Skip to main content
Log in

A model-based study of ice and freshwater transport variability along both sides of Greenland

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigate some aspects of the variability of the Arctic freshwater content during the 1965–2002 period using the DRAKKAR eddy admitting global ocean/sea-ice model (12 km resolution in the Arctic). A comparison with recent mooring sections shows that the model realistically represents the major advective exchanges with the Arctic basin, through Bering, Fram and Davis Straits, and the Barents Sea. This allows the separate contributions of the inflows and outflows across each section to be quantified. In the model, the Arctic freshwater content variability is explained by the sea-ice flux at Fram and the combined variations of ocean freshwater inflow (at Bering) and outflow (at Fram and Davis). At all routes, except trough Fram Strait, the freshwater transport variability is mainly accounted for by the liquid component, with small contributions from the sea-ice flux. The ocean freshwater transport variability through both Davis and Fram is controlled by the variability of the export branch (Baffin Island Current and East Greenland Current, respectively), the variability of the inflow branches playing a minor role. We examine the respective role of velocity and salinity fluctuations in the variability of the ocean freshwater transport. Fram and Davis Straits offer a striking contrast in this regard. Freshwater transport variations across Davis Strait are completely determined by the variations of the total volume flux (0.91 correlation). On the other hand, the freshwater transport through Fram Strait depends both on variations of volume transport and salinity. As a result, there is no significant correlation between the variability of freshwater flux at Fram and Davis, although the volume transports on each side of Greenland are strongly anti-correlated (−0.84). Contrary to Davis Strait, the salinity of water carried by the East Greenland Current through Fram Strait varies strongly due to the ice-ocean flux north of Greenland.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aagaard K, Carmack E (1989) The role of sea ice and other fresh water in the Arctic circulation. J Geophys Res 94:14485–14498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnier B, Madec G, Penduff T, Molines JM, Treguier AM, Sommer JL, Beckmann A, Biastoch A, Boning C, Dengg J, Derval C, Durand E, Gulev S, Remy E, Talandier C, Theetten S, Maltrud M, McClean J, Cuevas BD (2006) Impact of partial steps and momentum advection schemes in a global ocean circulation model at eddy permitting resolution. Ocean Dyn 56:543–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brodeau L, Barnier B, Penduff T, Treguier AM, Gulev S (2009) An evaluation of ERA-40 and CORE atmospheric variables as drivers of global ocean models. Ocean Model (in revision)

  • Cavalieri DJ, Parkinson CL, Vinnikov KY (2003) 30-year satellite record reveals contrasting Arctic and Antarctic decadal sea ice variability. Geophys Res Lett 30(18)

  • Cuny J, Rhines PB, Kwok R (2005) Davis Strait volume, freshwater and heat fluxes. Deep-sea research, Part 1 52:519–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Trenberth K (2002) Estimates of freshwater discharge from continents: latitudinal and seasonal variations. J Hydrometeorol 3:660–687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeBoer AM, Nof D (2004) The exhaust valve of the North Atlantic. J Clim 17(3):417–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson R, Rudels B, Dye S, Karcher M, Meinck J, Yashayaev I (2007) Current estimates of freshwater flux through Arctic and Subarctic Seas. Prog Oceanogr 73:210–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson RR, Osborn TJ, Hurrell JW, Meincke J, Blindheim J, Adlandsvik B, Vinje T, Alekseev G, Maslowski W (2000) The Arctic Ocean response to the North Atlantic Oscillation. J Clim 13(15):2671–2696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fahrbach E, Meincke J, Osterhus S, Rohardt G, Schauer U, Tverberg V, Verduin J (2001) Direct measurements of volume transports through Fram Strait. Polar Res 20(2):217–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fetterer F, Knowles K (2002) updated 2004. Sea ice index

  • Fichefet T, Goosse H, Maqueda MAM (2003) A hindcast simulation of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice variability, 1955–2001. Polar Res 22(1):91–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerdes R, Karcher M, Köberle C, Fieg K (2008) Simulating the long term variability of liquid freshwater export from the Arctic Ocean. In: Dickson RR, Meincke J, Rhines P (eds) Arctic–Subarctic Ocean Fluxes. Springer, Berlin, pp 405–425

