Atlantic-origin water extension into the Pacific Arctic induced an anomalous biogeochemical event

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Shigeto Nishino, Jinyoung Jung, Kyoung-Ho Cho, William J. Williams, Amane Fujiwara, Akihiko Murata, Motoyo Itoh, Eiji Watanabe, Michio Aoyama, Michiyo Yamamoto-Kawai, Takashi Kikuchi, Eun Jin Yang, Sung-Ho Kang
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Portfolio 2023
• Subjects: Science; Q; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; East Siberian Sea; Pacific; Pacific Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41960-w; https://doaj.org/article/e695d2c8145e447ea4a85df7e6f10a7c

Abstract The Arctic Ocean is facing dramatic environmental and ecosystem changes. In this context, an international multiship survey project was undertaken in 2020 to obtain current baseline data. During the survey, unusually low dissolved oxygen and acidified water were found in a high-seas fishable area of the western (Pacific-side) Arctic Ocean. Herein, we show that the Beaufort Gyre shrinks to the east of an ocean ridge and forms a front between the water within the gyre and the water from the eastern (Atlantic-side) Arctic. That phenomenon triggers a frontal northward flow along the ocean ridge. This flow likely transports the low oxygen and acidified water toward the high-seas fishable area; similar biogeochemical properties had previously been observed only on the shelf-slope north of the East Siberian Sea.