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Connections among ice, runoff and atmospheric forcing in the Beaufort Gyre
Author(s) -
Macdonald R. W.,
Carmack E. C.,
McLaughlin F. A.,
Falkner K. K.,
Swift J. H.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl900508
Subject(s) - arctic ice pack , sea ice , ocean gyre , geology , oceanography , antarctic sea ice , fast ice , drift ice , climatology , anticyclone , sea ice thickness , lead (geology) , arctic sea ice decline , environmental science , geomorphology , subtropics , fishery , biology
During SHEBA, thin ice and freshening of the Arctic Ocean surface in the Beaufort Sea led to speculation that perennial sea ice was disappearing [McPhee et al. , 1998]. Since 1987, we have collected salinity, δ 18 O and Ba profiles near the initial SHEBA site and, in 1997, we ran a section out to SHEBA. Resolving fresh water into runoff and ice melt, we found a large background of Mackenzie River water with exceptional amounts in 1997 explaining much of the freshening at SHEBA. Ice melt went through a dramatic 4–6 m jump in the early 1990s coinciding with the atmospheric pressure field and sea‐ice circulation becoming more cyclonic. The increase in sea‐ice melt appears to be a thermal and mechanical response to a circulation regime shift. Should atmospheric circulation revert to the more anticyclonic mode, ice conditions can also be expected to revert although not necessarily to previous conditions.