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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Fresh Water Content Variability in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean model simulations have revealed that the Arctic Ocean has a basin wide oscillation with cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation anomalies (Arctic Ocean Oscillation; AOO) which has a prominent decadal variability. This study explores how the simulated AOO affects the Arctic Ocean stratification and its relationship to the sea ice cover variations. The simulation uses the Princeton Ocean Model coupled to sea ice. The surface forcing is based on NCEP-NCAR Reanalysis and its climatology, of which the latter is used to force the model spin-up phase. Our focus is to investigate the competition between ocean dynamics and ice formation/melt on the Arctic basin-wide fresh water balance. We find that changes in the Atlantic water inflow can explain almost all of the simulated fresh water anomalies in the main Arctic basin. The Atlantic water inflow anomalies are an essential part of AOO, which is the wind driven barotropic response to the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The baroclinic response to AO, such as Ekman pumping in the Beaufort Gyre, and ice meldfreeze anomalies in response to AO are less significant considering the whole Arctic fresh water balance.

Hakkinen, Sirpa↗
NASA NTRS1994

The contribution of Alaskan, Siberian, and Canadian coastal polynas to the cold halocline layer of the Arctic Ocean

Numerous Arctic Ocean circulation and geochemical studies suggest that ice growth in polynyas over the Alaskan, Siberian, and Canadian continental shelves is a source of cold, saline water which contributes to the maintenance of the Arctic Ocean halocline. The purpose of this study is to estimate for the 1978-1987 winters the contributions of Arctic coastal polynyas to the cold halocline layer of the Arctic Ocean. The study uses a combination of satellite, oceanographic, and weather data to calculate the brine fluxes from the polynyas; then an oceanic box model is used to calculate their contributions to the cold halocline layer of the Arctic Ocean. This study complements and corrects a previous study of dense water production by coastal polynyas in the Barents, Kara, and Laptev Seas.

Cavalieri, Donald J.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the Earth's four major oceans, covering 14x10(exp 6) sq km located entirely within the Arctic Circle (66 deg 33 min N). It is a major player in the climate of the north polar region and has a variable sea ice cover that tends to increase its sensitivity to climate change. Its temperature, salinity, and ice cover have all undergone changes in the past several decades, although it is uncertain whether these predominantly reflect long-term trends, oscillations within the system, or natural variability. Major changes include a warming and expansion of the Atlantic layer, at depths of 200-900 m, a warming of the upper ocean in the Beaufort Sea, a considerable thinning (perhaps as high as 40%) of the sea ice cover, a lesser and uneven retreat of the ice cover (averaging approximately 3% per decade), and a mixed pattern of salinity increases and decreases.

Parkinson, Claire L.↗
NASA NTRS2023

A Tuned Ocean Color Algorithm for the Arctic Ocean: A Solution for Waters With High CDM Content

The Arctic Ocean (AO) is the most river-influenced ocean. Located at the land-sea interface wherein phytoplankton blooms are common, Arctic coastal waterbodies are among the most affected regions by climate change. Given phytoplankton are critical for energy transfer supporting marine food webs, accurate estimation of chlorophyll a concentration (Chl), which is frequently used as a proxy of phytoplankton biomass, is critical for improving our knowledge of the Arctic marine ecosystem and its response to the ongoing climate change. Due to the unique and complex bio-optical properties of the AO, efforts are still needed to obtain more accurate Chl estimates, especially for coastal waters with high colored detrital material (CDM) content. In this study, we optimized the the Garver-Siegel-Maritorena (GSM) algorithm, using an Arctic bio-optical dataset comprised of seven wavelengths (the original GSM wavelengths plus 625 nm). Results suggested that our tuned algorithm, denoted GSMA, outperformed an alternative AO GSM algorithm denoted AO.GSM, but the accuracy of Chl estimates was only improved by 8%. In addition, GSMA showed appreciable robustness when assessed using a satellite image and two non-Arctic coastal datasets.

