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While reasonable knowledge of multidecadal Arctic freshwater storage variability exists, we have little knowledge of Arctic freshwater exports on similar time scales. A hydrographic time series from the Labrador Shelf, spanning seven decades at annual resolution, is here used to quantify Arctic Ocean freshwater export variability west of Greenland. Output from a high-resolution coupled ice–ocean model is used to establish the representativeness of those hydrographic sections. Clear annual to decadal variability emerges, with high freshwater transports during the 1950s and 1970s–80s, and low transports in the 1960s and from the mid-1990s to 2016, with typical amplitudes of 30 mSv (1 Sv = 106m3s−1). The variability in both the transports and cumulative volumes correlates well both with Arctic and North Atlantic freshwater storage changes on the same time scale. We refer to the “inshore branch” of the Labrador Current as the Labrador Coastal Current, because it is a dynamically and geographically distinct feature. It originates as the Hudson Bay outflow, and preserves variability from river runoff into the Hudson Bay catchment. We find a need for parallel, long-term freshwater transport measurements from Fram and Davis Straits to better understand Arctic freshwater export control mechanisms and partitioning of variability between routes west and east of Greenland, and a need for better knowledge and understanding of year-round (solid and liquid) freshwater fluxes on the Labrador shelf. Our results have implications for wider, coherent atmospheric control on freshwater fluxes and content across the Arctic Ocean and northern North Atlantic Ocean.

Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which have the potential to drive societally-important climate impacts, have traditionally been linked to the strength of deep water formation in the subpolar North Atlantic. Yet there is neither clear observational evidence nor agreement among models about how changes in deep water formation influence overturning. Here, we use data from a trans-basin mooring array (OSNAP—Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) to show that winter convection during 2014–2018 in the interior basin had minimal impact on density changes in the deep western boundary currents in the subpolar basins. Contrary to previous modeling studies, we find no discernable relationship between western boundary changes and subpolar overturning variability over the observational time scales. Our results require a reconsideration of the notion of deep western boundary changes representing overturning characteristics, with implications for constraining the source of overturning variability within and downstream of the subpolar region., Western boundary current variability in the subpolar North Atlantic is thought to reflect interior convection changes and determine Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation variability. Here, the authors show with an extended OSNAP time series that neither linkage is robust due to the complex dynamics in the region.

The changing supply of warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) to the West Antarctic continental shelf is responsible for the basal melting and thinning of the West Antarctic ice shelves that has occurred in recent decades. Here, we assess the variability in CDW supply, and its drivers, from a multi‐year mooring deployed in, and a regional ocean model spanning, the Getz‐Dotson Trough, Amundsen Sea. Between 2010 to 2015, the CDW within the trough underwent a pronounced cooling and freshening, associated with changes in thermohaline properties on isopycnals. Variability in the rate of CDW inflow is controlled by local wind forcing of a shelf break undercurrent, which determines the hydrographic properties of inflowing CDW via tilting of density surfaces above the continental slope. Local wind is coupled to the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) low‐pressure system, which is modulated by large‐scale climatic modes via atmospheric teleconnections. For the period analysed, a deeper ASL was associated with westward wind anomaly at the shelf break. Changes in the sea surface slope decelerated the shelf break undercurrent, resulting in less heat accessing the continental shelf and, consequently, a cooling of the Getz‐Dotson Trough. Therefore, the present work suggests that the fate of the West Antarctic ice shelves is closely tied to the future evolution of the ASL.

Variability in the heat delivery by Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is responsible for modulating the basal melting of the Amundsen Sea ice shelves. However, the mechanisms controlling the CDW inflow to the region’s continental shelf remain little understood. Here, a high-resolution regional model is used to assess the processes governing heat delivery to the Amundsen Sea. The key mechanisms are identified by decomposing CDW temperature variability into two components associated with 1) changes in the depth of isopycnals [heave (HVE)], and 2) changes in the temperature of isopycnals [water mass property changes (WMP)]. In the Dotson–Getz trough, CDW temperature variability is primarily associated with WMP. The deeper thermocline and shallower shelf break hinder CDW access to that trough, and CDW inflow is regulated by the uplift of isopycnals at the shelf break—which is itself controlled by wind-driven variations in the speed of an undercurrent flowing eastward along the continental slope. In contrast, CDW temperature variability in the Pine Island–Thwaites trough is mainly linked to HVE. The shallower thermocline and deeper shelf break there permit CDW to persistently access the continental shelf. CDW temperature in the area responds to wind-driven modulation of the water mass on-shelf volume by changes in the rate of inflow across the shelf break and in Ekman pumping-induced vertical displacement of isopycnals within the shelf. The western and eastern Amundsen Sea thus represent distinct regimes, in which wind forcing governs CDW-mediated heat delivery via different dynamics.

Open-ocean biology and the horizontal circulation set the rate of carbon uptake in the subpolar Southern Ocean., Global climate is critically sensitive to physical and biogeochemical dynamics in the subpolar Southern Ocean, since it is here that deep, carbon-rich layers of the world ocean outcrop and exchange carbon with the atmosphere. Here, we present evidence that the conventional framework for the subpolar Southern Ocean carbon cycle, which attributes a dominant role to the vertical overturning circulation and shelf-sea processes, fundamentally misrepresents the drivers of regional carbon uptake. Observations in the Weddell Gyre—a key representative region of the subpolar Southern Ocean—show that the rate of carbon uptake is set by an interplay between the Gyre’s horizontal circulation and the remineralization at mid-depths of organic carbon sourced from biological production in the central gyre. These results demonstrate that reframing the carbon cycle of the subpolar Southern Ocean is an essential step to better define its role in past and future climate change.

The Deep Western Boundary Current in the subpolar North Atlantic is the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and a key component of the global climate system. Here, a mooring array deployed at 60°N in the Irminger Sea, between 2014 and 2016, provides the longest continuous record of total Deep Western Boundary Current volume transport at this latitude. The 1.8‐year averaged transport of water denser than σθ = 27.8 kg/m3 was −10.8 ± 4.9 Sv (mean ± 1 std; 1 Sv = 106 m3/s). Of this total, we find −4.1 ± 1.4 Sv within the densest layer (σθ > 27.88 kg/m3) that originated from the Denmark Strait Overflow. The lighter North East Atlantic Deep Water layer (σθ = 27.8–27.88 kg/m3) carries −6.5 ± 7.7 Sv. The variability in transport ranges between 2 and 65 days. There is a distinct shift from high to low frequency with distance from the East Greenland slope. High‐frequency fluctuations (2–8 days) close to the continental slope are likely associated with topographic Rossby waves and/or cyclonic eddies. Here, perturbations in layer thickness make a significant (20–60%) contribution to transport variability. In deeper water, toward the center of the Irminger Basin, transport variance at 55 days dominates. Our results suggest that there has been a 1.8 Sv increase in total transport since 2005–2006, but this difference can be accounted for by a range of methodological and data limitation biases.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) extends from the Southern Ocean to the northern North Atlantic, transporting heat northwards throughout the South and North Atlantic, and sinking carbon and nutrients into the deep ocean. Climate models indicate that changes to the AMOC both herald and drive climate shifts. Intensive trans-basin AMOC observational systems have been put in place to continuously monitor meridional volume transport variability, and in some cases, heat, freshwater and carbon transport. These observational programs have been used to diagnose the magnitude and origins of transport variability, and to investigate impacts of variability on essential climate variables such as sea surface temperature, ocean heat content and coastal sea level. AMOC observing approaches vary between the different systems, ranging from trans-basin arrays (OSNAP, RAPID 26◦N, 11◦S, SAMBA 34.5◦S) to arrays concentrating on western boundaries (e.g., RAPID WAVE, MOVE 16◦N). In this paper, we outline the different approaches (aims, strengths and limitations) and summarize the key results to date. We also discuss alternate approaches for capturing AMOC variability including direct estimates (e.g., using sea level, bottom pressure, and hydrography from autonomous profiling floats), indirect estimates applying budgetary approaches, state estimates or ocean reanalyses, and proxies. Based on the existing observations and their results, and the potential of new observational and formal synthesis approaches, we make suggestions as to how to evaluate a comprehensive, future-proof observational network of the AMOC to deepen our understanding of the AMOC and its role in global climate.

