Rebecca A. Woodgate

The large‐scale freshwater cycle of the Arctic

This paper synthesizes our understanding of the Arctics large-scale freshwater cycle. It combines terrestrial and oceanic observations with insights gained from the ERA-40 reanalysis and land surface and ice-ocean models. Annual mean freshwater input to the Arctic Ocean is dominated by river discharge (38%), inflow through Bering Strait (30%), and net precipitation (24%). Total freshwater export from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic is dominated by transports through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (35%) and via Fram Strait as liquid (26%) and sea ice (25%). All terms are computed relative to a reference salinity of 34.8. Compared to earlier estimates, our budget features larger import of freshwater through Bering Strait and larger liquid phase export through Fram Strait. While there is no reason to expect a steady state, error analysis indicates that the difference between annual mean oceanic inflows and outflows (∼8% of the total inflow) is indistinguishable from zero. Freshwater in the Arctic Ocean has a mean residence time of about a decade. This is understood in that annual freshwater input, while large (∼8500 km3), is an order of magnitude smaller than oceanic freshwater storage of ∼84,000 km3. Freshwater in the atmosphere, as water vapor, has a residence time of about a week. Seasonality in Arctic Ocean freshwater storage is nevertheless highly uncertain, reflecting both sparse hydrographic data and insufficient information on sea ice volume. Uncertainties mask seasonal storage changes forced by freshwater fluxes. Of flux terms with sufficient data for analysis, Fram Strait ice outflow shows the largest interannual variability.

INTERANNUAL CHANGES IN THE BERING STRAIT FLUXES OF VOLUME, HEAT AND FRESHWATER BETWEEN 1991 AND 2004

Year-round moorings (1990 to 2004) illustrate interannual variability of Bering Strait volume, freshwater and heat fluxes, which affect Arctic systems including sea-ice. Fluxes are lowest in 2001 and increase to 2004. Whilst 2004 freshwater and volume fluxes match previous maxima (1998), the 2004 heat flux is the highest recorded, partly due to ~ 0.5oC warmer temperatures since 2002. The Alaskan Coastal Current, contributing about 1/3 rd of the heat and ¼ of the freshwater fluxes, also shows strong warming and freshening between 2002 and 2004. The increased Bering Strait heat input between 2001 and 2004 (> 2x10 20 J) could melt 640,000 km 2 of 1 m thick ice; the 3-year freshwater increase (~ 800 km 3 ) is about ¼ of annual Arctic river run-off. Weaker southward winds likely explain the increased volume flux (~ 0.7 to ~ 1 Sv), causing ~ 80% of the freshwater and ~ 50% of the heat flux increases. INDEX TERMS: 4207 General Oceanography: Arctic and Antarctic oceanography (9310, 9315); 4215 General Oceanography: Climate and interannual variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 3309, 4513); 4223 General Oceanography: Descriptive and regional oceanography; 4227 General Oceanography: Diurnal, seasonal, and annual cycles (0438).

Analysis of the Arctic System for Freshwater Cycle Intensification: Observations and Expectations

Abstract Hydrologic cycle intensification is an expected manifestation of a warming climate. Although positive trends in several global average quantities have been reported, no previous studies have documented broad intensification across elements of the Arctic freshwater cycle (FWC). In this study, the authors examine the character and quantitative significance of changes in annual precipitation, evapotranspiration, and river discharge across the terrestrial pan-Arctic over the past several decades from observations and a suite of coupled general circulation models (GCMs). Trends in freshwater flux and storage derived from observations across the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas are also described. With few exceptions, precipitation, evapotranspiration, and river discharge fluxes from observations and the GCMs exhibit positive trends. Significant positive trends above the 90% confidence level, however, are not present for all of the observations. Greater confidence in the GCM trends arises through lowe...

The Arctic Ocean Boundary Current along the Eurasian slope and the adjacent Lomonosov Ridge: Water mass properties, transports and transformations from moored instruments

