Abstract
Abstract. Baffin Bay serves as a huge reservoir of sea ice which would provide the solid freshwater sources to the seas downstream. By employing satellite-derived sea ice motion and concentration fields, we obtain a nearly 40-year-long record (1978–1979 to 2016–2017) of the sea ice area flux through key fluxgates of Baffin Bay. Based on the estimates, the Baffin Bay sea ice area budget in terms of inflow and outflow are quantified and possible causes for its interannual variations and trends are analyzed. On average, the annual (September–August) inflows through the northern gate and Lancaster Sound are on the order of 205.8(±74.7)×103 km2 and 55.2(±17.8)×103 km2. In particular, a comparison with published results seems to suggest that about 75 %–85 % of the inflow through the northern gates is newly formed ice produced in the recurring North Water Polynya (NOW), in addition to the inflow via Nares Strait and Jones Sound. Meanwhile, the mean outflow via the southern gate approaches 394.3(±110.2)×103 km2. The distinct interannual variability for ice area flux through the northern gate and southern gate is partly explained by wind forcing associated with cross-gate sea level pressure difference, with correlations of 0.62 and 0.68, respectively. Also, significant increasing trends are found for the annual sea ice area flux through the three gates, amounting to 38.9×103, 82.2×103, and 7.5×103 km2 decade−1 for the northern gate, southern gate, and Lancaster Sound. These trends are chiefly related to the increasing ice motion, which is associated with thinner ice owing to the warmer climate (i.e., higher surface air temperature and shortened freezing period) and increased air and water drag coefficients over the past decades.
Highlights
Baffin Bay is a semi-enclosed ocean basin that connects the Arctic Ocean and the northwestern Atlantic (Fig. 1)
The sea ice motion and area flux increases in Baffin Bay over the past four decades are mainly attributable to a thinner sea ice thickness, which is primarily associated with the increase in surface air temperature
On the basis of the estimates, the variability and trends of sea ice area flux through the three fluxgates are examined in detail for different timescales
Summary
Baffin Bay is a semi-enclosed ocean basin that connects the Arctic Ocean and the northwestern Atlantic (Fig. 1). A direct potential consequence of sea ice outflow is the formation of lighter seawater that will strengthen the stratification of Labrador Sea through stabilizing the water column (Goosse et al, 1997; Rudels, 2010; Curry et al, 2014; Yang et al, 2016) These changes will potentially influence the strength of the meridional over-. Interannual variability in sea ice inflow and/or outflow components in Baffin Bay has been reported in several studies (Cuny et al, 2005; Kwok, 2007; Curry et al, 2014), robust knowledge of their trends is necessary to predict future changes and validate model results. This study attempts to provide an extended record of the satellite-derived sea ice inflow and outflow over nearly four decades (1978–1979 to 2016–2017) through the key fluxgates of Baffin Bay and to examine the possible causes of the trends
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