Recent seasonal Arctic Ocean sea ice retreat is a major indicator of polar climate change. The Arctic Ocean is generally quiescent with the interior basins characterized by low levels of turbulent mixing at intermediate depths. In contrast, under conditions of reduced sea ice cover, there is evidence of energetic internal waves that have been attributed to increased momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean. New measurements made in the Canada Basin during the unusually ice-free and stormy summer of 2012 show previously observed enhancement of internal wave energy associated with ice-free conditions. However, there is no enhancement of mixing at intermediate depths away from significant topography. This implies that contrary to expectations of increased wind-induced mixing under declining Arctic sea ice cover, the stratification in the central Canada Basin continues to suppress turbulent mixing at intermediate depths and to effectively isolate the large Atlantic and Pacific heat reservoirs from the sea surface.

We ask whether dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and phosphorus (DOP) could account for previously identified Arctic Ocean (AO) inorganic nutrient budget imbalances. We assess transports to/from the AO by calculating indicative budgets. Marked DON:DOP ratio differences between the Amerasian and Eurasian AO reflect different physical and biogeochemical pathways. DON and DOP are exported to the North Atlantic via Davis Strait potentially being enhanced in transit from Bering Strait. Fram Strait transports are balanced. Barents Sea Opening transports may provide an additional nutrient source to the Barents Sea or may be locked within the wider AO Atlantic Water circulation. Gaps in our knowledge are identified and discussed.

Year-round variability in the Ross Gyre (RG), Antarctica, during 2011–2015, is derived using radar altimetry. The RG is characterized by a bounded recirculating component and a westward throughflow to the south. Two modes of variability of the sea surface height and ocean surface stress curl are revealed. The first represents a large-scale sea surface height change forced by the Antarctic Oscillation. The second represents semiannual variability in gyre area and strength, driven by fluctuations in sea level pressure associated with the Amundsen Sea Low. Variability in the throughflow is also linked to the Amundsen Sea Low. An adequate description of the oceanic circulation is achieved only when sea ice drag is accounted for in the ocean surface stress. The drivers of RG variability elucidated here have significant implications for our understanding of the oceanic forcing of Antarctic Ice Sheet melting and for the downstream propagation of its ocean freshening footprint.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a key component of the global climate system through its transport of heat and freshwater. The subpolar North Atlantic (SPNA) is a region where the AMOC is actively developed and shaped though mixing and water mass transformation and where large amounts of heat are released to the atmosphere. Two hydrographic transbasin sections in the summers of 2014 and 2016 provide highly spatially resolved views of the SPNA velocity and property fields on a line from Canada to Greenland to Scotland. Estimates of the AMOC, isopycnal (gyre‐scale) transport, and heat and freshwater transport are derived from the observations. The overturning circulation, the maximum in northward transport integrated from the surface to seafloor and computed in density space, has a high range, with 20.6 ± 4.7 Sv in June–July 2014 and 10.6 ± 4.3 Sv in May–August 2016. In contrast, the isopycnal (gyre‐scale) circulation was lowest in summer 2014: 41.3 ± 8.2 Sv compared to 58.6 ± 7.4 Sv in 2016. The heat transport (0.39 ± 0.08 PW in summer 2014, positive is northward) was highest for the section with the highest AMOC, and the freshwater transport was largest in summer 2016 when the isopycnal circulation was high (−0.25 ± 0.08 Sv). Up to 65% of the heat and freshwater transport was carried by the isopycnal circulation, with isopycnal property transport highest in the western Labrador Sea and the eastern basins (Iceland Basin to Scotland)., Key Points The subpolar North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation was 20.6 ± 4.7 Sv in summer 2014 and 10.6 ± 4.3 Sv in summer 2016The isopycnal circulation was 41.4 ± 8.2 Sv in 2014 and 58.6 ± 7.4 Sv in 2016, carrying up to 65% of the total heat and freshwater transportHeat transport increased with overturning circulation (maximum 0.39 PW), freshwater transport increased with isopycnal circulation (maximum ‐0.25 Sv)

Siberian river water is a first-order contribution to the Arctic freshwater budget, with the Ob, Yenisey, and Lena supplying nearly half of the total surface freshwater flux. However, few details are known regarding where, when, and how the freshwater transverses the vast Siberian shelf seas. This paper investigates the mechanism, variability, and pathways of the fresh Kara Sea outflow through Vilkitsky Strait toward the Laptev Sea. We utilize a high-resolution ocean model and recent shipboard observations to characterize the freshwater-laden Vilkitsky Strait Current (VSC), and shed new light on the little-studied region between the Kara and Laptev Seas, characterized by harsh ice conditions, contrasting water masses, straits, and a large submarine canyon. The VSC is 10–20 km wide, surface intensified, and varies seasonally (maximum from August to March) and interannually. Average freshwater (volume) transport is 500 ± 120 km3 a−1 (0.53 ± 0.08 Sv), with a baroclinic flow contribution of 50–90%. Interannual transport variability is explained by a storage-release mechanism, where blocking-favorable summer winds hamper the outflow and cause accumulation of freshwater in the Kara Sea. The year following a blocking event is characterized by enhanced transports driven by a baroclinic flow along the coast that is set up by increased freshwater volumes. Eventually, the VSC merges with a slope current and provides a major pathway for Eurasian river water toward the western Arctic along the Eurasian continental slope. Kara (and Laptev) Sea freshwater transport is not correlated with the Arctic Oscillation, but rather driven by regional summer pressure patterns.

Recent work has shown that glaciers are a globally significant source of the micronutrient Fe to the ocean. Polar regions are particularly susceptible to climate change and have been subject to pronounced warming in the past few decades. In response to this warming, the volume of glacial meltwater runoff from Greenland has increased. This meltwater has a relatively high particulate and dissolved Fe content. Seasonal Fe limitation of marine ecosystems has been found in parts of the North Atlantic, so it has been proposed that increasing fluxes of Fe rich meltwater from Greenland to the North Atlantic could alleviate this Fe limitation and thereby increase marine primary production. However, here we use a synthesis of biogeochemical and physical oceanography studies to suggest that the physical circulation around Greenland does not favour direct export of dissolved or particulate Fe from inshore to offshore waters. The Fe budget in surface waters of the North Atlantic may therefore be insensitive to increasing meltwater fluxes from Greenland.

The largest oceanic heat input to the Arctic Ocean results from inflowing Atlantic water. This inflowing water is warmer than it has been in the past 2,000 years1, 2. Yet the fate of this heat remains uncertain3, partly because the water is relatively saline, and thus dense: it therefore enters the Arctic Ocean at intermediate depths and is separated from surface waters by stratification. Vertical mixing is generally weak within the Arctic Ocean basins, with very modest heat fluxes (0.05–0.3 W m−2) arising largely from double diffusion4, 5, 6, 7, 8. However, geographically limited observations have indicated substantially enhanced turbulent mixing rates over rough topography9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Here we present pan-Arctic microstructure measurements of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation. Our measurements further demonstrate that the enhanced continental slope dissipation rate, and by implication vertical mixing, varies significantly with both topographic steepness and longitude. Furthermore, our observations show that dissipation is insensitive to sea-ice conditions. We identify tides as the main energy source that supports the enhanced dissipation, which generates vertical heat fluxes of more than 50 W m−2. We suggest that the increased transfer of momentum from the atmosphere to the ocean as Arctic sea ice declines is likely to lead to an expansion of mixing hotspots in the future Arctic Ocean.

