Rosenblum, E;
Fajber, R;
Stroeve, JC;
Gille, ST;
Tremblay, LB;
Carmack, EC;
(2021)
Surface salinity under transitioning ice cover in the Canada Basin: Climate model biases linked to vertical distribution of fresh water.
Geophysical Research Letters
, 48
(21)
, Article e2021GL094739. 10.1029/2021gl094739.
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Abstract
The Canada Basin has exhibited a significant trend toward a fresher surface layer and thus a more stratified upper-ocean over the past three decades. State-of-the-art ice-ocean models, by contrast, tend to simulate a surface layer that is saltier and less stratified than observed. Here, we examine decadal changes to seasonal processes that may contribute to this wide-reaching model bias using climate model simulations from the Community Earth System Model and below-ice observations from the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment in 1975 and Ice Tethered Profilers in 2006-2012. In contrast to the observations, the models simulate salinity profiles that show relatively little variation between 1975 and 2012. We demonstrate that this bias can be mainly attributed to unrealistically deep vertical mixing in the model, creating a surface layer that is saltier than observed. The results provide insight for climate model improvement with broad implications for Arctic sea ice and ecosystem dynamics.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Surface salinity under transitioning ice cover in the Canada Basin: Climate model biases linked to vertical distribution of fresh water |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2021gl094739 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094739 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2021. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
| Keywords: | Canada Basin, Arctic sea ice, upper-ocean salinity, CESM, climate model, freshwater |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10136804 |
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