (AOI) for the 52-year study period. In general, positive AOI’s were associated with reduction in Barents Sea ice extent, while negative AOI’s were associated with increases. Barents Sea ice extent retreats were most closely associated with the antecedent January AOI, while sea ice advances were most closely associated with the antecedent July AOI. Variance in ice edge position was also not spatially homogeneous, with favored geographic areas for position changes.