The first (and second) baroclinic deformation (or Rossby) radii are presented north of ~60° N, focusing on deep basins and shelf seas in the high Arctic Ocean, the Nordic seas, Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, derived from climatological ocean data. In the high Arctic Ocean, the first Rossby radius increases from ~5 km in the Nansen Basin to ~15 km in the central Canadian Basin. In the shelf seas and elsewhere, values are low (1–7 km), reflecting weak density stratification, shallow water, or both. Seasonality strongly impacts the Rossby radius only in shallow seas, where winter homogenization of the water column can reduce it to below 1 km. Greater detail is seen in the output from an ice–ocean general circulation model, of higher resolution than the climatology. To assess the impact of secular variability, 10 years (2003–2012) of hydrographic stations along 150° W in the Beaufort Gyre are also analysed. The first-mode Rossby radius increases over this period by ~20%. Finally, we review the observed scales of Arctic Ocean eddies.

The Arctic Oscillation (AO) is the leading mode of extratropical northern hemisphere atmospheric variability, affecting surface pressure, winds, temperature, and precipitation. Here we use an altimeter sea level record spanning 2003–2014, covering the ice‐covered and ice‐free ocean, to examine the influence of the AO on Arctic sea level and surface geostrophic circulation. AO‐driven alongshore wind anomalies drive cross‐shelf Ekman transport and opposing barotropic sea level anomalies between the shelf seas and deep basins of the Arctic Ocean, with maximum sea level anomaly differences across the shelf‐break of ~3 cm per unit AO index. This pattern of sea level variability generates topographically steered (generally along‐shelf) current anomalies of around 0.5 cm/s per unit AO index. AO‐driven wind variability modulates surface currents associated with Atlantic and Pacific water inflow, with opposing inflow anomalies between the Barents Sea Opening and Bering Strait. Plain Language Summary The Arctic Oscillation dominates large‐scale changes in atmospheric pressure, wind, temperature, and precipitation north of 20°N. This study uses satellite measurements to investigate the impact the Arctic Oscillation has on sea level and upper ocean currents in the Arctic Ocean. Winds associated with the Arctic Oscillation cause sea levels to rise in the shallow coastal shelf seas, and drop in the deeper ocean, or vice versa, depending if the Arctic Oscillation is in a positive or negative phase. These sea level patterns drive currents which generally follow the edge of the continental shelf. The Arctic Oscillation also influences the strength of the currents associated with the inflow of Atlantic Water through the Barents Sea and the inflow Pacific Water through the Bering Strait.

This paper presents the first estimate of the seasonal cycle of ocean and sea ice net heat and freshwater (FW) fluxes around the boundary of the Arctic Ocean. The ocean transports are estimated primarily using 138 moored instruments deployed in September 2005 to August 2006 across the four main Arctic gateways: Davis, Fram and Bering Straits, and the Barents Sea Opening (BSO). Sea ice transports are estimated from a sea ice assimilation product. Monthly velocity fields are calculated with a box inverse model that enforces volume and salinity conservation. The resulting net ocean and sea ice heat and FW fluxes (annual mean $\pm$ 1 standard deviation) are 175 $\pm$48 TW and 204 $\pm$85 mSv (respectively; 1 Sv = 10$^{6} m^{3} s^{-1}$). These boundary fluxes accurately represent the annual means of the relevant surface fluxes. Oceanic net heat transport variability is driven by temperature variability in upper part of the water column and by volume transport variability in the Atlantic Water layer. Oceanic net FW transport variability is dominated by Bering Strait velocity variability. The net water mass transformation in the Arctic entails a freshening and cooling of inflowing waters by 0.62$\pm$0.23 in salinity and 3.74$\pm$0.76C in temperature, respectively, and a reduction in density by 0.23$\pm$0.20 kg m$^{-3}$. The volume transport into the Arctic of waters associated with this water mass transformation is 11.3$\pm$1.2 Sv, and the export is -11.4$\pm$1.1 Sv. The boundary heat and FW fluxes provide a benchmark data set for the validation of numerical models and atmospheric re-analyses products., 64 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, 24 pages supporting information. This manuscript is submitted to Journal of Physical Oceanography on November 2017 for a publication. Copyright in this work may be transferred to American Meteorological Society without further notice

Monitoring the surface circulation of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean is generally limited in space, time or both. We present a new 12-year record of geostrophic currents at monthly resolution in the ice-covered and ice-free Arctic Ocean and characterise their seasonal to decadal variability from 2003-2014, a period of rapid environmental change in the Arctic. Geostrophic currents around the Arctic basin increased in the late '00s, with the largest increases observed in summer. Currents in the southeastern Beaufort gyre accelerated in late 2007 with higher current speeds sustained until 2011, after which they decreased to speeds representative of the period 2003-2006. The strength of the northwestward current in the southwest Beaufort gyre more than doubled between 2003 and 2014. This pattern of changing currents is linked to shifting of the gyre circulation to the northwest during the time period. The Beaufort gyre circulation and Fram Strait current are strongest in winter, modulated by the seasonal strength of the atmospheric circulation. Eddy kinetic energy is also larger in winter and we find high eddy activity congruent with features of the seafloor bathymetry. The variability of Arctic Ocean geostrophic circulation highlights the interplay between seasonally variable atmospheric forcing and ice conditions, on a backdrop of long term changes to the Arctic sea ice-ocean system. Studies point to various mechanisms influencing the observed increase in Arctic Ocean surface stress, and hence geostrophic currents, in the '00s – e.g. decreased ice concentration/thickness, changing atmospheric forcing, changing ice pack morphology – however more work is needed to refine the representation of atmosphere-ice-ocean coupling in models before we can fully attribute causality to these increases.

The East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC) is characterized as cold, low-salinity polar waters flowing equatorward on the east Greenland shelf. It is an important conduit of freshwater from the Arctic Ocean, but our present understanding of it is poor, outside of an assortment of measurements which stem mainly from summertime visits by research vessels. This manuscript first describes measurements from moored instruments deployed on the East Greenland shelf (∼63°N) between 2000 and 2004. The measurements are then used to show that a high-resolution coupled ice-ocean global general circulation model supports a realistic representation of the EGCC. The results show that the EGCC exists throughout the year and is stronger in winter than in summer. The model EGCC seawater transports are a maximum (minimum) in February (August), at 3.8 (1.9) × 106 m3 s−1. Freshwater transports, including modeled estimates of sea ice transport and referenced to salinity 35.0, are a maximum (minimum) in February (August) at 106 (59) × 103 m3 s−1. The model results show that wind and buoyancy forcing are of similar importance to EGCC transport. An empirical decomposition of the buoyancy-forced transport into a buoyancy-only component and a coupled wind and buoyancy component indicates the two to be of similar magnitude in winter. The model annual mean freshwater flux of ∼80–90 × 103 m3 s−1 approaches 50% of the net rate of Arctic freshwater gain, underlining the climatic importance of the EGCC.

