Changes of fresh water content in the upper layer of the Arctic Basin in the 1950s-2010s
https://doi.org/10.7868/S2073667321040031
Abstract
In the early 1990s, there was a shift in the Arctic climate system towards warming. This shift was accompanied by water temperature and salinity changes in the Arctic Basin due to increased Atlantic water inflow, river runoff, precipitation, and ice melting. We estimated changes in the freshwater content (FWC) and freshwater inflows into the upper layer of the Arctic Basin decade by decade from the 1950s through the 2010s and showed the connection between changes in the Arctic Basin and the tropical North Atlantic. Our results show that the FWC in the upper layer of the Arctic Basin in the 1990–2000s decreased in the Eurasian Basin and increased in the Amerasian Basin. On average, the FWC increase prevailed for the whole basin due to the larger contribution of FWC changes in the Amerasian Basin that occupies 61 % of the Arctic Basin. The largest FWC for the entire Arctic Basin was observed in the 1960s and preceded the negative salinity anomaly that occurred in the North Atlantic in 1960–1970s. The reduction of the FWC in the Eurasian Basin happened due to the increased Atlantic water inflow since the 1990s that causes salinification of the upper 100 m layer despite the increased precipitation and river runoff into the Arctic Basin. A freshwater accumulation occurs in the Beaufort Gyre and the entire Amerasian part of the Arctic Basin. The FWC in the upper 0–100 m layer of the Beaufort Gyre increased in the 2000–2010s by 36 % compared to that in the 1970s. The largest FWC increase (46 %) occurred in the upper 50 m layer during this period.
Supporting agencies: This work was supported by the RFBR project 18–05–60107.
About the Authors
G. V. Alekseev
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
199397, Bering St., 38, St. Petersburg
A. V. Smirnov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
199397, Bering St., 38, St. Petersburg
A. V. Pnyushkov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute; International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
199397, Bering St., 38, St. Petersburg
2160, Koyukuk Dr, Fairbanks, USA
A. E. Vyazilova
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
199397, Bering St., 38, St. Petersburg
M. Y. Kulakov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
199397, Bering St., 38, St. Petersburg
N. I. Glok
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
199397, Bering St., 38, St. Petersburg
References
1. Alekseev G., Kuzmina S., Bobylev L., Urazgildeeva A., Gnatiuk N. Impact of atmospheric heat and moisture transport on the Arctic warming. Int. J. Climatol. 2019, 39, 8, 1–11. doi: 10.1002/joc.6040
2. Alekseev G.V., Kuzmina S.I., Urazgil’deeva A.V., Bobylev L. Impact of atmospheric heat and moisture transport on Arctic warming in winter. Fundamental and Applied Climatology. 2016, 1, 43–63 (in Russian).
3. Marchuk G.I., Skiba Y.N. Numerical Calculation of the Conjugate Problem for a Model of the Thermal Interaction of the Atmosphere with the Oceans and Continents. Izv.Acad. Sci. USSR. Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics. 1976, 12, 5, 16–24 (in Russian).
4. Nikolaev Y.V. Large scale ocean-air interaction and weather anomalies formation. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1981. 51 p. (in Russian).
5. Kushnir Y. Interdecadal variations in North Atlantic sea surface temperature and associated atmospheric conditions. J. Clim. 1994, 7, 1, 141–157.
6. Semenov V.A. Influence of oceanic inflow to the Barents Sea on climate variability in the Arctic region. Doklady Earth Sciences. 2008, 418, 1, 106–109.
7. Palmer M.D., Haines K., Tett S.F.B., Ansell T.J. Isolating the signal of ocean global warming. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2007, 34, 23, 1–6.
8. IPCC: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / eds. R.K. Pachauri, L.A. Meyer. Geneva, Switzerland, 2014. 151 p.
9. Timofeev V.T. Water Masses in the Arctic Basin. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1960. 190 p. (in Russian).
