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Arctic pathways of Pacific Water: Arctic Ocean model intercomparison experiments

Arctic pathways of Pacific Water: Arctic Ocean model intercomparison experiments
Arctic pathways of Pacific Water: Arctic Ocean model intercomparison experiments
Pacific Water (PW) enters the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait and brings heat, fresh water and nutrients from the northern Bering Sea. The circulation of PW in the central Arctic Ocean is only partially understood due to the lack of observations. In this paper pathways of PW are investigated using simulations with six state-of-the art regional and global Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs). In the simulations PW is tracked by a passive tracer, released in Bering Strait. Simulated PW water spreads from the Bering Strait region in three major branches. One of them starts in the Barrow Canyon, bringing PW along continental slope of Alaska into the Canadian Straits and then into Baffin Bay. The other initiates in the vicinity of the Herald Canyon and transports PW along the continental slope of the East-Siberian Sea into the transpolar drift, and then through Fram Strait and the Greenland Sea. The third branch begins near the Herald Shoal and the central Chukchi shelf and brings PW waters into the Beaufort Gyre. Models suggest that the spread of PW through the Arctic Ocean depends on the atmospheric circulation. In the models the wind, acting via Ekman pumping, drives the seasonal and interannual variability of PW in the Canadian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. The wind effects the simulated PW pathways by changing vertical shear of the relative vorticity of the ocean flow in the Canada Basin.
Arctic Ocean, Beaufort Gyre, Pacific Water, ocean dynamics, wind forcing
2169-9275
27-59
Aksenov, Yevgeny
1d277047-06f6-4893-8bcf-c2817a9c848e
Karcher, Michael
5c50aee9-258d-4f66-a62f-5d469e6f72b4
Proshutinsky, Andrey
4bcefc55-ebd2-4a60-a681-5d5eadcc2a83
Gerdes, Rüdiger
7286355d-02fd-4706-9d80-60d14141d3e7
De Cuevas, Beverly
01cc697c-2832-4de6-87bf-bf9f16c1f906
Golubeva, Elena
cc20fa33-a3bb-4899-ac08-e8c5f8ca42c2
Kauker, Frank
530cff0e-b0d5-4e57-8229-4a29f40950bd
Nguyen, An T.
88b1eb1f-ad3a-44aa-9d0c-e364b5eee609
Platov, Gennady A.
8ac63994-42f6-4ccc-a68a-a72adb9d9c1a
Wadley, Martin
9adce98c-4405-4ffa-96b3-afcdd4e6c44a
Watanabe, Eiji
43d770a3-50f6-45ed-87e7-4af41da1334a
Coward, Andrew C.
53b78140-2e65-476a-b287-e8384a65224b
Nurser, A.J. George
2493ef9a-21e9-4d8b-9c32-08677e7e145a
Aksenov, Yevgeny
1d277047-06f6-4893-8bcf-c2817a9c848e
Karcher, Michael
5c50aee9-258d-4f66-a62f-5d469e6f72b4
Proshutinsky, Andrey
4bcefc55-ebd2-4a60-a681-5d5eadcc2a83
Gerdes, Rüdiger
7286355d-02fd-4706-9d80-60d14141d3e7
De Cuevas, Beverly
01cc697c-2832-4de6-87bf-bf9f16c1f906
Golubeva, Elena
cc20fa33-a3bb-4899-ac08-e8c5f8ca42c2
Kauker, Frank
530cff0e-b0d5-4e57-8229-4a29f40950bd
Nguyen, An T.
88b1eb1f-ad3a-44aa-9d0c-e364b5eee609
Platov, Gennady A.
8ac63994-42f6-4ccc-a68a-a72adb9d9c1a
Wadley, Martin
9adce98c-4405-4ffa-96b3-afcdd4e6c44a
Watanabe, Eiji
43d770a3-50f6-45ed-87e7-4af41da1334a
Coward, Andrew C.
53b78140-2e65-476a-b287-e8384a65224b
Nurser, A.J. George
2493ef9a-21e9-4d8b-9c32-08677e7e145a

Aksenov, Yevgeny, Karcher, Michael, Proshutinsky, Andrey, Gerdes, Rüdiger, De Cuevas, Beverly, Golubeva, Elena, Kauker, Frank, Nguyen, An T., Platov, Gennady A., Wadley, Martin, Watanabe, Eiji, Coward, Andrew C. and Nurser, A.J. George (2015) Arctic pathways of Pacific Water: Arctic Ocean model intercomparison experiments. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121 (1), 27-59. (doi:10.1002/2015JC011299).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Pacific Water (PW) enters the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait and brings heat, fresh water and nutrients from the northern Bering Sea. The circulation of PW in the central Arctic Ocean is only partially understood due to the lack of observations. In this paper pathways of PW are investigated using simulations with six state-of-the art regional and global Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs). In the simulations PW is tracked by a passive tracer, released in Bering Strait. Simulated PW water spreads from the Bering Strait region in three major branches. One of them starts in the Barrow Canyon, bringing PW along continental slope of Alaska into the Canadian Straits and then into Baffin Bay. The other initiates in the vicinity of the Herald Canyon and transports PW along the continental slope of the East-Siberian Sea into the transpolar drift, and then through Fram Strait and the Greenland Sea. The third branch begins near the Herald Shoal and the central Chukchi shelf and brings PW waters into the Beaufort Gyre. Models suggest that the spread of PW through the Arctic Ocean depends on the atmospheric circulation. In the models the wind, acting via Ekman pumping, drives the seasonal and interannual variability of PW in the Canadian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. The wind effects the simulated PW pathways by changing vertical shear of the relative vorticity of the ocean flow in the Canada Basin.

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 October 2015
Published date: 13 October 2015
Keywords: Arctic Ocean, Beaufort Gyre, Pacific Water, ocean dynamics, wind forcing
Organisations: Marine Systems Modelling

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 383531
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/383531
ISSN: 2169-9275
PURE UUID: 576d57d0-c195-46e3-97b0-91417797faeb

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Date deposited: 02 Nov 2015 13:40
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:44

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Contributors

Author: Yevgeny Aksenov
Author: Michael Karcher
Author: Andrey Proshutinsky
Author: Rüdiger Gerdes
Author: Beverly De Cuevas
Author: Elena Golubeva
Author: Frank Kauker
Author: An T. Nguyen
Author: Gennady A. Platov
Author: Martin Wadley
Author: Eiji Watanabe
Author: Andrew C. Coward
Author: A.J. George Nurser

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