Premium
Synoptic storms and the development of the 1997 warming and freshening event in the Beaufort Sea
Author(s) -
Yang Jiayan,
Comiso Josefino,
Krishfield Richard,
Honjo Susumu
Publication year - 2001
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 - 10.1029/2000gl011896
Subject(s) - halocline , climatology , sea ice , storm , arctic sea ice decline , geology , oceanography , arctic ice pack , arctic , buoy , mixed layer , environmental science , salinity , drift ice
The climatic state in the Beaufort Sea in 1997 was characterized by warmer atmosphere, smaller areal coverage of sea ice in summer than average, and an oceanic mixed layer with a relatively low salinity that persisted into fall and and early winter. The most remarkable change occurred near the end of 1997 when both salinity and temperature in the upper layer varied dramatically in a short‐time period. The evolution of the air‐sea‐ice condition was observed by an autonomous buoy. The buoy observation revealed that deep mixing that penetrated through the Arctic halocline occurred in response to enhanced wind‐stress forcing associated with an intense storm and was mainly responsible for the abrupt change of temperature and salinity in the mixed layer near the end of 1997. Similar events were inferred from storms in the Eurasian basin in 1994. We postulate that synoptic storms plays a very important role in the variations of the heat and salt budgets in the upper Arctic Ocean.