Arctic | Climate and Oceanography
New state of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre Presenter: Peigen Lin , plinwhoi@gmail.com, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Robert Pickart , rpickart@whoi.edu, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Harry Heorton , h.heorton@ucl.ac.uk, University College London Mickel Tsamados , m.tsamados@ucl.ac.uk, University College London
Motoyo Itoh , motoyo@jamstec.go.jp, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology Takashi Kikuchi , takashik@jamstec.go.jp, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
The anti-cyclonic Beaufort Gyre is the dominant circulation of the Canada Basin and the largest freshwater reservoir in the Arctic Ocean. Using an extensive historical hydrographic dataset together with updated satellite dynamic ocean topography data, we find that the Beaufort Gyre has transitioned to a new state in which the increase in sea surface height of the gyre has slowed and the freshwater content has stabilized. In addition, the cold halocline layer has thinned significantly due to less input of cold and salty water stemming from the Pacific Ocean and the Chukchi Sea shelf, together with greater entrainment of lighter water from the eastern Beaufort Sea. The new state of the Beaufort Gyre is due to a southwestward shift in its location as a result of variation in the regional wind forcing. Our results imply that continued thinning of the cold halocline layer could disrupt the present stable state, allowing for a significant freshwater release. This in turn could freshen the subpolar North Atlantic, impacting the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2023 117
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker