Wind-Driven Atlantic Water Flow as a Direct Mode for Reduced Barents Sea Ice Cover

Lien, Vidar S.; Schlichtholz, Pawel; Skagseth, Øystein; Vikebø, Frode

doi:10.1175/jcli-d-16-0025.1

Cited by 76 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(84 reference statements)

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“…The counterclockwise phase of the Fram‐Barents connection (i.e., anomalous Barents Sea transport towards the Arctic) features a similar low SLP and cyclonic winds in the Nordic Seas as the AO and NAO. The Barents Sea transport is indeed weakly but significantly correlated to both in HiGEM1.1 ( r = 0.3) as also found by Lien et al (). In practice, the anomalous circulation around Svalbard can be facilitated by changing the fraction of the Atlantic Water carried by the Norwegian Atlantic Current that bifurcates into the Barents Sea versus the fraction that continues to feed the West Spitsbergen Current toward the Fram Strait.…”

Section: Discussion: Mechanisms Behind Strait Correlationssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The opposite happens for a counterclockwise anomalous circulation around Svalbard. This mechanism has also been identified in observations on multiple timescales, from daily to interannual (Bader et al, ; Chafik et al, ; Lien et al, ; Lien et al, ). The counterclockwise phase of the Fram‐Barents connection (i.e., anomalous Barents Sea transport towards the Arctic) features a similar low SLP and cyclonic winds in the Nordic Seas as the AO and NAO.…”

Section: Discussion: Mechanisms Behind Strait Correlationsmentioning

confidence: 61%

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Interconnectivity Between Volume Transports Through Arctic Straits

et al. 2018

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Arctic heat and freshwater budgets are highly sensitive to volume transports through the Arctic‐Subarctic straits. Here we study the interconnectivity of volume transports through Arctic straits in three models; two coupled global climate models, one with a third‐degree horizontal ocean resolution (High Resolution Global Environmental Model version 1.1 [HiGEM1.1]) and one with a twelfth‐degree horizontal ocean resolution (Hadley Centre Global Environment Model 3 [HadGEM3]), and one ocean‐only model with an idealized polar basin (tenth‐degree horizontal resolution). The two global climate models indicate that there is a strong anticorrelation between the Bering Strait throughflow and the transport through the Nordic Seas, a second strong anticorrelation between the transport through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the Nordic Seas transport, and a third strong anticorrelation is found between the Fram Strait and the Barents Sea throughflows. We find that part of the strait correlations is due to the strait transports being coincidentally driven by large‐scale atmospheric forcing patterns. However, there is also a role for fast wave adjustments of some straits flows to perturbations in other straits since atmospheric forcing of individual strait flows alone cannot lead to near mass balance fortuitously every year. Idealized experiments with an ocean model (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean version 3.6) that investigate such causal strait relations suggest that perturbations in the Bering Strait are compensated preferentially in the Fram Strait due to the narrowness of the western Arctic shelf and the deeper depth of the Fram Strait.

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Section: Discussion: Mechanisms Behind Strait Correlationssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussion: Mechanisms Behind Strait Correlationsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Interconnectivity Between Volume Transports Through Arctic Straits

et al. 2018

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“…It has also been suggested that the NAO affects the volume of AW entering the Barents Sea and hence the fraction of water that recirculates or reaches the FS. Furevik (), Lien et al (), and J. Zhang et al () showed that during periods with strong NAO, the AW inflow was stronger and had an anomalous eastward extension, resulting in less water being recirculated in the Nordic Seas and more entering the Barents Sea. However, Ingvaldsen et al () and Lien et al () found that the flow through the BSO is also highly dependent on the local wind pattern and positive wind stress curl in the Barents Sea which in turn sets up Ekman transport toward the coast.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furevik (), Lien et al (), and J. Zhang et al () showed that during periods with strong NAO, the AW inflow was stronger and had an anomalous eastward extension, resulting in less water being recirculated in the Nordic Seas and more entering the Barents Sea. However, Ingvaldsen et al () and Lien et al () found that the flow through the BSO is also highly dependent on the local wind pattern and positive wind stress curl in the Barents Sea which in turn sets up Ekman transport toward the coast. Finally, Smedsrud et al () found that the NAO correlation broke down after 2000, and Lien et al () showed that the flow into the BSO was strongly affected by northern Barents Sea winds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atlantic Water Heat Transport Variability in the 20th Century Arctic Ocean From a Global Ocean Model and Observations