  • Haak H, Jungclaus J, Mikolajewicz U, Latif M (2003) Formation and propagation of Great Salinity Anomalies. Geophys Res Lett 30(9):1473–1476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häkkinen S, Proshutinsky A (2004) Freshwater content variability in the Arctic Ocean. J Geophys Res 73:210–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilmer M, Lemke P (2000) On the decreas of Arctic sea ice volume. Geophys Res Lett 27:3751–3754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland M, Finnis J, Serreze MC (2006) Simulated Arctic Ocean freshwater budgets in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. J Clim 19:6221–6242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones EP, Anderson LG (2008) Is the global conveyor belt threatened by Arctic Ocean fresh water outflow? In: Dickson RR, Meincke J, Rhines P (eds) Arctic–Subarctic Ocean Fluxes. Springer, Berlin, pp 385–404

  • Joyce TM, Proshutinsky A (2007) Greenland’s Island Rule and the Arctic Ocean circulation. J Mar Res 65:639–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köberle C, Gerdes R (2003) Mechanisms determining the variability of Arctic sea ice conditions and export. J Clim 16:2843–2858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köberle C, Gerdes R (2007) Simulated variability of the Arctic Ocean freshwater balance 1948–2001. J Phys Oceanogr 37:1628–1644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwok R, Maslowski W, Laxon SW (2005b) On large outflows of Arctic sea ice into the Barents Sea. Geophys Res Lett 32

  • Kwok R, Rothrock DA (1999) Variability of Fram ice flux and North Atlantic Oscillation. J Geophys Res 104:5177–5189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lammers RB, Shiklomanov AI, Vorosmarty CJ, Fekete BM, Peterson BJ (2001) Assessment of contemporary Arctic river runoff based on observational discharge records. J Geophys Res 106:3321–3334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Large W, Yeager S (2004) Diurnal to decadal global forcing for ocean and sea-ice models: the datasets and flux climatologies. NCAR technical note NCAR/TN-460+STR, CGD division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, available on the GFDL CORE web site

  • Loder JW, Petrie B, Gawarkiewicz GD (1998) The coastal ocean off north-eastern North America: a large-scale view. In: The Sea, vol 11. Wiley, New York, pp 105–133

  • Loeng H, Ozhigin V, Adlandsvik B (1997) Water fluxes trough the Barents Sea. ICES J Mar Sci 54:310–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madec G (2008) NEMO Ocean Engine, Note du pôle modélisation 27, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL)

  • Maslowski W, Marble D, Walczowski W, Schauer U, Clement JL, Semtner AJ (2004) On climatological mass, heat, and salt transports trough the Barents Sea and Fram Strait from a pan-arctic coupled ice-ocean model simulation. J Geophys Res 109

  • Meredith M, Heywood K, Dennis P, Goldso L, White R, Fahrbach E, Schauer U, Osterhus S (2001) Freshwater fluxes through the western Fram Strait. Geophys Res Lett 28:1615–1618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molines JM, Barnier B, Penduff T, Brodeau L, Treguier AM, Theetten S, Madec G, (2006) Definition of the interannual experiment ORCA025-G70, 1958-2004. LEGI report LEGI-DRA-2-11-2006, available at www.ifremer.fr/lpo/drakkar

  • Parkinson CL, Cavalieri DJ, Gloersen P, Zwally HJ, Comiso JC (1999) Arctic sea ice extents, areas, and trends, 1978–1996. J Geophys Res 104(C9):20837–20856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penduff T, Sommer JL, Barnier B, Treguier A-M, Molines J-M, Madec G (2007) Influence of numerical schemes on current-topography interactions in 1/4 global ocean simulations. Ocean Sci 3:509–524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson BJ, Holmes RM, McClelland JW, Vorosmarty CJ, Lammers RB, Shiklomanov AI, Rahmstorf S (2002) Increasing river discharge to the Arctic Ocean. Science 298:2171–2173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickard GL, Emery WJ (1990) Arctic sea. In: Descriptive physical oceanography: an introduction. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 219–235