We present observation based estimates of the transport of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) across the four main Arctic Ocean gateways (Davis Strait, Fram Strait, Barents Sea Opening and Bering Strait). Combining a recently derived velocity field at these boundaries with measurements of DIC, we calculated a net summertime pan-Arctic export of View the MathML source. On an annual basis, we estimate that at least View the MathML source of this is due to uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere, although time-dependent changes in carbon storage are not quantified. To further understand the region's role as a carbon sink, we calculated the volume-conserved net DIC transport from beneath a prescribed mixed layer depth of 50 m, referred to as ‘interior transport’, revealing an export of View the MathML source. Applying a carbon framework to infer the sources of interior transport implied that this export is primarily due to the sinking and remineralisation of organic matter, highlighting the importance of the biological pump. Furthermore, we qualitatively show that the present day Arctic Ocean is accumulating anthropogenic carbon beneath the mixed layer, imported in Atlantic Water.

A box inverse model of the Southern Ocean during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment is constructed to investigate the three-dimensional structure of the regional overturning circulation in that era. The model has many features in common with various preceding inverse studies, but also contains several novel elements that make it well suited for addressing many of the significant uncertainties that surround the circulation at present. The net overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean is found to consist of two well-defined cells of similar strength. The upper cell consists of a northward transport of 18.8 ± 5.5 Sv of surface, mode and intermediate waters lighter than the 27.5 kg m−3 isoneutral, and an equivalent southward flow in the approximate 27.5–27.9 kg m−3 neutral density range, encompassing the bulk of the Upper Circumpolar Deep Water. The lower cell involves the northward export of 18.6 ± 0.9 Sv of Antarctic Bottom Water and Lower Circumpolar Deep Water denser than 28.08 kg m−3, and an opposing transport in the lighter classes of that water mass. Substantial structural differences between the overturning circulations of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins are indicated by the model’s solution. Overall, the diagnosed Southern Ocean circulation shares many qualitative and some quantitative features with previous inverse estimates, particularly as regards the large-scale, depth-integrated lateral circulation and associated energy fluxes in the subtropics and in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and the strength of the upper overturning cell. However, it also suggests several significant adjustments to current views of the regional circulation. Most notable amongst these are: the subpolar circulation of the Southern Ocean is more vigorous and zonally interconnected than generally thought; the associated lower overturning cell is more intense than indicated by most preceding estimates; contrary to common perception, sub-surface mixing processes play a role of comparable importance to air–sea–ice exchanges of buoyancy in underpinning the dianeutral closure of the Southern Ocean overturning, even at shallow (mode and intermediate water) levels; and the connection between North Atlantic deep water formation and Southern Ocean upwelling is fundamentally three-dimensional, such that deep waters from the North Atlantic must upwell dianeutrally before being returned to the permanent pycnocline of the northern oceans.

[1] This study provides the first physically based mass-balanced transport estimates of dissolved inorganic nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, and silicate) for the Arctic Ocean. Using an inverse model-generated velocity field in combination with a quasi-synoptic assemblage of hydrographic and hydrochemical data, we quantify nutrient transports across the main Arctic Ocean gateways: Davis Strait, Fram Strait, the Barents Sea Opening (BSO), and Bering Strait. We found that the major exports of all three nutrients occur via Davis Strait. Transports associated with the East Greenland Current are almost balanced by transports associated with the West Spitsbergen Current. The most important imports of nitrate and phosphate to the Arctic occur via the BSO, and the most important import of silicate occurs via Bering Strait. Oceanic budgets show that statistically robust net silicate and phosphate exports exist, while the net nitrate flux is zero, within the uncertainty limits. The Arctic Ocean is a net exporter of silicate (−15.7 ± 3.2 kmol s−1) and phosphate (−1.0 ± 0.3 kmol s−1; net ± 1 standard error) to the North Atlantic. The export of excess phosphate (relative to nitrate) from the Arctic, calculated at −1.1 ± 0.3 kmol s−1, is almost twice as large as previously estimated. Net transports of silicate and phosphate from the Arctic Ocean provide 12% and 90%, respectively, of the net southward fluxes estimated at 47°N in the North Atlantic. Additional sources of nutrients that may offset nutrient imbalances are explored, and the relevance and the pathway of nutrient transports to the North Atlantic are discussed.

For decades oceanographers have understood the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to be primarily driven by changes in the production of deep-water formation in the subpolar and subarctic North Atlantic. Indeed, current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections of an AMOC slowdown in the twenty-first century based on climate models are attributed to the inhibition of deep convection in the North Atlantic. However, observational evidence for this linkage has been elusive: there has been no clear demonstration of AMOC variability in response to changes in deep-water formation. The motivation for understanding this linkage is compelling, since the overturning circulation has been shown to sequester heat and anthropogenic carbon in the deep ocean. Furthermore, AMOC variability is expected to impact this sequestration as well as have consequences for regional and global climates through its effect on the poleward transport of warm water. Motivated by the need for a mechanistic understanding of the AMOC, an international community has assembled an observing system, Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP), to provide a continuous record of the transbasin fluxes of heat, mass, and freshwater, and to link that record to convective activity and water mass transformation at high latitudes. OSNAP, in conjunction with the Rapid Climate Change–Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array (RAPID–MOCHA) at 26°N and other observational elements, will provide a comprehensive measure of the three-dimensional AMOC and an understanding of what drives its variability. The OSNAP observing system was fully deployed in the summer of 2014, and the first OSNAP data products are expected in the fall of 2017.

The Arctic Ocean is a fundamental node in the global hydrological cycle and the ocean's thermohaline circulation. We here assess the system's key functions and processes: (1) the delivery of fresh and low-salinity waters to the Arctic Ocean by river inflow, net precipitation, distillation during the freeze/thaw cycle, and Pacific Ocean inflows; (2) the disposition (e.g., sources, pathways, and storage) of freshwater components within the Arctic Ocean; and (3) the release and export of freshwater components into the bordering convective domains of the North Atlantic. We then examine physical, chemical, or biological processes which are influenced or constrained by the local quantities and geochemical qualities of freshwater; these include stratification and vertical mixing, ocean heat flux, nutrient supply, primary production, ocean acidification, and biogeochemical cycling. Internal to the Arctic the joint effects of sea ice decline and hydrological cycle intensification have strengthened coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere (e.g., wind and ice drift stresses, solar radiation, and heat and moisture exchange), the bordering drainage basins (e.g., river discharge, sediment transport, and erosion), and terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., Arctic greening, dissolved and particulate carbon loading, and altered phenology of biotic components). External to the Arctic freshwater export acts as both a constraint to and a necessary ingredient for deep convection in the bordering subarctic gyres and thus affects the global thermohaline circulation. Geochemical fingerprints attained within the Arctic Ocean are likewise exported into the neighboring subarctic systems and beyond. Finally, we discuss observed and modeled functions and changes in this system on seasonal, annual, and decadal time scales and discuss mechanisms that link the marine system to atmospheric, terrestrial, and cryospheric systems.

The Arctic Ocean’s freshwater budget comprises contributions from river runoff, precipitation, evaporation, sea-ice and exchanges with the North Pacific and Atlantic. More than 70,000km3 of freshwater are stored in the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean, leading to low salinities in upper-layer Arctic sea water, separated by a strong halocline from warm, saline water beneath. Spatially and temporally limited observations show that the Arctic Ocean’s freshwater content has increased over the past few decades, predominantly in the west. Models suggest that wind-driven convergence drives freshwater accumulation. Here we use continuous satellite measurements between 1995 and 2010 to show that the dome in sea surface height associated with the western Arctic Beaufort Gyre has been steepening, indicating spin-up of the gyre. We find that the trend in wind field curl—a measure of spatial gradients in the wind that lead to water convergence or divergence—exhibits a corresponding spatial pattern, suggesting that wind-driven convergence controls freshwater variability. We estimate an increase in freshwater storage of 8,000±2,000km3 in the western Arctic Ocean, in line with hydrographic observations, and conclude that a reversal in the wind field could lead to a spin-down of the Beaufort Gyre, and release of this freshwater to the Arctic Ocean.