Arctic↗
NASA NTRS2012

Optical Characterisation of Suspended Particles in the Mackenzie River Plume (Canadian Arctic Ocean) and Implications for Ocean Colour Remote Sensing

Climate change significantly impacts Arctic shelf regions in terms of air temperature, ultraviolet radiation, melting of sea ice, precipitation, thawing of permafrost and coastal erosion. Direct consequences have been observed on the increasing Arctic river flow and a large amount of organic carbon sequestered in soils at high latitudes since the last glacial maximum can be expected to be delivered to the Arctic Ocean during the coming decade. Monitoring the fluxes and fate of this terrigenous organic carbon is problematic in such sparsely populated regions unless remote sensing techniques can be developed and proved to be operational. The main objective of this study is to develop an ocean colour algorithm to operationally monitor dynamics of suspended particulate matter (SPM) on the Mackenzie River continental shelf (Canadian Arctic Ocean) using satellite imagery. The water optical properties are documented across the study area and related to concentrations of SPM and particulate organic carbon (POC). Robust SPM and POC : SPM proxies are identified, such as the light backscattering and attenuation coefficients, and relationships are established between these optical and biogeochemical parameters. Following a semi-analytical approach, a regional SPM quantification relationship is obtained for the inversion of the water reflectance signal into SPM concentration. This relationship is reproduced based on independent field optical measurements. It is successfully applied to a selection of MODIS satellite data which allow estimating fluxes at the river mouth and monitoring the extension and dynamics of the Mackenzie River surface plume in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Good agreement is obtained with field observations representative of the whole water column in the river delta zone where terrigenous SPM is mainly constrained (out of short periods of maximum river outflow). Most of the seaward export of SPM is observed to occur within the west side of the river mouth. Future work will require the validation of the developed SPM regional algorithm based on match-ups with field measurements, then the routine application to ocean colour satellite data in order to better estimate the fluxes and fate of SPM and POC delivered by the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean.

Mackenzie River plume↗
NASA NTRS2016

Satellite Sea Ice Measurements in the Arctic Ocean

Satellite observations sustained since 1979 have been the primary source of information to reveal Arctic Ocean sea ice extent is diminishing rapidly. Sea ice is also thinning based on historical surface and near-surface records and more recent satellite retrievals. There is a new “normal” environment in the Arctic environment with substantial socio-economic impacts. A key question is: What are the spatial and temporal characteristics of the sea ice thickness distribution throughout the annual cycle, and what is the evolving inter-annual trend? Arctic Ocean sea ice conditions have been determined with passive microwave radiometer, active scatterometer and other satellite instrument measurements recorded by a continuing series of satellites. An important feature of the continuous time series measurements has been the overlap of each new satellite dataset with ongoing measurements so as to provide adequate time intervals for calibration and validation. Satellite instrument diversity has provided both coarse spatial resolution measurements over the entire Arctic Ocean for long-period time series and limited-duration fine spatial resolution data over selected regions for navigation and other applications. Satellite observations of Arctic Ocean sea ice will continue to increase in importance because predictability of sea ice is poor and societal interest is great. Unfortunately, however the sustainability of some critical elements of the current Arctic Ocean satellite measurement suite beyond 2020 remains uncertain, e.g., after the CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 missions have concluded.

Halpern, David↗
DOE OSTI2025

Insights into the year-round vertical distribution of chlorophyll concentration in high-latitude Arctic Ocean: implications for primary production

Climate-induced rapid changes in the Arctic Ocean, such as decreasing sea ice extent and increasing water temperature, are altering nutrient and light availability, profoundly impacting primary producer growth. However, access to the high-latitude Arctic Ocean is limited, and satellite data are primarily available only during summer, making continuous in-situ data collection challenging. We collected year-round chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration data in high-latitude regions using a mooring system and performed a comparative analysis with reanalysis data. Unlike previous satellite-based studies, which typically rely on surface measurements, we used the annual vertical distribution of Chl-a. These data were applied to the vertically generalized production model to accurately estimate annual primary production. The moored Chl-a concentration data showed that phytoplankton exhibited a typical subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) layer as sea ice retreated in June. Contrary to the gradually deepening SCM distribution predicted by model-based reanalysis data, the SCM layer persisted for approximately 4 months. This indicates that light and nutrient conditions within the SCM layer remained stable, sustaining continuous phytoplankton growth. Annual primary production, reflecting this vertical distribution of Chl-a concentration, was 6.85 gC m −2 yr −1 . This exceeded satellite-based estimates by at least two-fold, highlighting the significant underestimation of primary production by satellite approaches. Estimating primary production while accounting for the vertical distribution of phytoplankton and light is essential for improving ecological models to better understand carbon cycle and food web changes in the Arctic Ocean, with important implications for climate change predictions.

