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A Synthesisof Exchanges T H E C H A N GIN G A R CTI C OC EAN | SPE C I A L ISS U E ON T H E INT ERN AT I ONA L POLAR YEAR 20072009 A Synthesis of Exchanges $rough the Main Oceanic Gateways to the Arctic Ocean BY AGNIESZK A BESZCZYNSK A M Ö L L E R , R E B ECC A A . W O O D G AT E , C R A I G L E E , H U M FREY MELLING, A N D M I C HAE L KARCH ER Deployment of a deep mooring with an Aanderaa current meter in Fram Strait during R/V Polarstern cruise ARKXIII in 2008. Photo courtesy of A. Beszczynska-Möller 82 Oceanography | Vol.24, No.3 ABSTRACT. In recent decades, the Arctic Ocean has changed dramatically. mass, liquid freshwater, and heat through Exchanges through the main oceanic gateways indicate two main processes of global the main Arctic gateways and the esti- A Synthesis of Exchanges climatic importance—poleward oceanic heat "ux into the Arctic Ocean and export mates derived from these observations. of freshwater toward the North Atlantic. Since the 1990s, in particular during the Year-round moorings, almost uninter- $rough the Main Oceanic Gateways International Polar Year (2007–2009), extensive observational e%orts were undertaken rupted since 1990, measure Paci!c to monitor volume, heat, and freshwater "uxes between the Arctic Ocean and the in"ow through Bering Strait. Since subpolar seas on scales from daily to multiyear. &is paper reviews present-day 2004, the program has been part of the estimates of oceanic "uxes and reports on technological advances and existing US National Oceanic and Atmospheric to the Arctic Ocean challenges in measuring exchanges through the main oceanic gateways to the Arctic. Administration (NOAA)-led Russian- American Long-Term Census of the INTRODUCTION by Paci!c in"ow through Bering Strait Arctic (RUSALCA) program. Since 2007, &e Arctic Ocean is tightly connected appears to play an important, triggering a high-resolution mooring array has to the global ocean system via water role in recent sea ice decline in the been deployed in the strait as part of a mass exchanges with the Paci!c and western Arctic (Woodgate et al., 2010). US National Science Foundation (NSF) Atlantic Oceans through several main Climate simulations indicate that International Polar Year (IPY) e%ort, oceanic gateways: Bering Strait, the increased freshwater out"ow from the and since 2010, as part of the NSF Arctic Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Davis Arctic may reduce convection in the Observing Network program. Strait, Fram Strait, and the entrance deepwater formation regions of the In the Atlantic in"ow sector, the to the Barents Sea (Figure 1). Changes North Atlantic, potentially in"uencing !rst concerted but regional e%ort to to subarctic seas thus can a%ect the the Atlantic meridional overturning monitor oceanic "uxes through the Arctic Ocean. For example, changing circulation (MOC; Wadley and Bigg, Nordic Seas started in the VEINS project poleward oceanic heat "ux can 2002; Vellinga et al., 2008). Arctic fresh- (Variability of Exchanges in Northern potentially impact perennial sea ice. water, stored in the upper few hundred Seas, 1997–2000) and was followed by In recent decades, a decline in sea meters, is delivered to the North Atlantic the international pan-Arctic ASOF study ice coverage, thickness, and volume in the form of liquid freshwater or sea (Arctic-Subarctic Ocean Fluxes, 2003– has been observed (e.g., Kwok et al., ice through Fram Strait or the Canadian 2006). &e subsequent DAMOCLES 2009), with the largest sea ice retreat in Arctic Archipelago. Details of how this project (Developing Arctic Modelling summer 2007 (e.g., Stroeve et al., 2008). "ux in"uences MOC are still poorly and Observing Capabilities for Long- A large-scale shi$ to warmer condi- known, although it is believed the term Environment Studies, 2006–2010) tions in the Arctic has been observed impacts on convection and Atlantic aimed to understand the e%ects of since the early 1990s, including warmer deepwater formation depend on the climate change in the Arctic (in partic- Atlantic in"ow (Holliday et al., 2008; exit route of the water from the Arctic ular, its potential to reduce perennial Schauer et al., 2008); sporadic warming (Koenigk et al., 2007). In recent years, sea ice). DAMOCLES was the European of the Paci!c Water in"ow, especially substantial changes have been observed contribution to IPY and provided the in 2007 (Woodgate et al., 2010); intru- in the storage and distribution of fresh- largest ever e%ort to assemble simul- sions of anomalously warm water over water in the Arctic Ocean, such as a shi$ taneous observations of the full Arctic Arctic shelves (Dmitrenko et al., 2010), in the position of the transpolar dri$ atmosphere-ice-ocean system, including