Recent Variability in the Arctic Ocean and Subarctic Seas

Abstract

The Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas have been undergoing significant changes, particularly evident throughout the past few decades. In this paper, we examine the declining sea ice extent in the Arctic (− 0.0639 million km2 year−1), the increasing sea surface temperature (approximately 0.014 °C year−1 in the Arctic Ocean to 0.03 °C year−1 in the subarctic Atlantic) and sea surface height (2.2 mm year−1 in the Arctic Ocean to 2.4 mm year−1 in the subarctic Atlantic), and changing patterns of sea surface salinity using a variety of reanalysis and observational data products from 1990 to 2017. The Amerasian Basin, particularly the Beaufort Gyre, has been freshening, concurrent with a salinification of the Laptev, Barents, and Greenland Seas, all of which are due to a shift towards a more anticyclonic circulation regime, shift in freshwater storage, and ice melt. Even as this regime began to weaken in the past decade, the freshening in the Beaufort Gyre continued. When comparing these variables to climate indices, we found an important connection between the Arctic Ocean Oscillation (AOO), sea surface height, sea surface temperatures, and ocean heat content in the subarctic Atlantic region, indicating more widespread impacts of atmospheric circulation changes in the Arctic region. These connections show that changes in the cyclonicity of the Arctic Ocean can impact output to the subarctic Atlantic region, which affects the heat and sea level of the region.