The Atlantic and summer Pacific waters variability in the Arctic Ocean from 1997 to 2008

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Bourgain, Pascaline, Gascard, Jean-Claude
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Austral Boréal (AB), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636))
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: envir; geo; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Pacific; Arctic Basin; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051045; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00752858/file/2012GL051045.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00752858

International audience As a main source of heat for the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic and Summer Pacific waters and their spatiotemporal variability require serious attention especially in the context of a drastic summer sea ice extent decrease. We propose to examine the recent evolution of these two water masses at a larger spatial scale than what was done so far. For that purpose, we introduced indices that proved to be efficient tools for quantifying water masses influence. Based on these indices and thanks to a very large data set collected throughout the Arctic deep basin from 1997 to 2008, we investigated the interannual variability of the Atlantic and Summer Pacific waters distribution and characteristics. Observations confirmed the existence of warm pulses of the Atlantic water mass propagating into the Arctic basin. However, no warming trend of the Atlantic water in the Eurasian basin was identified over the 1997-2008 time period. In contrast, the Summer Pacific water was getting warmer during the same period. The Summer Pacific water of the Canadian basin, being closer to the surface than the Atlantic water mass and exhibiting a warming trend, appears to be a serious candidate for contributing partly to the drastic summer sea ice extent and thickness decrease observed recently in the Arctic and in the Canadian basin in particular.