The relation between Arctic Ocean circulation and the Arctic Oscillation as revealed by satellite altimetry and gravimetry
Abstract
Arctic Ocean circulation is commonly characterized by the persistent anticyclonic Beaufort Gyre in the Canada Basin and the Transpolar Drift. While these are clearly important features, their role in changing Arctic Ocean circulation is at times distorted by sampling biases inherent in drifting buoy and standard shipboard measurements of western nations. Hydrographic measurements from SCICEX submarine cruises for science in the early 1990s revealed an increasingly cyclonic circulation along the Russian side of the Arctic Ocean related to the low sea level pressure pattern in the same region associated with a high Arctic Oscillation (AO) index. More recently satellite altimetry (ICESat and CryoSat2) and gravimetry (GRACE) have provided the basin-wide observational coverage needed to see shifts to increased cyclonic circulation in 2004 to 2008 and decreased cyclonic circulation in 2008 to 2015. These shifts are related to changes in the AO and are important for their effect on the trajectories of sea ice and freshwater through the Arctic Ocean.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMGC53E0930M
- Keywords:
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- 1610 Atmosphere;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1616 Climate variability;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1621 Cryospheric change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1635 Oceans;
- GLOBAL CHANGE