Ice (including snow) is the predominant form of condensed water most of the year, both in the air and on the surface. Ice and snow scatter, transmit, and absorb sunlight and radiant heat much differently than water.
There is very little water vapor in the atmosphere, changing the impact of the atmosphere on the propagation of radiant energy, particularly radiant energy propagating upwards from the surface, and on the performance of some atmospheric remote sensing instruments.
The major "pumps" for the global ocean currents are at high latitudes, and there is good reason to believe that those pumps will be affected by climate-related changes in the atmosphere.
High latitude atmospheric processes over both land and sea must be characterized for incorporation into global climate models.
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