The global Thermohaline Circulation (THC) is primarily driven by the cooling and sinking of northward flowing North Atlantic surface waters in the Nordic Seas to form North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) that flows southward as a component of the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC). It is widely accepted that major freshwater injections have disrupted the formation of NADW in the past, causing widespread cooling over the North Atlantic. Eirik Drift, a contourite south of Greenland, was formed from deposition of sediments carried in the DWBC, so contains information about DWBC variability. Before now, the spatial and temporal variability of the surface and deep water currents, and their relationship with the associated sedimentation have not been fully understood. Here, we present a review of the key findings from the RAPID Cape Farewell project at Eirik Drift, a multi-disciplinary study which included hydrographic profiles, sub-bottom and sea-floor geophysical data, and multi-proxy analyses of a marine sediment core. We use these previously published results to further elucidate the oceanographic processes above Eirik Drift and relate these results to the sedimentation patterns. We also resolve, using a down-core record of NADW flow intensity, how bottom currents in this region changed in association with freshwater forcing during the last deglaciation.

New records of planktonic foraminiferal ?18O and lithic and foraminiferal counts from Eirik Drift are combined with published data from the Nordic Seas and the “Ice Rafted Debris (IRD) belt”, to portray a sequence of events through Heinrich event 1 (H1). These events progressed from an onset of meltwater release at not, vert, similar19 ka BP, through the ‘conventional’ H1 IRD deposition phase in the IRD belt starting from not, vert, similar17.5 ka BP, to a final phase between 16.5 and not, vert, similar15 ka BP that was characterised by a pooling of freshwater in the Nordic Seas, which we suggest was hyperpycnally injected into that basin. After not, vert, similar15 ka BP, this freshwater was purged from the Nordic Seas into the North Atlantic, which preconditioned the Nordic Seas for convective deep-water formation. This allowed an abrupt re-start of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation in the Nordic Seas at the Bolling warming (14.6 ka BP). In contrast to previous estimates for the duration of H1 (i.e., 1000 years to only a century or two), the total, combined composite H1 signal presented here had a duration of over 4000 yrs (not, vert, similar19–14.6 ka BP), which spanned the entire period of NADW collapse. It appears that deep-water formation and climate are not simply controlled by the magnitude or rate of meltwater addition. Instead the location of meltwater injections may be more important, with NADW formation being particularly sensitive to surface freshening in the Arctic/Nordic Seas.

International audience; In this study 36 hydrographic transects occupied between 1991 and 2007 in the vicinity of the WOCE A1E/AR7E section are used to investigate various aspects of the Irminger Gyre, a narrow cyclonic recirculation in the southwest Irminger Sea. Vertical sections of absolute geostrophic velocity were constructed using satellite and shipboard velocity measurements, and analyzed in conjunction with the hydrographic data and meteorological fields. The Irminger Gyre is a weakly baroclinic feature with a mean transport of 6.8±1.9 Sv (View the MathML source). At mid-depth it contains water with the same properties as Labrador Sea Water (LSW). During the 17-year study period large changes occurred in the gyre and also within the boundary flow encircling the Irminger Sea. The gyre intensified and became more stratified, while the upper-layer circulation of the boundary current system weakened. The latter is consistent with the overall decline of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre reported earlier. However, the decline of the upper-ocean boundary currents was accompanied by an intensification of the circulation at deeper levels. The deep component of both the northward-flowing boundary current (the Irminger Current) and the southward-flowing boundary current (the Deep Western Boundary Current) strengthened. The increase in transport of the deep Irminger Current is due to the emergence of a second deep limb of the current, presumably due to a shift in pathways of the branches of the subpolar gyre. Using a volumetric water mass analysis it is argued that LSW was formed locally within the Irminger Gyre via deep convection in the early 1990s. In contrast, LSW appeared outside of the gyre in the eastern part of the Irminger Sea with a time lag of 2-3 years, consistent with transit from the Labrador Sea. Thus, our analysis clarifies the relative contributions of locally-versus remotely-formed LSW in the Irminger Sea.

Analysis of modern and historical observations demonstrates that the temperature of the intermediate-depth (150–900 m) Atlantic water (AW) of the Arctic Ocean has increased in recent decades. The AW warming has been uneven in time; a local ∼1°C maximum was observed in the mid-1990s, followed by an intervening minimum and an additional warming that culminated in 2007 with temperatures higher than in the 1990s by 0.24°C. Relative to climatology from all data prior to 1999, the most extreme 2007 temperature anomalies of up to 1°C and higher were observed in the Eurasian and Makarov Basins. The AW warming was associated with a substantial (up to 75–90 m) shoaling of the upper AW boundary in the central Arctic Ocean and weakening of the Eurasian Basin upper-ocean stratification. Taken together, these observations suggest that the changes in the Eurasian Basin facilitated greater upward transfer of AW heat to the ocean surface layer. Available limited observations and results from a 1D ocean column model support this surmised upward spread of AW heat through the Eurasian Basin halocline. Experiments with a 3D coupled ice–ocean model in turn suggest a loss of 28–35 cm of ice thickness after ∼50 yr in response to the 0.5 W m−2 increase in AW ocean heat flux suggested by the 1D model. This amount of thinning is comparable to the 29 cm of ice thickness loss due to local atmospheric thermodynamic forcing estimated from observations of fast-ice thickness decline. The implication is that AW warming helped precondition the polar ice cap for the extreme ice loss observed in recent years.

Arctic fresh water plays a large role in both the global ocean circulation and the hydrological cycle. To identify sources and pathways of the Arctic outflow into the North Atlantic, results of a high resolution global model and observations have been examined. It is shown that continental runoff and snowmelt are the dominant sources of Arctic fresh water. The simulations demonstrated that the oceanic transports account for the majority of the fresh water export from the Arctic into the North Atlantic. The oceanic outflow from the Arctic is split between the western route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the eastern route through the Nordic Seas. Two thirds of total oceanic fresh water comes via the western route. Arctic halocline waters are present on both the western and eastern routes with the western route providing most of the Arctic upper halocline water. Sea ice export contributes more than half the total freshwater flux east of Greenland and less than one fifth of the freshwater flux west of it. Pacific water constitutes about third of the outflow of the Arctic upper halocline water into the North Atlantic.

An analysis is made of data from 30 Aanderaa recording current meters (RCMs) set on nine moorings located east of Cape Farewell, the southern tip of Greenland. The purpose of the measurements was to allow for the estimation of transport in the deep western boundary current (DWBC) below a depth of about 1500 m. The records commenced in September 2005 and lasted from 9.5 to 11.5 months. After calibration of the raw data, 12-h averages of temperature and current were derived and the latter employed to estimate the flow across and along the array direction. The 9.5-month average transport of water colder than 3°C was found to be 7.8 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 1 × 106 m3 s−1) with a standard error of 0.8 Sv. For water denser than σθ = 27.85 kg m−3, the transport is calculated as 4.5 Sv. Whether either of these values is significantly different from comparable measurements made 500 km upstream cannot be determined. In marked contrast, for σθ > 27.8 kg m−3, the transport is estimated as only 9.0 Sv, smaller than the widely accepted value of 13 Sv for nearby measurements made in 1978. A reevaluation of the calculations and assumptions made then allows one to determine the uncertainty of the earlier estimate and thereby conclude that the difference between the previous and present measurements is significant, that is, that the transport has decreased between 1978 and 2005–06. A weakening of the transport during the 9.5-month period is also observed, along with a warming and an increase in salinity in the core of the DWBC. These latter changes are shown to be consistent with interannual variability rather than a long-term trend.

