Modelled Long-Term Variability of the Arctic Fresh Water Budget

Fresh water transport from the Arctic to the North Atlantic Ocean is one important driver of the world ocean's meridional overturning motion. Observations of all components of the Arctic Ocean fresh water balance are not available in sufficient spatial and temporal detail to estimate long-term developments. Therefore, the Arctic Ocean fresh water budget is investigated by means of ocean-sea ice model data. Here we present results from a 50 year run of a coupled sea ice-ocean model forced with NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data; compared are two model version of different resolution. Special attention is given to the variability on interannual and longer timescales, the time evolution of the liquid versus the frozen phase of fresh water and the relation of the model results to fresh water export events like the one responsible for the observed Great Salinity Anomaly of the 1960s.