Unprecedented decline of Arctic sea ice outflow in 2018.
Nat Commun
; 13(1): 1747, 2022 04 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35365660
ABSTRACT
Fram Strait is the major gateway connecting the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean, where nearly 90% of the sea ice export from the Arctic Ocean takes place. The exported sea ice is a large source of freshwater to the Nordic Seas and Subpolar North Atlantic, thereby preconditioning European climate and deep water formation in the North Atlantic Ocean. Here we show that in 2018, the ice export through Fram Strait showed an unprecedented decline since the early 1990s. The 2018 ice export was reduced to less than 40% relative to that between 2000 and 2017. The minimum export is attributed to regional sea ice-ocean processes driven by an anomalous atmospheric circulation over the Atlantic sector of the Arctic. The result indicates that a drastic change of the Arctic sea ice outflow and its environmental consequences happen not only through Arctic-wide ice thinning, but also by regional scale atmospheric anomalies.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Seawater
/
Ice Cover
Language:
En
Journal:
Nat Commun
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Norway