Figure 2 clearly indicates that the sea ice extent is
greatly improved by the assimilation run that
assimilates sea ice concentration. We can also observe
that it takes about three months time for the ocean
conditions to adapt to new sea ice extent by the
fluctuations in the sea ice extent during the first three
months. The figure 3 that plots the resulting sea ice
extent after assimilating sea ice thickness denotes
how non-assimilated sea ice variables are enhanced
by the assimilation. Similar results could be observed
from the sea ice velocity analysis as well. However
the sea ice thickness assimilation shows greater
improvement in sea ice extent forecast compared with
the sea ice velocity assimilation. The impact on ocean
parameters is important since the aim of this study is
to improve the initial conditions of the high-resolution
models. Figure 4 shows the difference in sea surface
ocean temperature between the analysis and the
model forecast. The model forecast had over
predicted the sea ice extent. Specifically in the
Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea. The analysis
has altered the sea ice extent in those areas. We can
also observe the ocean temperature responding to the
changes in the ice concentration, by the rise in the
ocean temperature in the Norwegian Sea and the
Greenland Sea.