Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing
The authors investigate the response of the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget to changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) using a regional-ocean configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology GCM (MITgcm) and carry out several different 10-yr and 30-yr integrations. At 1/6° (~18 km)...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Meteorological Society
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52327 |
| _version_ | 1826207532383731712 |
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| author | Condron, Alan Winsor, Peter Hill, Christopher N. Menemenlis, Dimitris |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Condron, Alan Winsor, Peter Hill, Christopher N. Menemenlis, Dimitris |
| author_sort | Condron, Alan |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The authors investigate the response of the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget to changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) using a regional-ocean configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology GCM (MITgcm) and carry out several different 10-yr and 30-yr integrations. At 1/6° (~18 km) resolution the model resolves the major Arctic transport pathways, including Bering Strait and the Canadian Archipelago. Two main calculations are performed by repeating the wind fields of two contrasting NAO years in each run for the extreme negative and positive NAO phases of 1969 and 1989, respectively. These calculations are compared both with a control run and the compiled observationally based freshwater budget estimate of Serreze et al.
The results show a clear response in the Arctic freshwater budget to NAO forcing, that is, repeat NAO negative wind forcing results in virtually all freshwater being retained in the Arctic, with the bulk of the freshwater content being pooled in the Beaufort gyre. In contrast, repeat NAO positive forcing accelerates the export of freshwater out of the Arctic to the North Atlantic, primarily via Fram Strait (~900 km[superscript 3] yr[superscript −1]) and the Canadian Archipelago (∼500 km[superscript 3] yr[superscript −1]), with a total loss in freshwater storage of ~13 000 km[superscript 3] (15%) after 10 yr. The large increase in freshwater export through the Canadian Archipelago highlights the important role that this gateway plays in redistributing the freshwater of the Arctic to subpolar seas, by providing a direct pathway from the Arctic basin to the Labrador Sea, Gulf Stream system, and Atlantic Ocean.
The authors discuss the sensitivity of the Arctic Ocean to long-term fixed extreme NAO states and show that the freshwater content of the Arctic is able to be restored to initial values from a depleted freshwater state after ~20 yr. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:51:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/52327 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:51:00Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/523272022-09-28T16:36:45Z Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing Condron, Alan Winsor, Peter Hill, Christopher N. Menemenlis, Dimitris Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Hill, Christopher N. Condron, Alan Hill, Christopher N. The authors investigate the response of the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget to changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) using a regional-ocean configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology GCM (MITgcm) and carry out several different 10-yr and 30-yr integrations. At 1/6° (~18 km) resolution the model resolves the major Arctic transport pathways, including Bering Strait and the Canadian Archipelago. Two main calculations are performed by repeating the wind fields of two contrasting NAO years in each run for the extreme negative and positive NAO phases of 1969 and 1989, respectively. These calculations are compared both with a control run and the compiled observationally based freshwater budget estimate of Serreze et al. The results show a clear response in the Arctic freshwater budget to NAO forcing, that is, repeat NAO negative wind forcing results in virtually all freshwater being retained in the Arctic, with the bulk of the freshwater content being pooled in the Beaufort gyre. In contrast, repeat NAO positive forcing accelerates the export of freshwater out of the Arctic to the North Atlantic, primarily via Fram Strait (~900 km[superscript 3] yr[superscript −1]) and the Canadian Archipelago (∼500 km[superscript 3] yr[superscript −1]), with a total loss in freshwater storage of ~13 000 km[superscript 3] (15%) after 10 yr. The large increase in freshwater export through the Canadian Archipelago highlights the important role that this gateway plays in redistributing the freshwater of the Arctic to subpolar seas, by providing a direct pathway from the Arctic basin to the Labrador Sea, Gulf Stream system, and Atlantic Ocean. The authors discuss the sensitivity of the Arctic Ocean to long-term fixed extreme NAO states and show that the freshwater content of the Arctic is able to be restored to initial values from a depleted freshwater state after ~20 yr. 2010-03-05T14:08:24Z 2010-03-05T14:08:24Z 2008-11 2008-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0894-8755 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52327 Condron, Alan et al. “Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing.” Journal of Climate (2009): 2422-2437. © 2008 American Meteorological Society en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2008JCLI2626.1 Journal of Climate Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society |
| spellingShingle | Condron, Alan Winsor, Peter Hill, Christopher N. Menemenlis, Dimitris Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing |
| title | Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing |
| title_full | Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing |
| title_fullStr | Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing |
| title_short | Simulated Response of the Arctic Freshwater Budget to Extreme NAO Wind Forcing |
| title_sort | simulated response of the arctic freshwater budget to extreme nao wind forcing |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52327 |
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