10. Treshnikov A.F., Baranov G.I. Structure and Circulation of Water in the Arctic Basin. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1972. 158 p. (in Russian).
11. Ivanov V.V., Timokhov L.A. Atlantic Water in the Arctic Circulation Transpolar System. Russ. Meteorol. Hydrol. 2019, 4, 36–53. doi: 10.3103/S1068373919040034
12. Polyakov I.V., Walsh J.E., Kwok R. Recent changes of Arctic multiyear sea ice coverage and the likely causes. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 2012, 93, 2, 145–151.
13. Polyakov I.V., Alekseev G.V., Timokhov L.A., Bhatt U.S., Colony R.L., Simmons H.L., Walsh D., Walsh J.E., Zakharov V.F. Variability of the intermediate Atlantic water of the Arctic Ocean over the last 100 years. J. Clim. 2004, 17, 23, 4485–4497.
14. Häkkinen S., Proshutinsky A. Freshwater content variability in the Arctic Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Ocean. 2004, 109, C3.
15. Alekseev G.V., Frolov I.E., Sokolov V.T. Observations in the Arctic Ocean do not confirm weakening of thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic. Doklady Earth Sciences. 2007, 413, 2, 277–280 (in Russian).
16. Alekseev G.V., Bulatov L.V., Zakharov V.F., Ivanov V.V. Thermal expansion of Atlantic water in the Arctic Basin. Russian Meteorology and Hydrology. 1998, 7, 54–61.
17. Carmack E.C., Macdonald R.W., Perkin R.G., McLaughlin F.A., Pearson R.J. Evidence for warming of Atlantic water in the Southern Canadian Basin of the Arctic Ocean: Results from the Larsen-93 Expedition. Geophys. Res. Lett. 1995, 22, 9, 1061–1064.
18. Alekseev G.V., Bulatov L.V., Zakharov V.F., Ivanov V.V. Advection of unusual warm atlantic water into the arctic basin. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 1997, 356, 401–403 (in Russian).
19. Zhang X., Sorteberg A., Zhang J., Gerdes R., Comiso J.C. Recent radical shifts of atmospheric circulations and rapid changes in Arctic climate system. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2008, 35, 22, 1–7.
20. Zhang X., He J., Zhang J., Polyakov I., Gerdes R., Inoue J., Wu P. Enhanced poleward moisture transport and amplified northern high-latitude wetting trend. Nat. Clim. Chang. 2013, 3, 47–51.
21. Prowse T.D., Bring A., Carmack E.C., Holland M.M., Instanes A., Mard J., Vihma T., Wrona F.J. Freshwater. Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA). Oslo, 2017. P. 175–176.
22. Polyakov I.V., Alexeev V.A., Ashik I.M., Bacon S., Beszczynska-Möller A., Carmack E.C., Dmitrenko I.A., Fortier L., Gascard J., Hansen E., Hölemann J., Ivanov V.V., Kikuchi T., Kirillov S., Lenn Y., McLaughlin F.A., Piechura J., Repina I., Timokhov L.A., Walczowski W., Woodgate R. Fate of early 2000s arctic warm water pulse. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 2011, 92, 5, 561–566.
23. Alekseev G.V., Pnyushkov A.V., Ivanov N.E., Ashik I.M., Sokolov V.T. The complex estimation of climatic change in the sea Arctic according to IPY2007/08 data // Arctic and Antarctic Research. 2009. V. 1, № 81. P. 7–14 (in Russian).
24. Alekseev G.V., Ivanov N.E., Pnyushkov A.V., Balakin A.A. Climate change in the marine Arctic in the early 21st century // Arctic and Antarctic Research. 2010. V. 3, № 86. P. 22–34. (in Russian).
25. Alekseev G.V., Ivanov N.E., Pnyushkov A.V., Kharlanenkova N.E. Climate change in the marine Arctic in the beginning of 21s Century. In book: Contribution of Russia to International Polar Year 2007/08: Meteorological and geophysical researches, Paulsen Editions, 2011, 7–28. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2235.6009 (in Russian).
