Changing the layer cake: Stratification trends in the Barents-Kara Seas (BKS) ...

• Main Authors: Roberts, Emyr Martyn, Johnson, Helen, Heorton, Harry, Bowers, David, Lenn, Yueng-Djern
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; North Atlantic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.57757/iugg23-0041; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5017054

<!--!introduction!--> The Barents-Kara region is an Arctic warming hotspot. It has experienced increased water column and lower troposphere temperatures, pronounced sea ice loss, and ecosystem change. Ocean stratification here is a pertinent focus for study: the strength of density stratification controls vertical mixing and the fluxes of quantities, including heat and salt, which determine the properties (temperature, salinity, and density) of water throughout the water column. At the surface, these properties influence sea ice processes and heat loss to the atmosphere in a region ostensibly linked to Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude weather. More generally, they govern the characteristics and behaviour of water masses, undergoing transformation in the BKS, that participate in Arctic and North Atlantic circulation. We use the potential energy anomaly (PEA), a metric of density stratification, to investigate changes in the region from 1993 to present day. Representing the energy required to ... : The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023) ...