North Atlantic Water (NAW) plays a central role in the ocean climate of the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean. Whereas the pathways of the NAW in the Nordic Seas are mostly known, those into the Arctic Ocean are yet to be fully understood. To elucidate these routes the results of a high-resolution global coupled ice–ocean model are used. We demonstrate that in 1989–2004 the NAW inflow was equally divided between the Fram Strait and Barents Sea. We find that salt influx within the branches is comparable but that most of the heat entered the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait. The model shows complex NAW circulation patterns in the Barents Sea. Two mode waters in the Barents Sea branch are identified: a halocline water produced by surface cooling at shallow convective sites in the northern Barents Sea, and bottom water formed from NAW in the southeastern Barents Sea via full-depth convection and mixing. These two modes continue into the Nansen Basin along two separate routes: one through the northern Barents Sea shelf, and the other through the southeastern Barents Sea with halocline mode water dominating the outflow. Overall, less than half of the NAW coming into the Nordic Seas reaches the Arctic Ocean relatively unmodified, and the rest of it will have been modified in the Barents and Kara Seas with a large fraction re-circulating into the North Atlantic.

Few basins in the world exhibit such a wide range of water properties as those of the Nordic Seas with cold freshwaters from the Arctic in the western basins and warm saline waters from the Atlantic in the eastern basins. In this study we present a 50-year hydrographic climatology of the Nordic Seas in terms of depth and temperature patterns on four upper ocean specific volume anomaly surfaces. This approach allows us to better distinguish between change due to variations along such surfaces and change due to depth variations of the stratified water column. Depth variations indicate changes in the mass field while property variations along isopycnals give insight into isopycnal advection and mixing, as well as diapycnal processes. We find that the warmest waters on each surface are found in the north, close to where the isopycnal outcrops, a clear indication of downward mixing of the warmer, more saline waters on shallower isopycnals due to convective cooling at the surface. These saline waters come from the Norwegian Atlantic Slope Current by means of a very high level of eddy activity in the Lofoten Basin. The isopycnal analyses further show that the principal water mass boundary between the waters of Arctic origin in the west and Atlantic waters in the east aligns quite tightly with the Jan Mayen, Mohn, Knipovich Ridge system suggesting little cross-ridge exchange. Instead, the main routes of exchange between the eastern and western basins appear to be limited to the northern and southern ends of ridge system: Atlantic waters into the Greenland Sea in the Fram St and Artic waters into the southern Norwegian Sea just north of the Iceland-Faroe Ridge. Analysis of a representative isopycnal in the main pycnocline shows it to be stable over time with only small variations with season (except where it outcrops in winter in the Greenland and Iceland Seas). However, two very cold winters, 1968–1969, led to greater than average heat losses across the entire Lofoten Basin that eroded away much of the Lofoten eddy and induced the greatest temperature anomaly in the entire 50-year record. Interannual variations in isopycnal layer temperature correlate with the NAO index such that waters in the Iceland Sea become warmer than average with warming air temperatures and conversely in the Lofoten Basin.

International audience; In summer 1996, a tracer release experiment using sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6) was launched in the intermediate-depth waters of the central Greenland Sea (GS), to study the mixing and ventilation processes in the region and its role in the northern limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation. Here we describe the hydrographic context of the experiment, the methods adopted and the results from the monitoring of the horizontal tracer spread for the 1996-2002 period documented by ∼10 shipboard surveys. The tracer marked “Greenland Sea Arctic Intermediate Water” (GSAIW). This was redistributed in the gyre by variable winter convection penetrating only to mid-depths, reaching at most 1800 m depth during the strongest event observed in 2002. For the first 18 months, the tracer remained mainly in the Greenland Sea. Vigorous horizontal mixing within the Greenland Sea gyre and a tight circulation of the gyre interacting slowly with the other basins under strong topographic influences were identified. We use the tracer distributions to derive the horizontal shear at the scale of the Greenland Sea gyre, and rates of horizontal mixing at ∼10 and ∼300 km scales. Mixing rates at small scale are high, several times those observed at comparable depths at lower latitudes. Horizontal stirring at the sub-gyre scale is mediated by numerous and vigorous eddies. Evidence obtained during the tracer release suggests that these play an important role in mixing water masses to form the intermediate waters of the central Greenland Sea. By year two, the tracer had entered the surrounding current systems at intermediate depths and small concentrations were in proximity to the overflows into the North Atlantic. After 3 years, the tracer had spread over the Nordic Seas basins. Finally by year six, an intensive large survey provided an overall synoptic documentation of the spreading of the tagged GSAIW in the Nordic Seas. A circulation scheme of the tagged water originating from the centre of the GS is deduced from the horizontal spread of the tracer. We present this circulation and evaluate the transport budgets of the tracer between the GS and the surroundings basins. The overall residence time for the tagged GSAIW in the Greenland Sea was about 2.5 years. We infer an export of intermediate water of GSAIW from the GS of 1 to 1.85 Sv (1 Sv = 10 6 m 3 s -1) for the period from September 1998 to June 2002 based on the evolution of the amount of tracer leaving the GS gyre. There is strong exchange between the Greenland Sea and Arctic Ocean via Fram Strait, but the contribution of the Greenland Sea to the Denmark Strait and Iceland Scotland overflows is modest, probably not exceeding 6% during the period under study.

The thermodynamic balance of the Weddell Gyre is assessed from an inverse estimate of the circulation across the gyre's rim. The gyre experiences a weak net buoyancy gain that arises from a leading-order cancellation between two opposing contributions, linked to two cells of water mass transformation and diapycnal overturning. The lower cell involves a cooling-driven densification of 8.4 ± 2.0 Sv of Circumpolar Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water near the gyre's southern and western margins. The upper cell entails a freshening-driven conversion of 4.9 ± 2.0 Sv of Circumpolar Deep Water into lighter upper-ocean waters within the gyre interior. The distinct role of salinity between the two cells stems from opposing salinity changes induced by sea ice production, meteoric sources and admixture of fresh upper-ocean waters in the lower cell, which contrasts with coherent reductions in salinity associated with sea ice melting and meteoric sources in the upper cell.

Growing interest in the dynamics and temporal variability of the deep western boundary current (DWBC) in the northern North Atlantic has led to numerous studies of the modern hydrography and palaeoceanography of this current system. The DWBC is fed by the two dense water-masses that spill over the Greenland–Iceland–Scotland Ridge; Denmark Strait Overflow Water (DSOW) and Iceland Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW). These overflows entrain ambient water masses, primarily Labrador Sea Water (LSW), as they cross the Iceland and Irminger Basins before merging in the vicinity of south-east Greenland. A number of studies have been performed around the Eirik Drift, located off the southern Greenland margin, downstream of this main merging point. However, the relationship between the DWBC and the associated sedimentation at this location has yet to be fully elucidated. New hydrographic data show that the current's main sediment load is carried by only one of its components, the DSOW. Seismic surveys and sediment cores confirm that Holocene sedimentation is limited to areas underlying the most offshore part of the current, where the hydrographic data show the highest concentration of DSOW. Active sedimentation through the Holocene therefore appears to have been controlled by proximity to the sediment-laden DSOW. Our interpretation of new and historic geostrophic transport and tracer data from transects around the southern Greenland margin also suggests that the DWBC undergoes significant growth through entrainment as it flows around the Eirik Drift. We attribute this to multiple strands of ISOW following different depth-dependent pathways between exiting the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone and joining the DWBC. Comparison of our new data with other modern hydrographic datasets reveals significant temporal variability in the DWBC, associated with variations in the position, structure and age since ventilation of the current in the vicinity of Eirik Drift. The complexity of the current dynamics in this area has implications for the interpretation of hydrographic and palaeoceanographic data.

