Modification of water masses in the Barents Sea and its coupling to ice dynamics: a model study |
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| Authors: | Ingrid Ellingsen Dag Slagstad Arild Sundfjord |
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| Institution: | 1.SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture,Trondheim,Norway;2.Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA),Troms?,Norway;3.Norwegian Polar Institute,Troms?,Norway |
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| Abstract: | The physical and biological environment of the Barents Sea is characterised by large variability on a wide range of scales.
Results from a numerical ocean model, SINMOD, are presented showing that the physical variability is partly forced by changes
in annual net ice import. The mean contribution from ice import in the simulation period (1979–2007) is about 40% of the total
amount of ice melted each year. The annual ice import into the Barents Sea varies between 143 and 1,236 km3, and this causes a substantial variability in the amount of annual ice melt in the Barents Sea. This in turn impacts the
freshwater content. The simulated freshwater contribution from ice is 0.02 Sv on average and 0.04 Sv at maximum. When mixed
into a mean net Atlantic Water (AW) inflow of 1.1 Sv with a salinity of 35.1, this freshwater addition decreases the salinity
of the modified AW to 34.4 and 33.9 for the mean and maximum freshwater fluxes, respectively. Ice import may thus be important
for the Barents Sea production of Arctic Ocean halocline water which has salinity of about 34.5. The changes in the ice melt
the following summer due to ice import also affect the formation of dense water in the Barents Sea by changing stratification,
altering the vertical mixing rates and affecting heat loss from the warm AW. The model results thus indicate that ice import
from the Arctic has a great impact on water mass modification in the Barents Sea which in turn impacts the ventilation of
the Arctic Ocean. |
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