HE011
The Changing Thermohaline Structure of the Arctic Ocean: Mechanisms and Impacts
The Changing Thermohaline Structure of the Arctic Ocean: Mechanisms and Impacts
Session ID#: 85841
Session Description:
The thermohaline structure of the Arctic Ocean greatly impacts local and global elements of the Earth system. Observations indicate rapid changes in the Arctic heat and freshwater distributions over the past few decades, with increased heat transport from the Atlantic (“Atlantification”), increased freshwater content in the Beaufort Gyre, and reduced stratification. However, the driving mechanisms of these changes and their potential impacts are poorly understood. This session invites contributions that address the controls on the changing Arctic thermohaline structure and stratification, including multi-scale oceanic processes (e.g., general circulations, stirring and mixing, subducting eddies, enhanced small-scale upper ocean variability), surface and lateral fluxes (e.g., surface heat and freshwater fluxes, marginal inflows, transport through major straits), and atmosphere-sea ice-ocean interactions and feedbacks (e.g., climate patterns, increased open water areas, ice-albedo cycle, winds and waves). It also invites contributions that address the potential impacts of these changes on sea ice, acoustic propagation, deep water formation, and biological systems. It aims to bring together perspectives from in situ observations, remote sensing, theory, and numerical models to understand past changes, their impacts, and the implications for predictability.
Index Terms:
1615 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1621 Cryospheric change [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4536 Hydrography and tracers [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4540 Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4540 Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
9315 Arctic region [GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION]
Primary Chair: Jiaxu Zhang, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
Co-chairs: James M Thomson, Applied Physics Lab (UW), Seattle, WA, United States, Matthew A. Dzieciuch, University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States and Verma Tarun, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, United States
Primary Liaison: Jiaxu Zhang, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
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