Arctic Ocean↗
NASA NTRS2012

Evaluation of Arctic Sea Ice Thickness Simulated by Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison Project Models

Six Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison Project model simulations are compared with estimates of sea ice thickness derived from pan-Arctic satellite freeboard measurements (2004-2008); airborne electromagnetic measurements (2001-2009); ice draft data from moored instruments in Fram Strait, the Greenland Sea, and the Beaufort Sea (1992-2008) and from submarines (1975-2000); and drill hole data from the Arctic basin, Laptev, and East Siberian marginal seas (1982-1986) and coastal stations (1998-2009). Despite an assessment of six models that differ in numerical methods, resolution, domain, forcing, and boundary conditions, the models generally overestimate the thickness of measured ice thinner than approximately 2 mand underestimate the thickness of ice measured thicker than about approximately 2m. In the regions of flat immobile landfast ice (shallow Siberian Seas with depths less than 25-30 m), the models generally overestimate both the total observed sea ice thickness and rates of September and October ice growth from observations by more than 4 times and more than one standard deviation, respectively. The models do not reproduce conditions of fast ice formation and growth. Instead, the modeled fast ice is replaced with pack ice which drifts, generating ridges of increasing ice thickness, in addition to thermodynamic ice growth. Considering all observational data sets, the better correlations and smaller differences from observations are from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II and Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System models.

sea ice↗
NASA NTRS1996

Projected Impact of Climate Change on the Water and Salt Budgets of the Arctic Ocean by a Global Climate Model

The annual flux of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean by the atmosphere and rivers is balanced by the export of sea ice and oceanic freshwater. Two 150-year simulations of a global climate model are used to examine how this balance might change if atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) increase. Relative to the control, the last 50-year period of the GHG experiment indicates that the total inflow of water from the atmosphere and rivers increases by 10% primarily due to an increase in river discharge, the annual sea-ice export decreases by about half, the oceanic liquid water export increases, salinity decreases, sea-ice cover decreases, and the total mass and sea-surface height of the Arctic Ocean increase. The closed, compact, and multi-phased nature of the hydrologic cycle in the Arctic Ocean makes it an ideal test of water budgets that could be included in model intercomparisons.

Miller, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Exploring the Arctic Ocean With Sailing Robots

The Arctic Ocean is changing rapidly as the planet warms, but studying it presents challenges: it’s a remote area that is often covered by sea ice. As CHELLE GENTEMANN, MARISOL GARCÍA-REYES and JORGE VAZQUEZ-CUERVO explain, using autonomous solar-powered sailing robots is a safe, reliable and climate-friendly way to collect the data we need.

Arctic↗
NASA NTRS2012

Mean Dynamic Topography of the Arctic Ocean

ICESat and Envisat altimetry data provide measurements of the instantaneous sea surface height (SSH) across the Arctic Ocean, using lead and open water elevation within the sea ice pack. First, these data were used to derive two independent mean sea surface (MSS) models by stacking and averaging along-track SSH profiles gathered between 2003 and 2009. The ICESat and Envisat MSS data were combined to construct the high-resolution ICEn MSS. Second, we estimate the 5.5-year mean dynamic topography (MDT) of the Arctic Ocean by differencing the ICEn MSS with the new GOCO02S geoid model, derived from GRACE and GOCE gravity. Using these satellite-only data we map the major features of Arctic Ocean dynamical height that are consistent with in situ observations, including the topographical highs and lows of the Beaufort and Greenland Gyres, respectively. Smaller-scale MDT structures remain largely unresolved due to uncertainties in the geoid at short wavelengths.

Arctic Ocean↗
NASA NTRS2018

Intercomparison of Precipitation Estimates over the Arctic Ocean and Its Peripheral Seas from Reanalyses

