Tracing Freshwater Anomalies Through the Air-Land-Ocean System: A Case Study from the Mackenzie River Basin and

• Main Authors: The Beaufort Gyre, Michael A. Rawlins, Michael Steele, Mark C. Serreze, Charles J. Vörösmarty, Wendy Ermold, Richard B. Lammers, Kyle C. Mcdonald, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Er Shiklomanov, Jinlun Zhang
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Mackenzie River; Beaufort Sea; Mackenzie river; Mackenzie Shelf
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.644.2056; http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/rawlins/Rawlins_Mackenzie_AO2009.pdf

1997, with above average flow each month, was followed by a record high flow in May 1998, then a sharp decline. Through diagnosing these changing flows and their expression in the Beaufort Sea via synthesis of observations and model output, this study provides insight into the nature of the Arctic's freshwater system. The low discharge in WY 1995 manifests negative anomalies in P-E and precipitation, recycled summer precipitation, and dry sur-face conditions immediately prior to the water year. The complex hydrograph for WY 1996 reflects a combina-tion of spring soil moisture recharge, buffering by rising lake levels, positive P-E anomalies in summer, and a massive release of water held in storage by Bennett Dam. The record high discharge in WY 1997 manifests the dual effects of reduced buffering by lakes and positive P-E anomalies for most of the year. With reduced buffer-ing, only modest P-E the following spring led to a record discharge in May 1998. As simulated with a coupled ice-ocean model, the record low discharge in WY 1995 contributed to a negative freshwater anomaly on the Mackenzie shelf lasting throughout the winter of 1995/96. High discharge from July–October 1996 contributed approximately 20 % to a positive freshwater anomaly forming in the Beaufort Sea in the autumn of that year. The