Climate variability in the Barents Sea during the 20th century with a focus on the 1990s ...

• Main Authors: Ingvaldsen, Randi, Loeng, Harald, Ottersen, Geir, Ådlandsvik, Bjørk
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: ICES MSS Vol.219 - Hydrobiological variability in the ICES Area, 1990-1999 2022
• Subjects: Barents Sea ICES Ecoregion; Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Barents Sea; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.19271780.v1; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/report/Climate_variability_in_the_Barents_Sea_during_the_20th_century_with_a_focus_on_the_1990s/19271780/1

Time-series of temperature in three sections representative of Atlantic Water in the Barents Sea reveal that the climate in the region has both long-term and short-term quasi-regular periods. Compared with other decades during the 20th century, the 1990s were colder than both the 1930s and 1950s. The 1990s started out warm, with a short, relatively cold, period in 1996-1998. During the final years of the decade there was a gradual build-up towards higher temperatures, with very high anomalies during late autumn and early winter. Through regional and local effects, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has a significant influence on the Barents Sea on decadal time scales and during extreme NAO events. Still, local atmospheric forcing not captured by the NAO index seems to dominate the distribution of the water masses within the area. The local pressure field appears to change the relative strength of the two branches going respectively northeast and east, thereby having a significant effect on the local ...