26. Alekseev G.V., Pnyushkov A.V., Smirnov A.V., Vyazilova A.E., Glok N.I. Influence of Atlantic inflow on the freshwater content in the upper layer of the Arctic Basin. Arctic and Antarctic Research. 2019, 65(4), 363–388 (in Russian). doi: 10.30758/0555–2648–2019–65–4–363–388
27. Environmental Working Group (EWG). Joint U.S. Russian Atlas of the Arctic Ocean: Oceanography Atlas for the Winter Period / National Snow and Ice Data Center. Boulder, CO, 1997. URL: http://ns.noaa.gov/atlas (date of access: 01.05.2020).
28. Barth A., Beckers J.-M., Troupin C., Alvera-Azcárate A., Vandenbulcke L. divand-1.0: n-dimensional variational data analysis for ocean observations. Geosci. Model Dev. 2014, 7, 1, 225–241.
29. Adler R.F., Huffman G.J., Chang A., Ferraro R., Xie P.P., Janowiak J., Rudolf B., Schneider U., Curtis S., Bolvin D., Gruber A., Susskind J., Arkin P., Nelkin E. The version-2 global precipitation climatology project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979-present). J Hydrometeorol. 2003, 4, 6, 1147–1167.
30. Lammers R.B., Shiklomanov A.I., Vörösmarty C.J., Fekete B.M., Peterson B.J. R-ArcticNet, A Regional Hydrographic Data Network for the Pan-Arctic Region (ISO-image of CD-ROM). PANGAEA. 2016. doi: 10.1594/PANGAEA.859422
31. Shiklomanov A.I., Holmes R.M., McClelland J.W., Tank S.E., Spencer R.G.M. Arctic Great Rivers Observatory. Discharge Dataset, Version 20190402. 2018. https://www.arcticrivers.org/data (date of access: 14.04.2020).
32. Karsakov A.L. Oceanographic investigations along the “Kola Meridian” section in the Barents Sea in 1900–2008. Murmansk, PINRO Press, 2009. 139 p. (in Russian).
33. Kulakov M.U., Makshtas A.P., Shutilin S.V. AARI–IOCM — coupled ice and circulation model for the Arctic region. Arctic and Antarctic Research. 2012, 2(97), 6–18 (in Russian).
34. Dickson R.R., Meincke J., Malmberg S.A., Lee A.J. The “great salinity anomaly” in the Northern North Atlantic 1968– 1982. Prog. Oceanogr. 1988, 20, 2, 103–151.
35. Proshutinsky A., Krishfield R.A., Timmermans M.-L., Toole J.M., Carmack E.C., McLaughlin F.A., Williams W.J., Zimmermann S.L., Itoh M., Shimada K. Beaufort Gyre freshwater reservoir: State and variability from observations. J Geophys Res. 2009, 114, C00A10, 1–25. doi: 10.1029/2008JC005104
36. Serreze M.C., Barrett A.P., Slater A.G., Woodgate R.A., Aagaard K., Lammers R.B., Steele M., Moritz R.E., Meredith M., Lee C.M. The large-scale freshwater cycle of the Arctic. J. Geophys. Res. Ocean. 2006, 111, C11010, 1–19. doi: 10.1029/2005JC003424
37. Aagaard K., Carmack E.C. The role of sea ice and other fresh water in the Arctic circulation. J. Geophys. Res. 1989, 94, C10, 14485–14498.
38. Grabs W.E., Portmann F., Couet T. Discharge Observation Networks in Arctic Regions: Computation of the River Runoff into the Arctic Ocean, Its Seasonality and Variability. The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean / Ed. E.L. Lewis. Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Kluwer, 2000, 249–267.
39. Ahmed R., Prowse T., Dibike Y., Bonsal B., O’Neil H. Recent trends in freshwater influx to the arctic ocean from four major arctic-draining rivers. Water (Switzerland). 2020, 12, 4, 1189.
