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Topic · Atmospheric Science

Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics

Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics is a research topic within Atmospheric Science. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the variability and decline of Arctic sea ice, including topics such as climate change impacts, remote sensing techniques, ocean circulation, freshwater cycle, and comparisons with Antarctic sea ice. The research synthesizes historical trends, observational data, and modeling to understand the rapid changes in the Arctic sea ice cover.

  • Arctic
  • Sea Ice
  • Decline
  • Variability
  • Climate Change
  • Remote Sensing
  • Ocean Circulation
  • Freshwater Cycle
  • Antarctic Comparison
  • Atmospheric Circulation
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
0%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
34% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics

Which countries lead Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.8k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.8k works
  2. 2 United States 1.2k works
  3. 3 Russia 651 works
  4. 4 Canada 387 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 320 works
  6. 6 Germany 287 works
  7. 7 Norway 212 works
  8. 8 France 201 works
  9. 9 India 189 works
  10. 10 Japan 165 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 34.1%United States: 21.3%Russia: 12.0%Canada: 7.2%6 others listed: 25.4%34%largest
China1,842 · 34.1%United States1,150 · 21.3%Russia651 · 12.0%Canada387 · 7.2%6 others listed1,374 · 25.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 346 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 266 works
  3. 3 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 107 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 84 works
  5. 5 National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationUnited States 78 works
  6. 6 Ministry of Natural ResourcesChina 68 works
  7. 7 Ocean University of ChinaChina 61 works
  8. 8 Nanjing University of Information Science and TechnologyChina 59 works
  9. 9 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 54 works
  10. 10 University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 51 works

Who are the leading researchers in Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics include Philippe Ciais, P. Jackson and Paul M. Thompson.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  3. 3 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  4. 4 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  5. 5 Han Zhang China 161k citations
  6. 6 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics?

The most cited paper in Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics is "Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century" (Nick A Rayner, D. E. Parker, E. B. Horton et al., 2003), with 11,470 citations. Next come "Anomalous collapses of Nares Strait ice arches leads to enhanced export of Arctic sea ice" (5,198) and "An Improved In Situ and Satellite SST Analysis for Climate" (4,684).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century Nick A Rayner, D. E. Parker, E. B. Horton et al. · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 17 Jul 2003 11,470
2 Anomalous collapses of Nares Strait ice arches leads to enhanced export of Arctic sea ice G. W. K. Moore, Stephen Howell, Mike Brady et al. · Nature Communications Open access 4 Jan 2021 5,198
3 An Improved In Situ and Satellite SST Analysis for Climate Richard W. Reynolds, Nick A Rayner, Thomas M. Smith et al. · Journal of Climate Jul 2002 4,684
4 Daily High-Resolution-Blended Analyses for Sea Surface Temperature Richard W. Reynolds, Thomas M. Smith, Chun‐Ying Liu et al. · Journal of Climate Open access 15 Nov 2007 4,465
5 The Arctic oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields David W. J. Thompson, John M. Wallace · Geophysical Research Letters Open access May 1998 4,152
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research done?

The largest centres of Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Qingdao (China) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bremerhaven, Fairbanks and Sevastopol'.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 500 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 275 works
  3. 3 QingdaoChina 146 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 142 works
  5. 5 NanjingChina 129 works
  6. 6 Saint PetersburgRussia 112 works
  7. 7 OttawaCanada 97 works
  8. 8 GuangzhouChina 95 works
  9. 9 LanzhouChina 78 works
  10. 10 BoulderUnited States 78 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BremerhavenDE · 70.0 works164×
  2. FairbanksUS · 39.2 works104×
  3. Sevastopol'RU · 23.4 works94×
  4. FalmouthUS · 39.2 works93×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics than the world average.

See Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics on the map

Where is the best place to study Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 13.78%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →UNSW SydneyUniversity of Chines…University of Colora…Nanjing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 71.314.8%5.9×54 +29.7%
2University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 70.413.8%19.8×51 -13.5%
3Nanjing University of Information Science and TechnologyChina 67.99.8%26.1×59 +78.4%
4UNSW SydneyAustralia 67.424.1%2.3×12 +18.7%
5University of WashingtonUnited States 64.812.6%7.1×45 -27.6%
6University of California San DiegoUnited States 63.815.4%6.2×34 -8.2%
7Lanzhou UniversityChina 63.019.3%4.9×19 +66.9%
8UiT The Arctic University of NorwayNorway 62.49.4%36.5×36 -2.8%
9Ocean University of ChinaChina 61.36.3%21.6×61 +38.6%
10Dalian University of TechnologyChina 60.012.3%7.5×40 +29.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics, country by country

Is Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 0% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.026% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics0.025% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who leads research on Arctic and Antarctic ice?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.8k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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