Year-long (summer 1995 to 1996) time series of temperature, salinity and current velocity from three slope sites spanning the junction of the Lomonosov Ridge with the Eurasian continent are used to quantify the water properties, transformations and transport of the boundary current of the Arctic Ocean. The mean flow is cyclonic, weak (1 to 5 cm s−1), predominantly aligned along isobaths and has an equivalent barotropic structure in the vertical. We estimate the transport of the boundary current in the Eurasian Basin to be . About half of this flow is diverted north along the Eurasian Basin side of the Lomonosov Ridge. The warm waters (>1.4°C) of the Atlantic layer are also found on the Canadian Basin side of the ridge south of 86.5°N, but not north of this latitude. This suggests that the Atlantic layer crosses the ridge at various latitudes south of 86.5°N and flows southward along the Canadian Basin side of the ridge. Temperature and salinity records indicate a small (0.02 Sv), episodic flow of Canadian Basin deep water into the Eurasian Basin at , providing a possible source for an anomalous eddy observed in the Amundsen Basin in 1996. There is also a similar flow of Eurasian Basin deep water into the Canadian Basin. Both flows probably pass through a gap in the Lomonosov Ridge at 80.4°N. A cooling and freshening of the Atlantic layer, observed at all three moorings, is attributed to changes (in temperature and salinity and/or volume) in the outflow from the Barents Sea the previous winter, possibly caused by an observed increased flow of ice from the Arctic Ocean into the Barents Sea. The change in water properties, which advects at along the southern edge of the Eurasian Basin, also strengthens the cold halocline layer and increases the stability of the upper ocean. This suggests a feedback in which ice exported from the Arctic Ocean into the Barents Sea promotes ice growth elsewhere in the Arctic Ocean. The strongest currents recorded at the moorings (up to ) are related to eddy features which are predominantly anticyclonic and, with a few exceptions, are of two main types: cold core eddies, confined to the upper 100–300 m, probably formed on the shelf, and warm core eddies of greater vertical extent, probably related to instabilities of an upstream front.

Seasonal modification of the Arctic Ocean intermediate water layer off the eastern Laptev Sea continental shelf break

up to 75% of the total variance. Our data suggest that the entire AW layer down to at least 840 m is affected by seasonal cycling, although the strength of the seasonal signal in temperature and salinity reduces from 260 m (±0.25C and ±0.025 psu) to 840 m (±0.05C and ±0.005 psu). The seasonal velocity signal is substantially weaker, strongly masked by high-frequency variability, and lags the thermohaline cycle by 45–75 days. We hypothesize that our mooring record shows a time history of the along-margin propagation of the AW seasonal signal carried downstream by the AW boundary current. Our analysis suggests that the seasonal signal in the Fram Strait Branch of AW (FSBW) at 260 m is predominantly translated from Fram Strait, while the seasonality in the Barents Sea branch of AW (BSBW) domain (at 840 m) is attributed instead to the seasonal signal input from the Barents Sea. However, the characteristic signature of the BSBW seasonal dynamics observed through the entire AW layer leads us to speculate that BSBW also plays a role in seasonally modifying the properties of the FSBW.

Structure and transports of the East Greenland Current at 75°N from moored current meters

The East Greenland Current runs from 80°N to 60°N from the Fram Strait to the Denmark Strait via the Nordic Seas. It transports waters from the Arctic and the Nordic Seas into the Atlantic and also acts as a western-intensified southward return flow for waters recirculating within the Greenland Sea Gyre, itself an area important for deep water formation. Data from current meters moored across the current at 75°N in 1994–1995 show a large seasonal variation in the current. The annual mean transport is 21±3 Sv (taking 9°W as the eastern boundary), varying from 11 Sv in summer to 37 Sv in winter (errors approximately ±5 Sv). No significant seasonal signal has been observed in the Fram or Denmark Straits, suggesting that the seasonal transport is confined within the Greenland Sea. Using temperature and velocity data, we split the flow at 75°N into two parts, a mainly wind-driven circulation (annual mean of order 19 Sv), which is trapped within the Greenland Sea Gyre and exhibits a large seasonal cycle, transporting, predominantly, the waters of the Greenland Sea, and a steadier throughflow probably thermohaline-driven (of order 8 Sv in the annual mean), with very little seasonal variation. Data from previous years, 1987–1994, indicate the interannual variability of the current is low. Assuming a spatially coherent structure to the current, we extend the time series of the transport back to 1991, and suggest it may be possible to monitor the total transport with one suitably placed mooring.

