Sensitivity of the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans to the Bering Strait inflow: A modeling study

• Main Authors: Ness, Borghild, Counillon, François, Dumont, Dany
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Zenodo 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Bering Strait; Salinity; Freshwater; Hybrid coordinates; Ocean model; HYCOM; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7520153

Water from the Pacific Ocean flowing through the Bering Strait (BS) influences the circulation, heat and salt budget of the Arctic. With salinity between 31.4 and 32.9, it contributes a significantly amount to the Beaufort Gyre fresh water reservoir. The hydrography and volume transport of this inflow vary significantly over a seasonal cycle. Warm water intrusions may act as a trigger for the onset of the seasonal melt of ice, as in the 2007 extreme event. In the current version of the TOPAZ system the BS inflow is simulated with a constant barotropic inflow and a mean seasonal hydrographic cycle. A modeling approach is adopted to understand the importance of the seasonal and inter-annual variability of the transport and the hydrography of the Bering Strait inflow for the Arctic and North Atlantic oceanic climate. Technical Report no. 317.