the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Ocean Science Heat in the Barents Sea: transport, storage, and surface fluxes

• Main Authors: L. H. Smedsrud, R. Ingvaldsen, J. E. Ø. Nilsen, Ø. Skagseth
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Simu
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.630.2644; http://www-2.nersc.no/~even/doc/smed10barents.pdf

Abstract. A column model is set up for the Barents Sea to explore sensitivity of surface fluxes and heat storage from varying ocean heat transport. Mean monthly ocean transport and atmospheric forcing are synthesised and force the simu-lations. Results show that by using updated ocean transports of heat and freshwater the vertical mean hydrographic sea-sonal cycle can be reproduced fairly well. Our results indicate that the ∼70 TW of heat transported to the Barents Sea by ocean currents is lost in the southern Barents Sea as latent, sensible, and long wave radiation, each contributing 23–39 TW to the total heat loss. Solar radiation adds 26 TW in the south, as there is no significant ice pro-duction. The northern Barents Sea receives little ocean heat trans-port. This leads to a mixed layer at the freezing point during winter and significant ice production. There is little net sur-face heat loss annually in the north. The balance is achieved by a heat loss through long wave radiation all year, removing most of the summer solar heating. During the last decade the Barents Sea has experienced an atmospheric warming and an increased ocean heat trans-port. The Barents Sea responds to such large changes by adjusting temperature and heat loss. Decreasing the ocean heat transport below 50 TW starts a transition towards Arc-tic conditions. The heat loss in the Barents Sea depend on the effective area for cooling, and an increased heat transport leads to a spreading of warm water further north.