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Arctic Ocean freshwater dynamics: Transient response to increasing river runoff and precipitation

Arctic Ocean freshwater dynamics: Transient response to increasing river runoff and precipitation
Arctic Ocean freshwater dynamics: Transient response to increasing river runoff and precipitation
Simulations from a coupled ice-ocean general circulation model are used to assess the effectson Arctic Ocean freshwater storage of changes in freshwater input through river runoff and precipitation.We employ the climate response function framework to examine responses of freshwater content to abruptchanges in freshwater input. To the lowest order, the response of ocean freshwater content is linear, withan adjustment time scale of approximately 10 years, indicating that anomalies in Arctic Ocean freshwaterexport are proportional to anomalies in freshwater content. However, the details of the transient responseof the ocean depend on the source of freshwater input. An increase in river runoff results in a fairly smoothresponse in freshwater storage consistent with an essentially linear relation between total freshwatercontent and discharge of excess freshwater through the main export straits. However, the response to achange in precipitation is subject to greater complexity, which can be explained by the localized formationand subsequent export of salinity anomalies which introduce additional response time scales. The resultspresented here suggest that future increases in Arctic Ocean freshwater input in the form of precipitationare more likely to be associated with variability in the storage and release of excess freshwater than areincreases in freshwater input from river runoff
2169-9275
5205-5219
Brown, Nicola Jane
43fa889a-c1d8-4db1-a57e-0e45d4b9d59d
Nilsson, Johan
d92b78fc-f01c-42d1-949b-c0df128b454a
Pemberton, Per
2f080473-957b-412b-9a65-119a315c01b4
Brown, Nicola Jane
43fa889a-c1d8-4db1-a57e-0e45d4b9d59d
Nilsson, Johan
d92b78fc-f01c-42d1-949b-c0df128b454a
Pemberton, Per
2f080473-957b-412b-9a65-119a315c01b4

Brown, Nicola Jane, Nilsson, Johan and Pemberton, Per (2019) Arctic Ocean freshwater dynamics: Transient response to increasing river runoff and precipitation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 5205-5219. (doi:10.1029/2018JC014923).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Simulations from a coupled ice-ocean general circulation model are used to assess the effectson Arctic Ocean freshwater storage of changes in freshwater input through river runoff and precipitation.We employ the climate response function framework to examine responses of freshwater content to abruptchanges in freshwater input. To the lowest order, the response of ocean freshwater content is linear, withan adjustment time scale of approximately 10 years, indicating that anomalies in Arctic Ocean freshwaterexport are proportional to anomalies in freshwater content. However, the details of the transient responseof the ocean depend on the source of freshwater input. An increase in river runoff results in a fairly smoothresponse in freshwater storage consistent with an essentially linear relation between total freshwatercontent and discharge of excess freshwater through the main export straits. However, the response to achange in precipitation is subject to greater complexity, which can be explained by the localized formationand subsequent export of salinity anomalies which introduce additional response time scales. The resultspresented here suggest that future increases in Arctic Ocean freshwater input in the form of precipitationare more likely to be associated with variability in the storage and release of excess freshwater than areincreases in freshwater input from river runoff

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Accepted/In Press date: 15 June 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 June 2019
Published date: July 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 434412
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/434412
ISSN: 2169-9275
PURE UUID: 0a2f46d6-9077-40cd-a7f2-ca0dd7a4a5ca
ORCID for Nicola Jane Brown: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6222-8850

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Date deposited: 23 Sep 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:13

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Contributors

Author: Nicola Jane Brown ORCID iD
Author: Johan Nilsson
Author: Per Pemberton

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