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Return of the cold halocline layer to the Amundsen Basin of the Arctic Ocean: Implications for the sea ice mass balance
Author(s) -
Björk G.,
Söderkvist J.,
Winsor P.,
Nikolopoulos A.,
Steele M.
Publication year - 2002
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 - 10.1029/2001gl014157
Subject(s) - halocline , oceanography , geology , sea ice , circumpolar deep water , mixed layer , ridge , water mass , arctic , fast ice , arctic ice pack , thermohaline circulation , antarctic sea ice , climatology , north atlantic deep water , paleontology , salinity
CTD measurements from the Arctic Ocean 2001 expedition reveal that the cold halocline layer (CHL) has returned to the Amundsen Basin at a position close to that found during the Oden'91 expedition. River water from the Siberian shelves formed a strong freshwater front in the Amundsen Basin, extending from the Gakkel Ridge to the Lomonosov Ridge. Furthermore, we show from model computations that the presence of a CHL may increase winter sea ice growth by 0.25 m over one season compared to a case with a non‐existing CHL due to increased vertical heat flux from the warm Atlantic water. The difference in sea ice growth is due to a much shallower winter convection with a CHL present, which is not able to reach into the warm Atlantic layer, resulting in a considerably smaller oceanic heat flux.