Precipitation over the Arctic Ocean has a significant impact on the basin-scale freshwater and energy budgets but is one of the most poorly constrained variables in atmospheric reanalyses. Precipitation controls the snow cover on sea ice, which impedes the exchange of energy between the ocean and atmosphere, inhibiting sea ice growth. Thus, accurate precipitation amounts are needed to inform sea ice modeling, especially for the production of thickness estimates from satellite altimetry freeboard data. However, obtaining a quantitative estimate of the precipitation distribution in the Arctic is notoriously difficult because of a number of factors, including a lack of reliable, long-term in situ observations; difficulties in remote sensing over sea ice; and model biases in temperature and moisture fields and associated uncertainty of modeled cloud microphysical processes in the polar regions. Here, we compare precipitation estimates over the Arctic Ocean from eight widely used atmospheric reanalyses over the period 2000–16 (nominally the ‘‘new Arctic’’). We find that the magnitude, frequency, and phase of precipitation vary drastically, although interannual variability is similar. Reanalysis-derived precipitation does not increase with time as expected; however, an increasing trend of higher fractions of liquid precipitation (rainfall) is found. When compared with drifting ice mass balance buoys, three reanalyses (ERA-Interim, MERRA, and NCEP R2) produce realistic magnitudes and temporal agreement with observed precipitation events, while two products [MERRA, version 2 (MERRA-2), and CFSR] show large, implausible magnitudes in precipitation events. All the reanalyses tend to produce overly frequent Arctic precipitation. Future work needs to be undertaken to determine the specific factors in reanalyses that contribute to these discrepancies in the new Arctic.

Mcpartland, Linette N.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Utilization of Airborne Observations to Assess Model Parametrizations of Critical RH Profiles in the Arctic Ocean

Observational paucity is a reality in the Arctic Ocean. This is especially true for near-surface variables such as temperature, moisture, heat fluxes and BL clouds. As a result, modeling has become one of the major avenues for understanding current and future Arctic trends. Reanalyses are frequently used to force global ocean circulation and sea-ice models. But in northern high latitudes, model integrations and reanalyses are known to have large uncertainties in temperature and humidity profiles, and in boundary layer cloudiness. These are common sources of error in the surface radiative budget terms.An important way to diagnose these biases spatially and temporally is by using satellite remote sensing data. However, remotely-sensed observations also have large uncertainties, especially in near-surface temperature and relative humidity profiles.In situ observational studies are important in bridging our knowledge gap in regions such as the Arctic Ocean. Here, we utilize airborne and ship observations from the ARISE, ACME-IV, and ASCOS campaigns to construct critical relative humidity (RH) profiles over the Beaufort Sea. Such profiles are used as parameterization inputs in the NASA GOES global model to derive the total water condensate in a model grid-box, which determines the cloud fraction. Currently, the critical RH profiles are derived by global AIRS data, relaying mostly on mid-latitude regions, which are not necessarily relevant to the Arctic.We derive campaign-wide mean, standard deviation, and critical RH values, for grid size of 50x50 km and altitude bins between 50 to 400 m, covering both open-ocean and sea-ice covered regions. We compare profiles over open ocean and sea-ice, and look at correlations between the observed critical RH values and water condensate (by cloud number concentration) from observations versus the modeled ones. We then input our calculated values of minimal critical RH values into a set of GEOS single column model (SCM) simulations over the ARISE and ASCOS regions and compare the differences between the predicted values of cloud liquid water path (LWP), ice water path (IWP) and surface fluxes with the observed ones under the range of input parameterizations. Finally, we discuss the implications on surface radiative budget predictions in this region.

Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal↗
NASA NTRS2014

A Synthesis of Light Absorption Properties of the Arctic Ocean: Application to Semi-analytical Estimates of Dissolved Organic Carbon Concentrations from Space

The light absorption coefficients of particulate and dissolved materials are the main factors determining the light propagation of the visible part of the spectrum and are, thus, important for developing ocean color algorithms. While these absorption properties have recently been documented by a few studies for the Arctic Ocean [e.g., Matsuoka et al., 2007, 2011; Ben Mustapha et al., 2012], the datasets used in the literature were sparse and individually insufficient to draw a general view of the basin-wide spatial and temporal variations in absorption. To achieve such a task, we built a large absorption database at the pan-Arctic scale by pooling the majority of published datasets and merging new datasets. Our results showed that the total non-water absorption coefficients measured in the Eastern Arctic Ocean (EAO; Siberian side) are significantly higher 74 than in the Western Arctic Ocean (WAO; North American side). This higher absorption is explained 75 by higher concentration of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in watersheds on the Siberian 76 side, which contains a large amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) compared to waters off 77 North America. In contrast, the relationship between the phytoplankton absorption (a()) and chlorophyll a (chl a) concentration in the EAO was not significantly different from that in the WAO. Because our semi-analytical CDOM absorption algorithm is based on chl a-specific a() values [Matsuoka et al., 2013], this result indirectly suggests that CDOM absorption can be appropriately erived not only for the WAO but also for the EAO using ocean color data. Derived CDOM absorption values were reasonable compared to in situ measurements. By combining this algorithm with empirical DOC versus CDOM relationships, a semi-analytical algorithm for estimating DOC concentrations for coastal waters at the Pan-Arctic scale is presented and applied to satellite ocean color data.