et al. 2018

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Northward ocean heat transport and its variability influence the Arctic sea ice cover, contribute to surface warming or cooling, or simply warm or cool the Arctic Ocean interior. A simulation with the forced global ocean model NorESM20CR, aided by hydrographic observations since 1900, show large decadal fluctuations in the ocean heat transport, with the largest variations in the Atlantic sector. The simulated net poleward ocean heat transport over the last century is about 68 TW, and 88% of this occurs in the Barents Sea Opening (45 TW) and the Fram Strait (15 TW). Typical variations are 40 TW over time scales between 5 and 10 years, related to thermohaline and wind stress forcings. The mean heat transport in the Davis Strait is about 10 TW, and less than 5 TW flows north in the Bering Strait. The core temperature of the Atlantic Water (AW) entering the Arctic Ocean has increased in recent decades, consistent with an ongoing expansion of the Atlantic domain (Atlantification), but earlier warm events are also documented. The temperature of the northward‐flowing AW thus plays a vital role, with decadal variations of around 0.5 ∘C. The Nordic Seas atmosphere contributes with thermodynamic forcing, dampening the advected heat anomalies. In the Barents Sea, variations in the inflow volume flux dominate, while variations in temperature dominate the heat transport in the Fram Strait. There are significant trends over recent decades, also dominated by the Barents Sea that presently has 1 Sv higher volume transport and +1.0 ∘C warmer AW than the long‐term mean.

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“…Recently, many studies have addressed the mechanism of SIC change in winter [10,11]. The roles of radiation and sensible heat [8,12], moisture transport [13,14], wind-driven sea ice drifting [15,16] and other factors [17] have been examined in many previous studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Northern Hemisphere Atmospheric Blocking on Arctic Sea Ice Decline in Winter at Weekly Time Scales

2018

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Abstract:In this study, the effects of the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking circulation on Arctic sea ice decline at weekly time scales are examined by defining four key regions based on observational data analysis. Given the regression analysis, the frequently occurring atmospheric patterns related to the sea ice decline in four key sea regions (Baffin Bay, Barents-Kara Seas, Okhotsk Sea and Bering Sea) are found to be Greenland blocking (GB), Ural blocking (UB), western Pacific blocking (PB-W) and eastern Pacific blocking (PB-E), respectively. The results show that the regional blocking frequency is higher (lower) in lower (higher) sea ice winters for each key region. Moreover, composite analysis indicates that blocking evolution is usually accompanied by significant sea ice decline at weekly time scales during the blocking life cycle for each key region. In addition, the intensified surface downward infrared radiation (IR) anomaly and the precipitable water for the entire atmosphere (PWA) in each key region are found to make significant contributions to the positive surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly, which is beneficial for the reduction in sea ice. The approximate quantitative analysis of different surface energy fluxes induced by blocking is also applied. Further analysis shows that the blocking event and the associated changes in SAT and radiation anomalies for each key region lead the sea ice decline by approximately 3~6 days. This result indicates that regional blocking can contribute to regional sea ice decline at weekly time scales through surface warming associated with enhanced water vapor and associated IR variations. Further quantitative estimates indicate that regional blocking can reduce regional sea ice cover (SIC) by 49.6%, 49.4%, 52.2% and 49.5% for Baffin Bay, Barents-Kara Seas, Okhotsk Sea and Bering Sea, respectively, during the blocking life cycle. Finally, a physical process diagrammatic sketch is given to illustrate how blocking affects SIC decline.

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Wind-Driven Atlantic Water Flow as a Direct Mode for Reduced Barents Sea Ice Cover

Cited by 76 publications

References 68 publications

Interconnectivity Between Volume Transports Through Arctic Straits

Interconnectivity Between Volume Transports Through Arctic Straits

Atlantic Water Heat Transport Variability in the 20th Century Arctic Ocean From a Global Ocean Model and Observations

Effects of Northern Hemisphere Atmospheric Blocking on Arctic Sea Ice Decline in Winter at Weekly Time Scales

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