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Title: Labrador Sea freshening linked to Beaufort Gyre freshwater release

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
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Abstract The Beaufort Gyre (BG), the largest Arctic Ocean freshwater reservoir, has drastically increased its liquid freshwater content by 40% in the past two decades. If released within a short period, the excess freshwater could potentially impact the large-scale ocean circulation by freshening the upper subpolar North Atlantic. Here, we track BG-sourced freshwater using passive tracers in a global ocean sea-ice model and show that this freshwater exited the Arctic mostly through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, rather than Fram Strait, during an historical release event in 1983–1995. The Labrador Sea is the most affected region in the subpolar North Atlantic, with a freshening of 0.2 psu on the western shelves and 0.4 psu in the Labrador Current. Given that the present BG freshwater content anomaly is twice the historical analog studied here, the impact of a future rapid release on Labrador Sea salinity could be significant, easily exceeding similar fluxes from Greenland meltwater.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; NOAA; National Science Foundation (NSF); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001; NA15OAR432006; N00014-17-1-2545; PLR-1603266
OSTI ID:
1766837
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1807827
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-20-20936; 1229; PII: 21470
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Vol. 12 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

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