The Eirik Drift lies on the slope and rise off the southern tip of the Greenland margin where it formed under the influence of the North Atlantic deep western boundary current. The drift contains a semi-continuous and often expanded sedimentary record ranging from Early Eocene to Holocene and so contains a record of bottom current strengths over decadal to millennial time scales. These variations in current strength can be related to changes in thermohaline circulation and climate. The drift body is composed of four seismic sequences, with a number of internal discontinuities, reflecting a variety of palaeoceanographic events. Three secondary ridges are observed trending to the NW from the main ridge crest. The presence of these ridges, which have been active since the Early Pliocene, suggests that the deep current separates into three strands as it crosses the Eirik Drift, with each strand depositing a separate ridge. Variation in the degree of lateral migration within the Early to Late Pliocene sequence between ridges reflects local variation in the angle of slope on which the ridges formed. Cyclicity of reflector amplitude within the Late Pliocene to Pleistocene sequence could reflect changes in carbonate accumulation and deep current strength linked to glacial-interglacial variations.

We examine the sensitivity of the Weddell and Ross seas to vertical mixing and surface freshwater forcing using an ocean–sea ice model. The high latitude Southern Ocean is very weakly stratified, with a winter salinity difference across the pycnocline of only ∼0.2 PSU. We find that insufficient vertical mixing, freshwater supply from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, or initial sea ice causes a high salinity bias in the mixed layer which erodes the stratification and causes excessive deep convection. This leads to vertical homogenisation of the Weddell and Ross seas, opening of polynyas in the sea ice and unrealistic spin-up of the subpolar gyres and Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The model freshwater budget shows that a ∼30% error in any component can destratify the ocean in about a decade. We find that freshwater forcing in the model should be sufficient along the Antarctic coastline to balance a salinity bias caused by dense coastal water that is unable to sink to the deep ocean. We also show that a low initial sea ice area introduces a salinity bias in the marginal ice zone. We demonstrate that vertical mixing, freshwater forcing and initial sea ice conditions need to be constrained simultaneously to reproduce the Southern Ocean hydrography, circulation and sea ice in a model. As an example, insufficient vertical mixing will cause excessive convection in the Weddell and Ross seas even in the presence of large surface freshwater forcing and initial sea ice cover.

Sea surface height measured by the Envisat radar altimeter over open ocean and from leads in sea ice are combined to generate a complete view of variability in the Nordic Seas, geographically and seasonally. The observed seasonal variability is decomposed using empirical orthogonal functions, and is consistent with seasonal variations in steric and dynamic forcing. Wintertime increase in sea surface height on the east Greenland shelf is hypothesised to be caused by wind-forced downwelling, which provides direct evidence for the regional play of coastal dynamics. High levels of eddy kinetic energy around the sea ice edge in Fram Strait, and off east Greenland and Svalbard are consistent with the interaction of the wind with the ice edge.

The general circulation of the Labrador Sea is studied with a dataset of 53 surface drifters drogued at 15 m and several hydrographic sections done in May 1997. Surface drifters indicate three distinct speed regimes: fast boundary currents, a slower crossover from Greenland to Labrador, and a slow, eddy-dominated flow in the basin interior. Mean Eulerian velocity maps show several recirculation cells located offshore of the main currents, in addition to the cyclonic circulation of the Labrador Sea. Above the northern slope of the basin, the surface drifters have two preferential paths: one between the 1000-m and 2000-m isobaths and the other close to the 3000-m isobath. The vertical shear estimated from CTD data supports the presence of two distinct currents around the basin. One current, more baroclinic, flows between the 1000-m and 2000-m isobaths. The other one, more barotropic, flows above the lower continental slope. The Irminger Sea Water carried by the boundary currents is altered as it tr...

International audience; The horizontal and vertical circulation of the Weddell Gyre is diagnosed using a box inverse model constructed with recent hydrographic sections and including mobile sea ice and eddy transports. The gyre is found to convey 42 6 8 Sv (1 Sv 5 106 m3 s–1) across the central Weddell Sea and to intensify to 54 6 15 Sv further offshore. This circulation injects 36 6 13 TW of heat from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the gyre, and exports 51 6 23 mSv of freshwater, including 13 6 1 mSv as sea ice to the midlati- tude Southern Ocean. The gyre’s overturning circulation has an asymmetric double-cell structure, in which 13 6 4 Sv of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) and relatively light Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) are trans- formed into upper-ocean water masses by midgyre upwelling (at a rate of 2 6 2 Sv) and into denser AABW by downwelling focussed at the western boundary (8 6 2 Sv). The gyre circulation exhibits a substantial throughflow component, by which CDW and AABW enter the gyre from the Indian sector, undergo ventila- tion and densification within the gyre, and are exported to the South Atlantic across the gyre’s northern rim. The relatively modest net production of AABW in the Weddell Gyre (6 6 2 Sv) suggests that the gyre’s prominence in the closure of the lower limb of global oceanic overturning stems largely from the recycling and equatorward export of Indian-sourced AABW.

Over Arctic sea ice, pressure ridges and floe and melt pond edges all introduce discrete obstructions to the flow of air or water past the ice and are a source of form drag. In current climate models form drag is only accounted for by tuning the air–ice and ice–ocean drag coefficients, that is, by effectively altering the roughness length in a surface drag parameterization. The existing approach of the skin drag parameter tuning is poorly constrained by observations and fails to describe correctly the physics associated with the air–ice and ocean–ice drag. Here, the authors combine recent theoretical developments to deduce the total neutral form drag coefficients from properties of the ice cover such as ice concentration, vertical extent and area of the ridges, freeboard and floe draft, and the size of floes and melt ponds. The drag coefficients are incorporated into the Los Alamos Sea Ice Model (CICE) and show the influence of the new drag parameterization on the motion and state of the ice cover, with the most noticeable being a depletion of sea ice over the west boundary of the Arctic Ocean and over the Beaufort Sea. The new parameterization allows the drag coefficients to be coupled to the sea ice state and therefore to evolve spatially and temporally. It is found that the range of values predicted for the drag coefficients agree with the range of values measured in several regions of the Arctic. Finally, the implications of the new form drag formulation for the spinup or spindown of the Arctic Ocean are discussed.

