Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate
The Arctic Ocean is a focal point of climate change, with ocean warming, freshening, sea-ice decline, and circulation that link to the changing atmospheric and terrestrial environment. Major features of the Arctic and the interconnected nature of its wind- and buoyancy-driven circulation are reviewe...
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2021
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ftmit:oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/133811 2023-06-11T04:07:55+02:00 Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate Timmermans, Mary-Louise Marshall, John 2021-09-17T13:37:49Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133811 en eng American Geophysical Union (AGU) 10.1029/2018JC014378 Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133811 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. MIT web domain Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2021 ftmit 2023-05-29T08:49:43Z The Arctic Ocean is a focal point of climate change, with ocean warming, freshening, sea-ice decline, and circulation that link to the changing atmospheric and terrestrial environment. Major features of the Arctic and the interconnected nature of its wind- and buoyancy-driven circulation are reviewed here by presenting a synthesis of observational data interpreted from the perspective of geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD). The general circulation is seen to be the superposition of Atlantic Water flowing into and around the Arctic basin and the two main wind-driven circulation features of the interior stratified Arctic Ocean: the Transpolar Drift Stream and the Beaufort Gyre. The specific drivers of these systems, including wind forcing, ice-ocean interactions, and surface buoyancy fluxes, and their associated GFD are explored. The essential understanding guides an assessment of how Arctic Ocean structure and dynamics might fundamentally change as the Arctic warms, sea-ice cover declines, and the ice that remains becomes more mobile. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Basin Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Sea ice DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Arctic Arctic Ocean |
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Open Polar |
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DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftmit |
language |
English |
description |
The Arctic Ocean is a focal point of climate change, with ocean warming, freshening, sea-ice decline, and circulation that link to the changing atmospheric and terrestrial environment. Major features of the Arctic and the interconnected nature of its wind- and buoyancy-driven circulation are reviewed here by presenting a synthesis of observational data interpreted from the perspective of geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD). The general circulation is seen to be the superposition of Atlantic Water flowing into and around the Arctic basin and the two main wind-driven circulation features of the interior stratified Arctic Ocean: the Transpolar Drift Stream and the Beaufort Gyre. The specific drivers of these systems, including wind forcing, ice-ocean interactions, and surface buoyancy fluxes, and their associated GFD are explored. The essential understanding guides an assessment of how Arctic Ocean structure and dynamics might fundamentally change as the Arctic warms, sea-ice cover declines, and the ice that remains becomes more mobile. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Timmermans, Mary-Louise Marshall, John |
spellingShingle |
Timmermans, Mary-Louise Marshall, John Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate |
author_facet |
Timmermans, Mary-Louise Marshall, John |
author_sort |
Timmermans, Mary-Louise |
title |
Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate |
title_short |
Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate |
title_full |
Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate |
title_fullStr |
Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate |
title_sort |
understanding arctic ocean circulation: a review of ocean dynamics in a changing climate |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133811 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Basin Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Basin Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Sea ice |
op_source |
MIT web domain |
op_relation |
10.1029/2018JC014378 Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133811 |
op_rights |
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. |
_version_ |
1768381026884648960 |