Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre
The anti-cyclonic Beaufort Gyre is the dominant circulation of the Canada Basin and the largest freshwater reservoir in the Arctic Ocean. During the first part of the 2000s, the gyre intensified, expanded and accumulated freshwater. Using an extensive hydrographic dataset from 2003 to 2019, together...
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ftucl:oai:eprints.ucl.ac.uk.OAI2:10177537 2023-12-24T10:13:57+01:00 Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre Lin, Peigen Pickart, Robert S Heorton, Harry Tsamados, Michel Itoh, Motoyo Kikuchi, Takashi 2023-06 text https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/1/Tsamados_NGpaper_final_Lin_etal%20%281%29.pdf https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/ eng eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/1/Tsamados_NGpaper_final_Lin_etal%20%281%29.pdf https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/ open Nature Geoscience , 16 (6) pp. 485-491. (2023) Climate sciences Physical oceanography Article 2023 ftucl 2023-11-27T13:07:32Z The anti-cyclonic Beaufort Gyre is the dominant circulation of the Canada Basin and the largest freshwater reservoir in the Arctic Ocean. During the first part of the 2000s, the gyre intensified, expanded and accumulated freshwater. Using an extensive hydrographic dataset from 2003 to 2019, together with updated satellite dynamic ocean topography data, we find that over the past decade the Beaufort Gyre has transitioned to a quasi-stable state in which the increase in sea surface height of the gyre has slowed and the freshwater content has plateaued. In addition, the cold halocline layer, which isolates the warm/salty Atlantic water at depth, has thinned significantly due to less input of cold and salty water stemming from the Pacific Ocean and the Chukchi Sea shelf, together with greater entrainment of lighter water from the eastern Beaufort Sea. This recent transition of the Beaufort Gyre is associated with a southeastward shift in its location as a result of variation in the regional wind forcing. Our results imply that continued thinning of the cold halocline layer could modulate the present stable state, allowing for a freshwater release. This, in turn, could freshen the subpolar North Atlantic, impacting the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea canada basin Chukchi Chukchi Sea North Atlantic University College London: UCL Discovery Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Canada Pacific |
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Open Polar |
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University College London: UCL Discovery |
op_collection_id |
ftucl |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate sciences Physical oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Climate sciences Physical oceanography Lin, Peigen Pickart, Robert S Heorton, Harry Tsamados, Michel Itoh, Motoyo Kikuchi, Takashi Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre |
topic_facet |
Climate sciences Physical oceanography |
description |
The anti-cyclonic Beaufort Gyre is the dominant circulation of the Canada Basin and the largest freshwater reservoir in the Arctic Ocean. During the first part of the 2000s, the gyre intensified, expanded and accumulated freshwater. Using an extensive hydrographic dataset from 2003 to 2019, together with updated satellite dynamic ocean topography data, we find that over the past decade the Beaufort Gyre has transitioned to a quasi-stable state in which the increase in sea surface height of the gyre has slowed and the freshwater content has plateaued. In addition, the cold halocline layer, which isolates the warm/salty Atlantic water at depth, has thinned significantly due to less input of cold and salty water stemming from the Pacific Ocean and the Chukchi Sea shelf, together with greater entrainment of lighter water from the eastern Beaufort Sea. This recent transition of the Beaufort Gyre is associated with a southeastward shift in its location as a result of variation in the regional wind forcing. Our results imply that continued thinning of the cold halocline layer could modulate the present stable state, allowing for a freshwater release. This, in turn, could freshen the subpolar North Atlantic, impacting the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lin, Peigen Pickart, Robert S Heorton, Harry Tsamados, Michel Itoh, Motoyo Kikuchi, Takashi |
author_facet |
Lin, Peigen Pickart, Robert S Heorton, Harry Tsamados, Michel Itoh, Motoyo Kikuchi, Takashi |
author_sort |
Lin, Peigen |
title |
Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre |
title_short |
Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre |
title_full |
Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre |
title_fullStr |
Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent state transition of the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre |
title_sort |
recent state transition of the arctic ocean's beaufort gyre |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/1/Tsamados_NGpaper_final_Lin_etal%20%281%29.pdf https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/ |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Canada Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Canada Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea canada basin Chukchi Chukchi Sea North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea canada basin Chukchi Chukchi Sea North Atlantic |
op_source |
Nature Geoscience , 16 (6) pp. 485-491. (2023) |
op_relation |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/1/Tsamados_NGpaper_final_Lin_etal%20%281%29.pdf https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177537/ |
op_rights |
open |
_version_ |
1786187719366410240 |