Highlights: • A joint analysis of deep current meter records in the western North Atlantic. • Intra-seasonal variability dominates the deep boundary current. • Topographic waves near 10d periods trapped over steep topography. • Basin centers are showing longer periods (50d) caused by the eddy field. • Observed variability characteristics compared to high resolution model simulation. Abstract The Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) along the western margin of the subpolar North Atlantic is an important component of the deep limb of the Meridional Overturning near its northern origins. A network of moored arrays from Denmark Strait to the tail of the Grand Banks has been installed for almost two decades to observe the boundary currents and transports of North Atlantic Deep Water as part of an internationally coordinated observatory for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The dominant variability in all of the moored velocity time series is in the week-to-month period range. While the temporal characteristics of this variability change only gradually between Denmark Strait and Flemish Cap, a broad band of longer term variability is present farther along the path of the DWBC at the Grand Banks and in the interior basins (Labrador and Irminger Seas). The vigorous intra-seasonal variability may well mask possible interannual to decadal variability that is typically an order of magnitude smaller than the high-frequency fluctuations. Here, the intra-seasonal variability is quantified at key positions along the DWBC path using both, observations and high resolution model data. The results are used to evaluate the model circulation, and in turn the model is used to relate the discrete measurements to the overall pattern of the subpolar circulation. Topographic waves are found to be trapped by the steep topography all around the western basins, the Labrador and Irminger Seas. In the Labrador Sea, the high intra-seasonal variability of the boundary current regime is separated by a region of extremely low variability in narrow recirculation cells from the basin interior. There, the variability is also on intra-seasonal timescales, but at much longer periods around 50 days.

The authors examine changes in the salinity of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean standard seawater (SSW) as used in seven cruises between 1991 and 1997. Ten batches of SSW were used during this time—several more than once—such that a clear demonstration of the effect of aging over months and years on SSW salinity can be made. Thus, the authors demonstrate that simple “offsets” intended to “correct” SSW salinity changes are inappropriate. Interest in intercruise salinity compatibility is high, as scientists attempt to reconcile section measurements made during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment among experiments. SSW salinity changes are one source of salinity differences of O(0.001) between sections. Herein, the authors provide a demonstration of how SSW measurements can be collated to generate a batch-by-batch history of SSW salinity evolution for more accurate sample salinity evaluation.

The global thermohaline circulation is the oceanic overturning mode, which is manifested in the North Atlantic Ocean as northward-flowing surface waters which sink in the Nordic (Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian) seas and return southwards—after overflowing the Greenland–Scotland ridge—as deep water. This process has been termed the 'conveyor belt', and is believed to keep Europe 5–8 °C warmer than it would be if the conveyor were to shut down. The variability of today's conveyor belt is therefore an important component of climate regulation. The Nordic seas are the only Northern Hemisphere source of deep water and a previous study has revealed no long-term variability in the outflow of deep water from the Nordic seas to the Atlantic Ocean. Here I use flows derived from hydrographic data to show that this outflow has approximately doubled, and then returned to previous values, over the past four decades. I present evidence which suggests that this variability is forced by variability in polar air temperature, which in turn may be connected to the recently reported Arctic warming.

Quasi-meridional flux estimates for volume, heat, and freshwater, with computed errors, in the region of the subpolar gyre of the North Atlantic between Cape Farewell and Ireland between 53° and 60°N are presented. The dataset consists of three approximately 500-km-sided boxes of CTD stations collected as the U.K. Control Volume Experiment during summer 1991 on the RRS Charles Darwin, supplemented by stations from the International Geophysical Year surveys of the R/V Anton Dohrn to represent the East Greenland Current (EGC), and justification is given for their use. The circulation is determined by an inverse method applied to the boxes of the survey, with in situ current measurements from a vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler forming an estimate of the strength of the EGC. Climatological wind stress data are used to estimate Ekman fluxes. The principal results are the determination of the poleward heat flux across the survey region as 0.28 ± 0.06 PW, and of the freshwater gain by th...

The first quasi-synoptic estimates of Arctic Ocean and sea ice net fluxes of volume, heat and freshwater are calculated by application of an inverse model to data around the ocean boundary. Hydrographic measurements from four gateways to the Arctic (Bering, Davis and Fram Straits, and the Barents Sea Opening) completely enclose the ocean, and were made within the same 32-day period in summer 2005. The inverse model is formulated as a set of full-depth and density-layer-specific volume and salinity transport conservation equations, with conservation constraints also applied to temperature, but only in non-outcropping layers. The model includes representations of Fram Strait sea ice export and of interior Arctic Ocean diapycnal fluxes. The results show that in summer 2005 the transport-weighted mean properties are, for water entering the Arctic: potential temperature 4.53?C, salinity 34.50 and potential density (?0) 27.33 kg m-3; and for water leaving the Arctic, including sea ice: 0.25?C, 33.81 and 27.14 kg m-3, respectively. The net effect of the Arctic in summer is to freshen and cool the inflows by 0.69 in salinity and 4.28 ?C, respectively, and to decrease density by 0.19 kg m-3. The volume transport into the Arctic of waters above ~1000 m depth is 9.2 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s-1), and the export (similarly) is 9.3 Sv. The net oceanic and sea ice freshwater flux is 186 {plus minus} 48 mSv. The net heat flux (including sea ice) is 192 {plus minus} 37 TW, representing loss from the ocean to the atmosphere.

We present high?resolution simulations and observational data as evidence of a fast current flowing along the shelf break of the Siberian and Alaskan shelves in the Arctic Ocean. Thus far, the Arctic Circumpolar Boundary Current (ACBC) has been seen as comprising two branches: the Fram Strait and Barents Sea Branches (FSB and BSB, respectively). Here we describe a new third branch, the Arctic Shelf Break Branch (ASBB). We show that the forcing mechanism for the ASBB is a combination of buoyancy loss and non?local wind, creating high pressure upstream in the Barents Sea. The potential vorticity influx through the St. Anna Trough dictates the cyclonic direction of flow of the ASBB, which is the most energetic large?scale circulation structure in the Arctic Ocean. It plays a substantial role in transporting Arctic halocline waters and exhibits a robust seasonal cycle with a summer minimum and winter maximum. The simulations show the continuity of the FSB all the way around the Arctic shelves and the uninterrupted ASBB between the St. Anna Trough and the western Fram Strait. The BSB flows continuously along the Siberian shelf as far as the Chukchi Plateau, where it partly diverges from the continental slope into the ocean interior. The Alaskan Shelf break Current (ASC) is the analog of the ASBB in the Canadian Arctic. The ASC is forced by the local winds and high upstream pressure in Bering Strait, caused by the drop in sea surface height between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.

The water mass structure of the Arctic Ocean is remarkable, for its intermediate (depth range ~150–900 m) layer is filled with warm (temperature >0°C) and salty water of Atlantic origin (usually called the Atlantic Water, AW). This water is carried into and through the Arctic Ocean by the pan-Arctic boundary current, which moves cyclonically along the basins’ margins (Fig. 1). This system provides the largest input of water, heat, and salt into the Arctic Ocean; the total quantity of heat is substantial, enough to melt the Arctic sea ice cover several times over. By utilizing an extensive archive Fate of Early 2000s Arctic Warm Water Pulse of recently collected observational data, this study provides a cohesive picture of recent large-scale changes in the AW layer of the Arctic Ocean. These recent observations show the warm pulse of AW that entered the Arctic Ocean in the early 1990s finally reached the Canada Basin during the 2000s. The second warm pulse that entered the Arctic Ocean in the mid-2000s has moved through the Eurasian Basin and is en route downstream. One of the most intriguing results of these observations is the realization of the possibility of uptake of anomalous AW heat by overlying layers, with possible implications for an already-reduced Arctic ice cover.

Previous work on oxygen and hydrogen isotope data from Eastern Mediterranean water samples has defined a mixing relationship in this region that is different from the world surface ocean. This prompted speculations about the hydrological processes in the Mediterranean region. We present new δ18O and δD data from the Eastern Mediterranean region and the East Greenland Current system, spanning a wide salinity range. These data define δ18O:δD relationships for both regions that are consistent with the world surface ocean δ18O:δD relationship, despite the highly evaporative conditions that prevail in the Mediterranean region. These new geochemical data have suggested that the world surface ocean &delta18O:δD relationship holds throughout almost the entire global salinity range.