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Modification of water masses in the Barents Sea and its coupling to ice dynamics: a model study

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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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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank T. A. McClimans for encouraging discussions and constructive suggestions that improved the manuscript. The authors also want to thank anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions. This work was supported by the Norwegian Research Council’s NORKLIMA programme CABANERA, project no 155936/S30 and NESSAS project no. 165000/S30. We also thank NOTUR and the HPC centers at University of Tromsø and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for computational and human resources. Satellite ice cover data were provided by The National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, CO, USA.

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  1. Arild Sundfjord

    Present address: Norwegian Polar Institute, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, 7465, Trondheim, Norway

    Ingrid Ellingsen & Dag Slagstad

  2. Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Arild Sundfjord

Authors
  1. Ingrid Ellingsen
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  2. Dag Slagstad
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  3. Arild Sundfjord
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Correspondence to Ingrid Ellingsen.

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Ellingsen, I., Slagstad, D. & Sundfjord, A. Modification of water masses in the Barents Sea and its coupling to ice dynamics: a model study. Ocean Dynamics 59, 1095–1108 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-009-0230-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-009-0230-5

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