  • Proshutinsky A, Steele M, Zhang J, Holloway G, Steiner N, Häkkinen S, Holland D, Gerdes R, Köberle C, Karcher M, Johnson M, Maslowski W, Walczowski W, Hibler W, Wang J (2001) Multinaional effort studies differences among Arctic Ocean models. Eos Trans AGU 82(51):643–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Proshutinsky A, Yang J, Krishfield R, Gerdes R, Karcher M, Kauker F, Köberle C, Häkkinen S, Hibler W, Holland D, Maqueda M, Holloway G, Hunke E, Maslowski W, Steele M, Zhang J (2005) Arctic Ocean study: Synthesis of model results and observations. Eos Trans AGU 86(40):368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Proshutinsky AY, Bourke RH, McLaughlin FA (2002) The role of the Beaufort Gyre in Arctic climate variability: seasonal to decadal limate scales. Geophys Res Lett 29(23)

  • Proshutinsky AY, Johnson MA (1997) Two circulation regimes of the wind-driven Arctic Ocean. J Geophys Res 102:12,493–12,514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothrock DA, Kwok R, Groves D (2000) Satellite views of the Arctic Ocean freshwater balance. In: Lewis EL (ed) The freshwater balance of the Arctic Ocean. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 533–588

  • Rothrock DA, Yu Y, Maykut G (1999) Thinning of the Arctic sea-ice cover. Geophys Res Lett 26:3469–3472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schauer U, Beszczynska-Möller A, Walczowski W, Fahrbach E, Piechura J, Hansen E (2008) Variation of measured heat flow through the Fram Strait between 1997 and 2006. In: Dickson RR, Meincke J, Rhines P (eds) Arctic–Subarctic ocean fluxes. Springer, Berlin, pp 385–404

  • Schauer U, Fahrbach E, Osterhus S, Rohardt G (2004) Arctic warming through the Fram Strait: oceanic heat transport from 3 years of measurements. J Geophys Res 109

  • Schlichtholz P, Houssais MN (1999) An inverse modelling study in Fram Strait. part 1: dynamics and circulation. Deep-sea research, Part 2 46:1083–1135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sciremammano F (1979) A suggestion for the presentation of correlations and their significance levels. J Phys Oceanogr 9:1273–1276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serreze MC, Barrett AP, Slater AG, Woodgate RA, Lammers RB, Steele M, Moritz R, Meredith M, Lee CM (2006) The large-scale freshwater cycle of the Arctic. J Geophys Res 111

  • Steele M, Ermold W, Häkkinen S, Holland D, Holloway G, Karcher M, Kauker F, Maslowski W, Steiner N, Zhang J (2001b) Adrift in the Beaufort Gyre: a model intercomparison. Geophys Res Lett 28:2935–2938

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steele M, Morley R, Ermold W (2001a) Phc: a global ocean hydrography with a high quality Arctic Ocean. J Clim 14:2079–2087

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steele M, Thomas D, Rothrock D (1996) A simple model study of the Arctic Ocean freshwater balance, 1979–1985. J Geophys Res 101:20833–20848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steiner N, Holloway G, Gerdes R, Hkkinen S, Holland D, Karcher M, Kauker F, Maslowski W, Proshutinsky A, Steele M, Zhang J (2004) Comparing modeled streamfunction, heat and freshwater content in the Arctic Ocean. Ocean Model 6:265–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swift JH, Aagaard K, Timokhov L, Nikiforov EG (2005) Long-term variability of Arctic Ocean waters : Evidence from a reanalysis of the ewg data set. J Geophys Res 110

  • The DRAKKAR group (2007) Eddy-permitting ocean circulation hindcasts of past decades. CLIVAR exchanges 42

