Episodic Extrema of Surface Stress Energy Input to the Western Arctic Ocean Contributed to Step Changes of Freshwater Content in the Beaufort Gyre

Zhong, Wenli; Zhang, Jinlun; Steele, Michael; Zhao, Jinping; Wang, Tao

doi:10.1029/2019gl084652

i

Episodic Extrema of Surface Stress Energy Input to the Western Arctic Ocean Contributed to Step Changes of Freshwater Content in the Beaufort Gyre

Supporting Files

2019
By Zhong, Wenli ; Zhang, Jinlun ; Steele, Michael
Source Geophysical Research Letters, 46(21), 12173-12182

Details

Journal Title:

Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Zhong, Wenli ; Zhang, Jinlun ; Steele, Michael ; Zhao, Jinping ; Wang, Tao
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Description:

The recent dramatic decline of sea ice in the western Arctic Ocean changes the transfer of momentum across the ice‐ocean boundary layer. The surface stress energy input through the surface geostrophic current in the Beaufort Gyre (BG) based on a numerical model is 0.03 mW/m2 in 1992–2004 versus 0.23 mW/m2 in 2005–2017. This energy input is primarily concentrated over the southern Canada Basin and the Chukchi Sea. It is 1.38 × 1016 J in observations versus 4.90 × 1016 J in the model in the BG during 2003–2014. We find that some well‐known freshwater changes in the BG over 1992–2017 resulted from episodic extrema of energy input in 2007, 2012, and 2016. In particular, most of the energy input in 2007 was transformed into potential energy (57%) which resulted in a new state of freshwater budget. Our study suggests that as of 2016, the BG had not yet reached a saturated freshwater state.
Keywords:
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Geophysics
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 46(21), 12173-12182
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl084652
ISSN:

0094-8276 ; 1944-8007
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA15OAR4310170 ; Grant no. NA15OAR4320063
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
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https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/58456/noaa_58456_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 7.22 MB]
Collection(s):

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:5c431324f6445a5d1301a730b475fc91822ab18c3ed98d1eb0f1c51c6d60a3d8

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