Pan-Arctic↗
NASA NTRS2020

Arctic Ocean Primary Productivity: The Response of Marine Algae to Climate Warming and Sea Ice Decline

Autotrophic single-celled algae living in sea ice (ice algae) and water column (phytoplankton) are the main primary producers in the Arctic Ocean. Through photosynthesis, they transform dissolved inorganic carbon into organic material. Consequently, primary production provides a key ecosystem service by providing energy to the entire food web in the oceans. Primary productivity is strongly dependent upon light availability and the presence of nutrients, and thus is highly seasonal in the Arctic. The melting and retreat of sea ice during spring are strong drivers of primary production in the Arctic Ocean and its adjacent shelf seas, owing to enhanced light availability and stratification (Barber et al. 2015; Leu et al. 2015; Ardyna et al. 2017). Recent studies have emphasized that primary production occurs under lower light conditions and earlier in the seasonal cycle than previously recognized (Randelhoff et al. 2020). Other studies suggest that increased nutrient supply have also influenced overall production (Henley et al. 2020; Lewis et al. 2020). Furthermore, while declines in Arctic sea ice extent over the past several decades (see essay Sea Ice) have contributed substantially to shifts in primary productivity throughout the Arctic Ocean, the response of primary production to sea ice loss has been both seasonally and spatially variable (e.g., Tremblay et al. 2015; Hill et al. 2018). Here we present satellite-based estimates of algal chlorophyll-a (occurring in all species of phytoplankton), based on ocean color, and subsequently provide calculated primary production estimates. These results are shown for ocean areas with less than 10% sea ice concentration and, therefore, do not include production by sea ice algae or under-ice phytoplankton blooms, which can be significant (e.g., Lalande et al. 2019).

K. E. Frey↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Satellite-Based Estimate of Combustion Aerosol Cloud Microphysical Effects over the Arctic Ocean

Climate predictions for the rapidly changing Arctic are highly uncertain, largely due to a poor understanding of the processes driving cloud properties. In particular, cloud fraction (CF) and cloud phase (CP) have major impacts on energy budgets, but are poorly represented in most models, often because of uncertainties in aerosol–cloud interactions. Here, we use over 10 million satellite observations coupled with aerosol transport model simulations to quantify large scale microphysical effects of aerosols on CF and CP over the Arctic Ocean during polar night, when direct and semi-direct aerosol effects are minimal. Combustion aerosols over sea ice are associated with very large (~10W/sq.m) differences in longwave cloud radiative effects at the sea ice surface. However, co-varying meteorological changes on factors such as CF likely explain the majority of this signal. For example, combustion aerosols explain at most 40% of the CF differences between the full dataset and the clean-condition subset, compared to between 57% and 91% of the differences that can be predicted by co-varying meteorology. After normalizing for meteorological regime, aerosol microphysical effects have small but significant impacts on CF, CP, and precipitation frequency on an Arctic-wide scale. These effects indicate that dominant aerosol–cloud microphysical mechanisms are related to the relative fraction of liquid-containing clouds, with implications for a warming Arctic.

Zamora, Lauren M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The Arctic Ocean ice balance - A Kalman smoother estimate

The methodology of Kalman filtering and smoothing is used to integrate a 7-year time series of buoy-derived ice motion fields and satellite passive microwave observations. The result is a record of the concentrations of open water, first-year ice, and multiyear ice that we believe is better than the estimates based on the microwave data alone. The Kalman procedure interprets the evolution of the ice cover in terms of advection, melt, growth, ridging, and aging of first-year into multiyear ice. Generally, the regions along the coasts of Alaska and Siberia and the area just north of Fram Strait are sources of first-year ice, with the rest of the Arctic Ocean acting as a sink for first-year ice via ridging and aging. All the Arctic Ocean except for the Beaufort and Chukchi seas is a source of multiyear ice, with the Chukchi being the only internal multiyear ice sink. Export through Fram Strait is a major ice sink, but we find only about two-thirds the export and greater interannual variation than found in previous studies. There is no discernible trend in the area of multiyear ice in the Arctic Ocean during the 7 years.

Thomas, D. R.↗