LAUSR

This study reveals that the yearday of open‐water onset (topen) in Bering Strait can be predicted with a lead time of about 4 months using a regression equation topen = 37.45CCN + 125.2 (in Julian days), with an averaged absolute error of 5 days and the maximum error of 12 days, where CCN is the ice concentration averaged from 16th January to 15th February near Cape Navarin. This “predictor” is revealed through analyzing the solution of a regional ocean and sea‐ice model. A key factor contribution to the prediction is that the prior winter ice concentration is controlled by the sea surface temperature, and persists into the start of the melting phase near the marginal ice zone in the Cape Navarin area. As ice melts near Cape Navarin, successive melting due to solar heat absorption and lateral heat transport occurs rapidly downstream along Anadyr Current.