Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice
International audience Barents Sea Water (BSW) is formed from Atlantic Water that is cooled through atmospheric heat loss and freshened through seasonal sea ice melt. In the eastern Barents Sea, the BSW and fresher, colder Arctic Water meet at the surface along the Polar Front (PF). Despite its impo...
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Online Access: | https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/document https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/file/%5B15200485%20-%20Journal%20of%20Physical%20Oceanography%5D%20Observed%20Atlantification%20of%20the%20Barents%20Sea%20Causes%20the%20Polar%20Front%20to%20Limit%20the%20Expansion%20of%20Winter%20Sea%20Ice.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 |
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:insu-03683069v1 2023-12-17T10:25:10+01:00 Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice Barton, Benjamin I. Lenn, Yueng-Djern Lique, Camille Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2018 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/document https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/file/%5B15200485%20-%20Journal%20of%20Physical%20Oceanography%5D%20Observed%20Atlantification%20of%20the%20Barents%20Sea%20Causes%20the%20Polar%20Front%20to%20Limit%20the%20Expansion%20of%20Winter%20Sea%20Ice.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 en eng HAL CCSD info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/document https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/file/%5B15200485%20-%20Journal%20of%20Physical%20Oceanography%5D%20Observed%20Atlantification%20of%20the%20Barents%20Sea%20Causes%20the%20Polar%20Front%20to%20Limit%20the%20Expansion%20of%20Winter%20Sea%20Ice.pdf BIBCODE: 2018JPO.48.1849B doi:10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, 2018, 48, pp.1849-1866. ⟨10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1⟩ [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2018 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 2023-11-19T00:09:52Z International audience Barents Sea Water (BSW) is formed from Atlantic Water that is cooled through atmospheric heat loss and freshened through seasonal sea ice melt. In the eastern Barents Sea, the BSW and fresher, colder Arctic Water meet at the surface along the Polar Front (PF). Despite its importance in setting the northern limit of BSW ventilation, the PF has been poorly documented, mostly eluding detection by observational surveys that avoid seasonal sea ice. In this study, satellite sea surface temperature (SST) observations are used in addition to a temperature and salinity climatology to examine the location and structure of the PF and characterize its variability over the period 1985-2016. It is shown that the PF is independent of the position of the sea ice edge and is a shelf slope current constrained by potential vorticity. The main driver of interannual variability in SST is the variability of the Atlantic Water temperature, which has significantly increased since 2005. The SST gradient associated with the PF has also increased after 2005, preventing sea ice from extending south of the front during winter in recent years. The disappearance of fresh, seasonal sea ice melt south of the PF has led to a significant increase in BSW salinity and density. As BSW forms the majority of Arctic Intermediate Water, changes to BSW properties may have far-reaching impacts for Arctic Ocean circulation and climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Sea ice Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Journal of Physical Oceanography 48 8 1849 1866 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
spellingShingle |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] Barton, Benjamin I. Lenn, Yueng-Djern Lique, Camille Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice |
topic_facet |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
description |
International audience Barents Sea Water (BSW) is formed from Atlantic Water that is cooled through atmospheric heat loss and freshened through seasonal sea ice melt. In the eastern Barents Sea, the BSW and fresher, colder Arctic Water meet at the surface along the Polar Front (PF). Despite its importance in setting the northern limit of BSW ventilation, the PF has been poorly documented, mostly eluding detection by observational surveys that avoid seasonal sea ice. In this study, satellite sea surface temperature (SST) observations are used in addition to a temperature and salinity climatology to examine the location and structure of the PF and characterize its variability over the period 1985-2016. It is shown that the PF is independent of the position of the sea ice edge and is a shelf slope current constrained by potential vorticity. The main driver of interannual variability in SST is the variability of the Atlantic Water temperature, which has significantly increased since 2005. The SST gradient associated with the PF has also increased after 2005, preventing sea ice from extending south of the front during winter in recent years. The disappearance of fresh, seasonal sea ice melt south of the PF has led to a significant increase in BSW salinity and density. As BSW forms the majority of Arctic Intermediate Water, changes to BSW properties may have far-reaching impacts for Arctic Ocean circulation and climate. |
author2 |
Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barton, Benjamin I. Lenn, Yueng-Djern Lique, Camille |
author_facet |
Barton, Benjamin I. Lenn, Yueng-Djern Lique, Camille |
author_sort |
Barton, Benjamin I. |
title |
Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice |
title_short |
Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice |
title_full |
Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice |
title_fullStr |
Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Observed Atlantification of the Barents Sea Causes the Polar Front to Limit the Expansion of Winter Sea Ice |
title_sort |
observed atlantification of the barents sea causes the polar front to limit the expansion of winter sea ice |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/document https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/file/%5B15200485%20-%20Journal%20of%20Physical%20Oceanography%5D%20Observed%20Atlantification%20of%20the%20Barents%20Sea%20Causes%20the%20Polar%20Front%20to%20Limit%20the%20Expansion%20of%20Winter%20Sea%20Ice.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Sea ice |
op_source |
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, 2018, 48, pp.1849-1866. ⟨10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/document https://insu.hal.science/insu-03683069/file/%5B15200485%20-%20Journal%20of%20Physical%20Oceanography%5D%20Observed%20Atlantification%20of%20the%20Barents%20Sea%20Causes%20the%20Polar%20Front%20to%20Limit%20the%20Expansion%20of%20Winter%20Sea%20Ice.pdf BIBCODE: 2018JPO.48.1849B doi:10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0003.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1849 |
op_container_end_page |
1866 |
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1785573984803225600 |