along the Arctic continental margin (Rigor et al., 2002), changes in Arctic- oceanic exchanges through the Arctic- (Dmitrenko et al., 2008), into the central wide freshwater content (e.g., Polyakov Atlantic gateways. Arctic (Polyakov et al., 2005), and in the et al., 2008; Rabe et al., 2011), and trajec- To the west of Greenland, measure- Canada Basin (McLaughlin et al., 2009); tory shi$s in the Arctic-subarctic fresh- ments in Davis Strait carried out as and a large increase of ocean-atmosphere water cycle (Peterson et al., 2006). part of the NSF Freshwater Initiative heat "uxes due to sea ice losses (Kurtz In this paper, we review present-day (2004–2007) were followed by inten- et al., 2011). In addition, heat carried observational e%orts to quantify "uxes of sive observational e%orts undertaken Oceanography | September 2011 83 1 50 E ° N N W ° ° 180° 150° 66°N 70 74 78°N BS 11 0°W Bering t Strait trai USA M’ClureS Victoria 0 Island Chukchi E Sea 120° -10 100° 60 W ° Beaufort N -25 Barro Sea Canada -50 w Laptev Russia St Canadian Sea -75 ra Basin LS it Canadian Arctic -100 90°W Lancaster Devo Archipelago -250 n ian Is s Ellesmere Island n 90°E . d Ell si -500 Sound es Sound m Jone ereI s. Eura Ba Kara Smith Sound Islan Nares Sea s -1000 Strait 80°W y Baffin NS Ba -1500 Greenland Island ffin Baffin d FS -2000 Ba Sval- an Barents DS bard Fram Strait Sea it -3000 ra Davis St Greenl BSO 60°N 91°W n Strait Greenland CS iga Sea -4000 Island 60 Card n °E -5000 90°W evo ate D llG He Norwegian Sea Norway -6000 89°W HG Iceland Ellesmere Island 20 40 77 20 60 30 ’ ’ ° ’ ° N N W 60°N 0° ° E 30° Figure 1. Locations of moored arrays in the main Arctic oceanic gateways, overlaid on a bathymetry map (in color; bathymetry data from the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean [http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/arctic; Jakobsson et al., 2003]). A schematic of the main pathways of the Atlantic (red) and Pacific (yellow) derived waters is shown (after Jones et al., 2001; Rudels et al., 2004; Aksenov et al., 2010). $e solid red line depicts the Atlantic Water (AW) inflow, and the dashed red line represents circulation of the modified AW in the Arctic Ocean. $e solid yellow line shows the Pacific inflow, and the dashed yellow line indicates the freshwater outflow (a mixture of Pacific-, river-, and ice-melt-origin waters) from the Arctic Ocean. Black bars represent the moored arrays: FS = Fram Strait. DS = Davis Strait. BSO = Barents Sea Opening. BS = Bering Strait. NS =Nares Strait. LS = Lancaster Sound. CS = Cardigan Strait. HG = Hell Gate. A magnified map of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is shown on the upper left panel, and details of Cardigan Strait and Hell Gate are zoomed on the lower left panel. from 2007 to present as part of the NSF continue northward as two separate BSO) as the North Cape Current. Only IPY and Arctic Observing Network branches of the Norwegian Atlantic the upper part of the AW layer can travel programs. Monitoring of oceanic "uxes Current (NwAC). &e western baroclinic through this 450 m deep passage into through three main gateways of the (i.e., varying with depth) "ow follows the Barents Sea. &e remaining AW Canadian Archipelago from 1998–2006 the Arctic Front through the Norwegian "ow continues along the shelf slope took place as part of the international and Greenland Seas and ultimately into Fram Strait. ASOF program and the NSF Freshwater converges with the West Spitsbergen From long-term measurements at Initiative, and was continued during Current (WSC) in Fram Strait (Orvik the BSO moored array, the North Cape IPY under the Canadian Archipelago and Niiler, 2002; Figure 1). &e eastern Current was found to depend on local &rough"ow Study (CATS). barotropic (i.e., similar at all depths) wind forcing (Ingvaldsen et al., 2004a), branch, the Norwegian Atlantic Slope and the AW in"ow exhibited strong BARENTS SEA OPENING Current (NwASC), is topographically seasonal variability with a maximum in AND BARENTS SEA trapped over the Norwegian continental winter (Ingvaldsen et al., 2004b). &e STRONGEST MODIFICATIONS slope and provides the main source of mean in"ow of warm, salty AW through OF THE ATLANTIC INFLOW Atlantic Water (AW) and heat to the BSO was estimated by Skagseth et al. &e Atlantic in"ow across the Barents Sea (Orvik and Skagseth, 2005). (2008) as 1.8 Sv, with large interannual Greenland-Scotland Ridge brings 8.5 Sv On the western slope of the Barents Sea, variations (between 0.8 and 2.9 Sv) (1 Sv = 106 m3 s–1) of warm, saline waters part of AW enters a 400 km wide passage and updated to 2 Sv for 1997–2007 by into the Nordic Seas (Østerhus et al., between Bear Island and the North Cape Smedsrud et al.
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