The Influence of Sea Ice on Ocean Heat Uptake in Response to Increasing CO2

Two significant changes in ocean heat uptake that occur in the vicinity of sea ice cover in response to increasing CO2 are investigated with Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3): a deep warming below 500 m and extending down several kilometers in the Southern Ocean and warming in a 200-m layer just below the surface in the Arctic Ocean. Ocean heat uptake caused by sea ice retreat is isolated by running the model with the sea ice albedo reduced artificially alone. This integration has a climate response with strong ocean heat uptake in the Southern Ocean and modest ocean heat uptake in the subsurface Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean warming results from enhanced ocean heat transport from the northern North Atlantic. At the time of CO2 doubling, about 1/3 of the heat transport anomaly results from advection of anomalously warm water and 2/3 results from strengthened inflow. At the same time the overturning circulation is strengthened in the northern North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Wind stress changes cannot explain the circulation changes, which instead appear related to strengthened convection along the Siberian shelves. Deep ocean warming in the Southern Ocean is initiated by weakened convection, which is mainly a result of surface freshening through altered sea ice and ocean freshwater transport. Below about 500 m, changes in convection reduce the vertical and meridional temperature gradients in the Southern Ocean, which significantly reduce isopycnal diffusion of heat upward around Antarctica. The geometry of the sea ice cover and its influence on convection have a strong influence on ocean temperature gradients, making sea ice an important player in deep ocean heat uptake in the Southern Ocean.

Sea Ice Response to Atmospheric and Oceanic Forcing in the Bering Sea

Abstract A coupled sea ice–ocean model is developed to quantify the sea ice response to changes in atmospheric and oceanic forcing in the Bering Sea over the period 1970–2008. The model captures much of the observed spatiotemporal variability of sea ice and sea surface temperature (SST) and the basic features of the upper-ocean circulation in the Bering Sea. Model results suggest that tides affect the spatial redistribution of ice mass by up to 0.1 m or 15% in the central-eastern Bering Sea by modifying ice motion and deformation and ocean flows. The considerable interannual variability in the pattern and strength of winter northeasterly winds leads to southwestward ice mass advection during January–May, ranging from 0.9 × 1012 m3 in 1996 to 1.8 × 1012 m3 in 1976 and averaging 1.4 × 1012 m3, which is almost twice the January–May mean total ice volume in the Bering Sea. The large-scale southward ice mass advection is constrained by warm surface waters in the south that melt 1.5 × 1012 m3 of ice in mainly t...

Flow of bottom water in the northwestern Weddell Sea

The Weddell Sea is known to feed recently formed deep and bottom water into the Antarctic circumpolar water belt, from whence it spreads into the basins of the world ocean. The rates are still a matter of debate. To quantify the flow of bottom water in the northwestern Weddell Sea data obtained during five cruises with R/V Polarstern between October 1989 and May 1998 were used. During the cruises in the Weddell Sea, five hydrographic surveys were carried out to measure water mass properties, and moored instruments were deployed over a time period of 8.5 years to obtain quasi-continuous time series. The average flow in the bottom water plume in the northwestern Weddell Sea deduced from the combined conductivity-temperature-depth and moored observations is 1.3±0.4 Sv. Intensive fluctuations of a wide range of timescales including annual and interannual variations are superimposed. The variations are partly induced by fluctuations in the formation rates and partly by current velocity fluctuations related to the large-scale circulation. Taking into account entrainment of modified Warm Deep Water and Weddell Sea Deep Water during the descent of the plume along the slope, between 0.5 Sv and 1.3 Sv of surface-ventilated water is supplied to the deep sea. This is significantly less than the widely accepted ventilation rates of the deep sea. If there are no other significant sources of newly ventilated water in the Weddell Sea, either the dominant role of Weddell Sea Bottom Water in the Southern Ocean or the global ventilation rates have to be reconsidered.

Fate of early 2000s Arctic warm water pulse

The water mass structure of the Arctic Ocean is remarkable, for its intermediate (depth range ~150–900 m) layer is filled with warm (temperature >0°C) and salty water of Atlantic origin (usually called the Atlantic Water, AW). This water is carried into and through the Arctic Ocean by the pan-Arctic boundary current, which moves cyclonically along the basins’ margins (Fig. 1). This system provides the largest input of water, heat, and salt into the Arctic Ocean; the total quantity of heat is substantial, enough to melt the Arctic sea ice cover several times over. By utilizing an extensive archive Fate of Early 2000s Arctic Warm Water Pulse of recently collected observational data, this study provides a cohesive picture of recent large-scale changes in the AW layer of the Arctic Ocean. These recent observations show the warm pulse of AW that entered the Arctic Ocean in the early 1990s finally reached the Canada Basin during the 2000s. The second warm pulse that entered the Arctic Ocean in the mid-2000s has moved through the Eurasian Basin and is en route downstream. One of the most intriguing results of these observations is the realization of the possibility of uptake of anomalous AW heat by overlying layers, with possible implications for an already-reduced Arctic ice cover.