  • Thomas D, Martin S, Rothrock D, Steele M (1996) Assimilating satellite concentration data into an Arctic sea ice mass balance model, 1979–1985. J Geophys Res 101:20849–20868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann R, Goose H, Madec G, Fichefet T, Ethe C, Duliere V (2005) On the representation of high latitude processes in the ORCA-LIM global coupled sea ice-ocean model. Ocean Model 8:175–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treguier AM, Theetten S, Chassignet EP, Penduff T, Smith R, Talley L, Beismann JO, Boning C (2005) The North Atlantic Subpolar gyre in four high-resolution models. J Phys Oceanogr 35:757–774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinje T (2000) Fram Strait ice fluxes and atmospheric circulation: 1950–2000. J Clim 14:3508–3517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodgate RA, Aagaard K (2005) Revising the Bering Strait freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean. Geophys Res Lett 32

  • Woodgate RA, Aagaard K, Weingartner TJ (2005) Monthly temperature, salinity, and transport variability of the Bering Strait through flow. Geophys Res Lett 32

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study uses numerical experiments carried out within the DRAKKAR project. EXP1 has been run at the IDRIS CNRS computer centre in Orsay, France, by J. M. Molines. The integration of the experiment EXP2 has been performed at the Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart (HLRS) by A. Biastoch. C. Lique is supported by CNES and IFREMER. A. M. Treguier and T. Penduff are supported by CNRS. The model integration and the analysis by M. Scheinert was supported by the BMBF Nordatlantik project 03F0443B AP3.2. We also thank C. Herbaut and M. N. Houssais for useful discussions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camille Lique.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Details on the freshwater balance

The liquid freshwater stored in our domain is computed as:

$$ {\hbox {FW}}_{\rm liq} = \iiint{{\frac{S_0-S}{S_0}} {\rm d}V} $$

where V is the volume of the domain, S is the salinity calculated by the model, and S 0 is a reference salinity, here equal to a value of 34.8 psu (this choice will be discussed later). As we assume a constant sea-ice salinity S ice of 6 psu, the sea-ice freshwater content is defined as:

$$ {\hbox{FW}}_{\rm ice}={\frac{S_0-S_{\rm ice}}{S_0}} V_{\rm ice} $$

where V ice is the sea-ice volume. The freshwater transport across a section is defined as the sum of two contributions, the ice part and the liquid part:

$$ T_{\rm FW} = T_{\rm FW liq} + T_{\rm FW ice} $$
$$ T_{\rm FW} =\iint {U{\frac{S_0-S}{S_0}}} {\rm d}A + \int{{\frac{(S_0-S_{\rm ice})} {S_0}}} \times {{\frac{C_{\rm ice}}{100}}} \times {\frac{\rho_{\rm ice}} {\rho_{\rm water}}} \times U_{\rm ice} \times {\rm d}h $$

with U being the speed across the section of area A, U ice the ice velocity, h the ice thickness, C ice the sea-ice concentration, ρice the sea-ice density (900 kg m−3) and ρwater the density of water (1,000 kg m−3).

The freshwater balance of the area can be expressed as follows:

$$ \begin{aligned} {\hbox {FW}}(t) &= \int \delta t \left\{T_{\rm FW}(\rm Bering) + T_{\rm FW}(\rm Barents) + T_{\rm FW}(\rm Fram) + T_{\rm FW}(\rm Davis)\right\}\\ &+ \int \delta t \left\{(E-P-R) + DP \right\} \end{aligned} $$

with EP representing the surface evaporation rate minus the precipitation rate over the whole surface of the domain, R being the runoff and DP being the surface damping.

The definition of the freshwater fluxes and contents are strongly dependent on a reference salinity, S 0. For this study, we choose 34.8 psu as the reference salinity, mostly as to follow Aagaard and Carmack (1989). This salinity is considered as being a reasonable estimate of the mean Arctic salinity and is the most commonly adopted in the literature. In this way, when we will consider the exchanges between the Arctic Ocean and the subpolar area, the sign of the freshwater fluxes will indicate if the flux represents a sink or a source of freshwater for the Arctic Ocean, regardless the direction of the volume fluxes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lique, C., Treguier, A.M., Scheinert, M. et al. A model-based study of ice and freshwater transport variability along both sides of Greenland. Clim Dyn 33, 685–705 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-008-0510-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-008-0510-7

Keywords

Navigation