Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers
Accelerating since the early 1990s, the Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss exerts a significant impact on thermohaline processes in the sub-Arctic seas. Surplus freshwater discharge from Greenland since the 1990s, comparable in volume to the amount of freshwater present during the Great Salinity Anomaly...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/70861883/Reprint_JGR_2016.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959534812&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
id |
ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 2024-04-28T08:04:33+00:00 Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S. Myers, Paul G Platov, Gennady Timmermans, Mary Louise Curry, Beth Proshutinsky, Andrey Bamber, Jonathan L. Chassignet, Eric Hu, Xianmin Lee, Craig M. Somavilla, Raquel 2016-01 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1983/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/70861883/Reprint_JGR_2016.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959534812&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Dukhovskoy , D S , Myers , P G , Platov , G , Timmermans , M L , Curry , B , Proshutinsky , A , Bamber , J L , Chassignet , E , Hu , X , Lee , C M & Somavilla , R 2016 , ' Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans , vol. 121 , no. 1 , pp. 877-907 . https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 Baffin Bay Greenland freshwater Greenland Ice Sheet melting Labrador Sea Nordic Seas sub-Arctic seas thermohaline circulation article 2016 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 2024-04-03T15:33:35Z Accelerating since the early 1990s, the Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss exerts a significant impact on thermohaline processes in the sub-Arctic seas. Surplus freshwater discharge from Greenland since the 1990s, comparable in volume to the amount of freshwater present during the Great Salinity Anomaly events, could spread and accumulate in the sub-Arctic seas, influencing convective processes there. However, hydrographic observations in the Labrador Sea and the Nordic Seas, where the Greenland freshening signal might be expected to propagate, do not show a persistent freshening in the upper ocean during last two decades. This raises the question of where the surplus Greenland freshwater has propagated. In order to investigate the fate, pathways, and propagation rate of Greenland meltwater in the sub-Arctic seas, several numerical experiments using a passive tracer to track the spreading of Greenland freshwater have been conducted as a part of the Forum for Arctic Ocean Modeling and Observational Synthesis effort. The models show that Greenland freshwater propagates and accumulates in the sub-Arctic seas, although the models disagree on the amount of tracer propagation into the convective regions. Results highlight the differences in simulated physical mechanisms at play in different models and underscore the continued importance of intercomparison studies. It is estimated that surplus Greenland freshwater flux should have caused a salinity decrease by 0.06-0.08 in the sub-Arctic seas in contradiction with the recently observed salinification (by 0.15-0.2) in the region. It is surmised that the increasing salinity of Atlantic Water has obscured the freshening signal. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea Nordic Seas University of Bristol: Bristol Research Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 121 1 877 907 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
op_collection_id |
ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Baffin Bay Greenland freshwater Greenland Ice Sheet melting Labrador Sea Nordic Seas sub-Arctic seas thermohaline circulation |
spellingShingle |
Baffin Bay Greenland freshwater Greenland Ice Sheet melting Labrador Sea Nordic Seas sub-Arctic seas thermohaline circulation Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S. Myers, Paul G Platov, Gennady Timmermans, Mary Louise Curry, Beth Proshutinsky, Andrey Bamber, Jonathan L. Chassignet, Eric Hu, Xianmin Lee, Craig M. Somavilla, Raquel Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
topic_facet |
Baffin Bay Greenland freshwater Greenland Ice Sheet melting Labrador Sea Nordic Seas sub-Arctic seas thermohaline circulation |
description |
Accelerating since the early 1990s, the Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss exerts a significant impact on thermohaline processes in the sub-Arctic seas. Surplus freshwater discharge from Greenland since the 1990s, comparable in volume to the amount of freshwater present during the Great Salinity Anomaly events, could spread and accumulate in the sub-Arctic seas, influencing convective processes there. However, hydrographic observations in the Labrador Sea and the Nordic Seas, where the Greenland freshening signal might be expected to propagate, do not show a persistent freshening in the upper ocean during last two decades. This raises the question of where the surplus Greenland freshwater has propagated. In order to investigate the fate, pathways, and propagation rate of Greenland meltwater in the sub-Arctic seas, several numerical experiments using a passive tracer to track the spreading of Greenland freshwater have been conducted as a part of the Forum for Arctic Ocean Modeling and Observational Synthesis effort. The models show that Greenland freshwater propagates and accumulates in the sub-Arctic seas, although the models disagree on the amount of tracer propagation into the convective regions. Results highlight the differences in simulated physical mechanisms at play in different models and underscore the continued importance of intercomparison studies. It is estimated that surplus Greenland freshwater flux should have caused a salinity decrease by 0.06-0.08 in the sub-Arctic seas in contradiction with the recently observed salinification (by 0.15-0.2) in the region. It is surmised that the increasing salinity of Atlantic Water has obscured the freshening signal. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S. Myers, Paul G Platov, Gennady Timmermans, Mary Louise Curry, Beth Proshutinsky, Andrey Bamber, Jonathan L. Chassignet, Eric Hu, Xianmin Lee, Craig M. Somavilla, Raquel |
author_facet |
Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S. Myers, Paul G Platov, Gennady Timmermans, Mary Louise Curry, Beth Proshutinsky, Andrey Bamber, Jonathan L. Chassignet, Eric Hu, Xianmin Lee, Craig M. Somavilla, Raquel |
author_sort |
Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S. |
title |
Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
title_short |
Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
title_full |
Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
title_fullStr |
Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
title_sort |
greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-arctic seas from model experiments with passive tracers |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/70861883/Reprint_JGR_2016.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959534812&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea Nordic Seas |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea Nordic Seas |
op_source |
Dukhovskoy , D S , Myers , P G , Platov , G , Timmermans , M L , Curry , B , Proshutinsky , A , Bamber , J L , Chassignet , E , Hu , X , Lee , C M & Somavilla , R 2016 , ' Greenland freshwater pathways in the sub-Arctic Seas from model experiments with passive tracers ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans , vol. 121 , no. 1 , pp. 877-907 . https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 |
op_relation |
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/517fb88f-203c-4f01-b538-aba3c0143310 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011290 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
121 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
877 |
op_container_end_page |
907 |
_version_ |
1797575150559821824 |