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| Titel |
Anomalously low central Arctic salinity in a year of converging atmospheric conditions |
| VerfasserIn |
Benjamin Rabe, Meri Korhonen, Mario Hoppmann, Robert Ricker, Stefan Hendricks, Thomas Krumpen, Adam Ulfsbo, Elizabeth Jones, Ursula Schauer, Justin Beckers |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250145855
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-9830.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Arctic Ocean has shown several years of very low sea-ice extent and redistribution
of liquid freshwater within the region since the the 1990s. Yet, the mechanisms
underlying this variability in the light of decadal trends and oscillations are not fully
understood.
Using obervations, we show anomalously low salinity in the central Arctic during
summer 2015. Values of practical salinity at the North Pole were around 28, whereas they
were 30 or more in prior observations since 1992. The freshwater inventory from the
surface to the 34 isohaline paints a similar picture with the anomaly continuing into
2016.
We find that the freshwater anomaly is likely driven by above average levels of sea-ice
melt and Ekman transport from the direction of the Siberian shelves and of the
Canada Basin. This is associated with strong freshening of Polar Surface Water and
elevated levels of waters of Pacific origin throughout this layer. Our results are part of
Arctic-wide changes in sea-ice cover and freshwater distribution on decadal timescales. |
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