Freshwater budget of the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean, from salinity, δ18O, and nutrients

[1] The contribution of freshwater components (e.g., meteoric, sea ice, and Pacific water) in the Canada Basin is quantified using salinity, δ18O, and nutrient data collected in 2003 and 2004. The penetration depth of sea ice meltwater is limited to the upper 30 m, and brine, rejected during sea ice formation, is observed from 30 to 250 m depth. The fraction of meteoric water is high in the upper 50 m and decreases with depth. Pacific water entering via Bering Strait is the main source of freshwater below 50 m depth. Bering Strait throughflow, which transports Pacific water with salinity 32.5 together with meteoric water supplied upstream of the Bering Strait, contributes up to 75% of freshwater input (>3200 km3 a−1) to the Canada Basin. The mean residence time of Pacific water in the Canada Basin is estimated to be 11 years. Precipitation and river runoff from both North American and Eurasian continents add >800 km3 a−1 and sea ice formation removes <900 km3 a−1 (<0.6 m a−1) of fresh water. The export of ice and liquid fresh water from the Canada Basin contributes ∼40% of the freshwater flux from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic Ocean.

[1]  L. Codispoti,et al.  The Potential for Using Little Diomede Island as a Platform for Observing Environmental Conditions in Bering Strait , 2009 .

[2]  Michael P. Meredith,et al.  The large‐scale freshwater cycle of the Arctic , 2006 .

[3]  G. Johnson,et al.  Some controls on flow and salinity in Bering Strait , 2006 .

[4]  E. Carmack,et al.  Nitrogen balance and Arctic throughflow , 2006, Nature.

[5]  Mark A. Johnson,et al.  Arctic decadal variability from an idealized atmosphere‐ice‐ocean model: 2. Simulation of decadal oscillations , 2006 .

[6]  E. Carmack,et al.  Pacific Ocean inflow: Influence on catastrophic reduction of sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean , 2006 .

[7]  Dennis A. Hansell,et al.  Linkages among Runoff, Dissolved Organic Carbon, and the Stable Oxygen Isotope Composition of Seawater and Other Water Mass Indicators in the Arctic Ocean , 2005 .

[8]  L. Codispoti,et al.  Hydrographic conditions during the 2002 SBI process experiments , 2005 .

[9]  R. Gerdes,et al.  Arctic Ocean change heralds North Atlantic freshening , 2005 .

[10]  M. Yamamoto‐Kawai,et al.  Freshwater and brine behaviors in the Arctic Ocean deduced from historical data of δ18O and alkalinity (1929–2002 A.D.) , 2005 .

[11]  S. Nishino,et al.  Use of ammonium and other nitrogen tracers to investigate the spreading of shelf waters in the western Arctic halocline , 2005 .

[12]  Thomas J. Weingartner,et al.  Monthly temperature, salinity, and transport variability of the Bering Strait through flow , 2005 .

[13]  K. Aagaard,et al.  Revising the Bering Strait freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean , 2005 .

[14]  M. Jeffries,et al.  Drifting Arctic sea ice archives changes in ocean surface conditions , 2004 .

[15]  E. Carmack,et al.  Penetration of the 1990s warm temperature anomaly of Atlantic Water in the Canada Basin , 2004 .

[16]  A. Murata,et al.  N deficiency in a well-oxygenated cold bottom water over the Bering Sea shelf: influence of sedimentary denitrification , 2004 .

[17]  J. Wallace,et al.  Variations in the age of Arctic sea‐ice and summer sea‐ice extent , 2004 .

[18]  A. Proshutinsky,et al.  The role of the Beaufort Gyre in Arctic climate variability: Seasonal to decadal climate scales , 2002 .

[19]  Michael P. Meredith,et al.  Quantitative considerations of dissolved barium as a tracer in the Arctic Ocean , 2002 .

[20]  R. Macdonald,et al.  Fresh water and its sources during the SHEBA drift in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean , 2002 .

[21]  Hajo Eicken,et al.  Tracer studies of pathways and rates of meltwater transport through Arctic summer sea ice , 2002 .

[22]  R. Macdonald,et al.  The Canada Basin, 1989–1995: Upstream events and far‐field effects of the Barents Sea , 2002 .

[23]  Peter Schlosser,et al.  River runoff, sea ice meltwater, and Pacific water distribution and mean residence times in the Arctic Ocean , 2001 .

[24]  Jing Zhang,et al.  Heat and Freshwater Budgets and Pathways in the Arctic Mediterranean in a Coupled Ocean/Sea-ice Model , 2001 .

[25]  C. Vörösmarty,et al.  Assessment of contemporary Arctic river runoff based on observational discharge records , 2001 .

[26]  G. Bönisch,et al.  Renewal and circulation of intermediate waters in the Canadian Basin observed on the SCICEX 96 cruise , 2000 .

[27]  S. Häkkinen.  A Simulation of Thermohaline Effects of a Great Salinity Anomaly , 1999 .

[28]  J. Grebmeier,et al.  Modification of NO, PO, and NO/PO During Flow Across the Bering and Chukchi Shelves: Implications for Use as Arctic Water Mass Tracers , 1999 .

[29]  J. Swift,et al.  Distribution of Atlantic and Pacific waters in the upper Arctic Ocean: Implications for circulation , 1998 .

[30]  L. Codispoti,et al.  Summer and winter denitrification rates in western Arctic shelf sediments , 1997 .

[31]  J. Grebmeier,et al.  The nutrient, salinity, and stable oxygen isotope composition of Bering and Chukchi Seas waters in and near the Bering Strait , 1997 .

[32]  D. Rothrock,et al.  Assimilating satellite concentration data into an Arctic sea ice mass balance model, 1979–1985 , 1996 .

[33]  Humfrey Melling,et al.  Development of seasonal pack ice in the Beaufort Sea during the winter of 1991–1992: A view from below , 1996 .

[34]  R. Macdonald,et al.  Physical and geochemical properties across the Atlantic/Pacific water mass front in the southern Canadian Basin , 1996 .

[35]  R. Macdonald,et al.  The freshwater budget and under-ice spreading of Mackenzie River water in the Canadian Beaufort Sea based on salinity and18O/16O measurements in water and ice , 1995 .

[36]  E. Carmack,et al.  The role of sea ice and other fresh water in the Arctic circulation , 1989 .

[37]  H. Göte Östlund,et al.  Arctic Ocean water mass balance from isotope data , 1984 .

[38]  T. Saino,et al.  Subsurface ammonium maximum in the northern North Pacific and the bering sea in summer , 1983 .

[39]  H. G. Östlund.  The residence time of the freshwater component in the Arctic Ocean , 1982 .

[40]  R. Macdonald,et al.  The joint roles of Pacific and Atlantic-origin waters in the Canada Basin, 1997–1998 , 2004 .

[41]  M. Steele,et al.  Sea Ice Growth, Melt, and Modeling: A Survey , 2000 .

[42]  P. Wheeler,et al.  Nutrients, organic carbon and organic nitrogen in the upper water column of the Arctic Ocean: implications for the sources of dissolved organic carbon , 1997 .

[43]  R. Fairbanks,et al.  Freshwater balance and the sources of deep and bottom waters in the Arctic Ocean inferred from the distribution of H218O , 1995 .

[44]  H. Melling,et al.  Modification of halocline source waters during freezing on the Beaufort Sea shelf: evidence from oxygen isotopes and dissolved nutrients , 1995 .