Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean
Mesoscale eddies are important to many aspects of the dynamics of the Arctic Ocean. Among others, they maintain the halocline and interact with the Atlantic Water circumpolar boundary current through lateral eddy fluxes and shelf-basin exchanges. Mesoscale eddies are also important for transporting...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2997939 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 |
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/2997939 2023-05-15T14:34:29+02:00 Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean von Appen, Wilken-Jon Baumann, Till Martin Janout, Markus Koldunov, Nicolay Lenn, Yueng-Djern Pickart, R.S. Scott, Robert B. Wang, Qiang 2022 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2997939 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 eng eng The Oceanography Society urn:issn:1042-8275 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2997939 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 cristin:2020542 Oceanography. 2022, 35 (2). Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Oceanography 35 2 Journal article Peer reviewed 2022 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 2023-03-14T17:44:35Z Mesoscale eddies are important to many aspects of the dynamics of the Arctic Ocean. Among others, they maintain the halocline and interact with the Atlantic Water circumpolar boundary current through lateral eddy fluxes and shelf-basin exchanges. Mesoscale eddies are also important for transporting biological material and for modifying sea ice distribution. Here, we review what is known about eddies and their impacts in the Arctic Ocean in the context of rapid climate change. Eddy kinetic energy (EKE) is a proxy for mesoscale variability in the ocean due to eddies. We present the first quantification of EKE from moored observations across the entire Arctic Ocean and compare those results to output from an eddy resolving numerical model. We show that EKE is largest in the northern Nordic Seas/Fram Strait and it is also elevated along the shelf break of the Arctic Circumpolar Boundary Current, especially in the Beaufort Sea. In the central basins, EKE is 100–1,000 times lower. Generally, EKE is stronger when sea ice concentration is low versus times of dense ice cover. As sea ice declines, we anticipate that areas in the Arctic Ocean where conditions typical of the North Atlantic and North Pacific prevail will increase. We conclude that the future Arctic Ocean will feature more energetic mesoscale variability. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Climate change Fram Strait Nordic Seas North Atlantic Sea ice University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Arctic Arctic Ocean Pacific Oceanography |
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Open Polar |
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University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
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ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
Mesoscale eddies are important to many aspects of the dynamics of the Arctic Ocean. Among others, they maintain the halocline and interact with the Atlantic Water circumpolar boundary current through lateral eddy fluxes and shelf-basin exchanges. Mesoscale eddies are also important for transporting biological material and for modifying sea ice distribution. Here, we review what is known about eddies and their impacts in the Arctic Ocean in the context of rapid climate change. Eddy kinetic energy (EKE) is a proxy for mesoscale variability in the ocean due to eddies. We present the first quantification of EKE from moored observations across the entire Arctic Ocean and compare those results to output from an eddy resolving numerical model. We show that EKE is largest in the northern Nordic Seas/Fram Strait and it is also elevated along the shelf break of the Arctic Circumpolar Boundary Current, especially in the Beaufort Sea. In the central basins, EKE is 100–1,000 times lower. Generally, EKE is stronger when sea ice concentration is low versus times of dense ice cover. As sea ice declines, we anticipate that areas in the Arctic Ocean where conditions typical of the North Atlantic and North Pacific prevail will increase. We conclude that the future Arctic Ocean will feature more energetic mesoscale variability. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
von Appen, Wilken-Jon Baumann, Till Martin Janout, Markus Koldunov, Nicolay Lenn, Yueng-Djern Pickart, R.S. Scott, Robert B. Wang, Qiang |
spellingShingle |
von Appen, Wilken-Jon Baumann, Till Martin Janout, Markus Koldunov, Nicolay Lenn, Yueng-Djern Pickart, R.S. Scott, Robert B. Wang, Qiang Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean |
author_facet |
von Appen, Wilken-Jon Baumann, Till Martin Janout, Markus Koldunov, Nicolay Lenn, Yueng-Djern Pickart, R.S. Scott, Robert B. Wang, Qiang |
author_sort |
von Appen, Wilken-Jon |
title |
Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean |
title_short |
Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean |
title_full |
Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Eddies and the Distribution of Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Arctic Ocean |
title_sort |
eddies and the distribution of eddy kinetic energy in the arctic ocean |
publisher |
The Oceanography Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2997939 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Climate change Fram Strait Nordic Seas North Atlantic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Climate change Fram Strait Nordic Seas North Atlantic Sea ice |
op_source |
Oceanography 35 2 |
op_relation |
urn:issn:1042-8275 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2997939 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 cristin:2020542 Oceanography. 2022, 35 (2). |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.122 |
container_title |
Oceanography |
_version_ |
1766307502383693824 |