Asymmetrically Stratified Beaufort Gyre: Mean State and Response to Decadal Forcing
Abstract
Recent progress in understanding Beaufort Gyre (BG) dynamics reveals an important role of ice‐ocean stress in stabilizing BG freshwater content (FWC) over seasonal to interannual timescales. But how the BG's stratification and FWC respond to surface forcing over decadal timescales has not been fully explored. Using a global ocean‐sea ice model, we partition the BG into upper, middle (halocline), and lower (thermocline) layers and perform a volume budget analysis over 1948–2017. We find that the BG's asymmetric geometry (with steep and tight isohalines over continental slopes relative to the deep basin) is key in determining the mean volume transport balance. We further find that a net Ekman suction during 1983–1995 causes the upper and middle layers to deflate isopycnally, while an enhanced Ekman pumping during 1996–2017 causes these layers to inflate both isopycnally and diapycnally, the latter via anomalous flux from the upper to the middle layer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 29, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1029/2022gl100457
Entities
People
- Jiaxu Zhang
- Michael Steele
- Wei Cheng
- Wilbert Weijer
Organizations
- Climate Program Office
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research
- Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Washington