40. Kulakov M. Yu., Makshtas A.P., Shutilin S.V. Modelling estimations of sensitivity of the Arctic ocean ice cover to changes of forcings. Arctic and Antarctic Research. 2012, 3, 93, 66–74 (in Russian).
41. Spreen G., Steur L. De, Divine D., Gerland S., Hansen E., Kwok R. Arctic Sea Ice Volume Export Through Fram Strait From 1992 to 2014. J. Geophys. Res. Ocean. 2020, 125, 6, e2019JC016039. doi: 10.1029/2019JC016039
42. Wang Q., Wekerle C., Danilov S., Koldunov N., Sidorenko D., Sein D., Rabe B., Jung T. Arctic Sea Ice Decline Significantly Contributed to the Unprecedented Liquid Freshwater Accumulation in the Beaufort Gyre of the Arctic Ocean. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2018, 45, 10, 4956–4964. doi: 10.1029/2018GL077901
43. Polyakov I.V., Pnyushkov A.V., Alkire M.B., Ashik I.M., Baumann T.M., Carmack E.C., Goszczko I., Guthrie J., Ivanov V.V., Kanzow T., Krishfield R., Kwok R., Sundfjord A., Morison J., Rember R., Yulin A.V. Greater role for Atlantic inflows on sea-ice loss in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Science. 2017, 356, 6335, 285–291. doi: 10.1126/science.aai8204
44. Polyakov I.V., Rippeth T.P., Fer I., Alkire M.B., Baumann T.M., Carmack E.C., Ingvaldsen R., Ivanov V.V., Janout M., Lind S., Padman L., Pnyushkov A.V., Rember R. Weakening of cold halocline layer exposes sea ice to oceanic heat in the eastern arctic ocean. J. Clim. 2020, 33, 18, 8107–8123. doi: 10.1175/jcli-d-19–0976.1
45. Zubov N.N. Arctic ice. Мoscow, Izdatel’stvo Glavsermorputi, 1944. 360 p. (in Russian).
46. Treshnikov A.F. Arctic Ocean surface waters. Arctic and Antarctic Research. 1959, 7, 5–14 (in Russian).
47. Proshutinsky A., Krishfield R., Toole J.M., Timmermans M.-L., Williams W., Zimmermann S., Yamamoto-Kawai M., Armitage T.W.K., Dukhovskoy D., Golubeva E.N., Manucharyan G.E., Platov G., Watanabe E., Kikuchi T., Nishino S., Itoh M., Kang S.-H., Cho K.-H., Tateyama K. Analysis of the Beaufort Gyre Freshwater Content in 2003–2018. J. Geophys. Res. Ocean. 2019, 124, 12, 9658–9689. doi: 10.1029/2019JC015281
48. Ryabchenko V.A., Alekseev G.V., Neelov I.A., Dvornikov A.Y. Distribution of River Waters in the Arctic Ocean. Russian Meteorology and Hydrology. 2001, 9, 61–69 (in Russian).
49. Kelly S.J., Proshutinsky A., Popova E.K., Aksenov Y.K., Yool A. On the origin of water masses in the Beaufort Gyre. J. Geophys.Res. Ocean. 2019, 124, 7, 4696–4709. doi: 10.1029/2019JC015022
50. Woodgate R.A. Increases in the Pacific inflow to the Arctic from 1990 to 2015, and insights into seasonal trends and driving mechanisms from year-round Bering Strait mooring data. Prog. Oceanogr. 2018, 160, 124–154. doi: 10.1016/j.pocean.2017.12.007
Review
For citations:
Alekseev G.V., Smirnov A.V., Pnyushkov A.V., Vyazilova A.E., Kulakov M.Y., Glok N.I. Changes of fresh water content in the upper layer of the Arctic Basin in the 1950s-2010s. Fundamental and Applied Hydrophysics. 2021;14(4):25-38. https://doi.org/10.7868/S2073667321040031
Views:
163
Email this article 