] The Beaufort Gyre (BG) of the Arctic Ocean is one ofthe most hostile and inaccessible areas of the globe. Untillate 1920s most of it had never been measured or evenexplored. The region’s harsh climate, winter darkness, andthick drifting sea ice deterred potential observers and madethis area inaccessible to scientific expeditions. The BG isa unique phenomenon comprising a set of specific atmo-spheric, sea ice, and oceanic conditions that have significantinfluence on the Arctic climate. The papers of this specialissue focus on the atmospheric, sea ice, oceanographic, andsome biogeochemical features of this region and describethe BG system variability at seasonal to decadal timescales,employing historical and the most recent data, simplehypotheses, and models to estimate changes.

/pdf/preface-to-special-section-on-beaufort-gyre-climate-system-8kfoqpyc8a.pdf

Preface to special section on Beaufort Gyre Climate System Exploration Studies : documenting key parameters to understand environmental variability

The Beaufort Gyre (BG) was spun up in the last decade which is an important factor in regulating the variation of the upper ocean. The heat content and freshwater content of the upper ocean increased gradually in the Canada Basin, as did momentum input. Both the geostrophic wind curl and freshwater content could contribute to the spin-up of BG. However, even though there is no change of the wind field the increasing freshwater alone could result in the spin-up of BG. In this study we show that the Pacific Water is difficult to flow into the central basin as the BG spins up and the maximum temperature of the Pacific Summer Water (PSW) experienced a dramatic decrease inside the BG in 2005 and 2009 due to a change of flow pathway of PSW. The enhancement of Ekman Pumping (EP) contributed to the deepening of the Pacific Winter Water by piling up more freshwater. This change of water column dynamics has also contributed to the deepening ofthe Atlantic Water core after 2007. The EP decreased significantly in 2012 (indicating a spin down of BG) and the direction of Ekman transport turned to the north, which favoured the release of freshwater that had resided in the basin for years.

The Beaufort Gyre variation and its impacts on the Canada Basin in 2003–2012

[1] The salinity in the upper Beaufort Sea from the mixed layer to the thermocline layer was observed by drifting buoys from 1996 to 1998. The salinity in this depth range was lower in winter and higher in the summer, the exact opposite from what one would expect from the seasonal cycle of the freshwater flux associated with the ice melting/freezing and river runoff. In this study, we calculated the daily Ekman transport and upwelling velocity in the Beaufort Sea, using both satellite and buoy data. In fall and winter months, the offshore transport of low-salinity water from the coastal area toward the interior where the buoys were located was observed to be strong. This horizontal Ekman transport led to the freshening of the surface Ekman layer in the buoy location. The convergence of the Ekman transport resulted in a strong downwelling in the offshore regions, and so the halocline and thermocline were pushed downward. The downwelling then results in the freshening of the subsurface salinity as observed by buoys. Other processes, such as lateral advection, may have also played a role in the subsurface freshening. The lack of in situ observations needed to estimate the salinity gradient makes it difficult to assess more accurately the contribution from lateral advection. A scaling analysis using the salinity climatology suggests that the lateral salinity advection, though considerably smaller than the vertical one, may not be negligible.

An unexpected seasonal variability of salinity in the Beaufort Sea upper layer in 1996–1998

[1] Starting with retrieved freeboards from four ICESat campaigns (ON05, October/November 2005; FM06, February/March 2006; ON06, October/November 2006; and MA07, March/April 2007) we estimate their ice thicknesses using constructed fields of daily snow depth and compare them with ice drafts from moored upward-looking sonars. The methodologies, considerations, and assumptions used in the conversion of freeboard to ice thickness are discussed. The thickness distributions of the Arctic multiyear and seasonal ice covers are contrasted. Broadly, the resulting fields seem seasonally and interannually consistent in terms of thickness, growth and ice production. We find mean thicknesses of 2.15/2.46 m in ON05/FM06 and an overall thinner ice cover of 1.96/2.37 m in ON06/MA07. This represents a growth of ∼0.3 m and ∼0.4 m during the ∼4-month intervals of the ON05-FM06 and ON06-MA07 campaigns, respectively. After accounting for data gaps, we compute overall Arctic Ocean ice volumes of 11,318, 14,075, 10,626, and 13,891 km3 for the ON05, FM06, ON06, and MA07 campaigns, respectively. The higher total volume in ON05 (versus ON06) can be attributed to the higher multiyear ice coverage that fall: 37% versus 31%. However, the higher estimated ice production (less export) during the second year (3265 versus 2757 km3) is likely due to the higher growth rate over the larger expanse of seasonal sea ice during the fall and winter. Inside a 25-km radius of two mooring locations in the Beaufort Sea, the estimated mean ICESat ice drafts from ON05 and FM06 are within 0.5 m of those measured at the moorings.

ICESat over Arctic sea ice: Estimation of snow depth and ice thickness

[1] We present our best estimate of the thickness and volume of the Arctic Ocean ice cover from 10 Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) campaigns that span a 5-year period between 2003 and 2008. Derived ice drafts are consistently within 0.5 m of those from a submarine cruise in mid-November of 2005 and 4 years of ice draft profiles from moorings in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Along with a more than 42% decrease in multiyear (MY) ice coverage since 2005, there was a remarkable thinning of ∼0.6 m in MY ice thickness over 4 years. In contrast, the average thickness of the seasonal ice in midwinter (∼2 m), which covered more than two-thirds of the Arctic Ocean in 2007, exhibited a negligible trend. Average winter sea ice volume over the period, weighted by a loss of ∼3000 km3 between 2007 and 2008, was ∼14,000 km3. The total MY ice volume in the winter has experienced a net loss of 6300 km3 (>40%) in the 4 years since 2005, while the first-year ice cover gained volume owing to increased overall area coverage. The overall decline in volume and thickness are explained almost entirely by changes in the MY ice cover. Combined with a large decline in MY ice coverage over this short record, there is a reversal in the volumetric and areal contributions of the two ice types to the total volume and area of the Arctic Ocean ice cover. Seasonal ice, having surpassed that of MY ice in winter area coverage and volume, became the dominant ice type. It seems that the near-zero replenishment of the MY ice cover after the summers of 2005 and 2007, an imbalance in the cycle of replenishment and ice export, has played a significant role in the loss of Arctic sea ice volume over the ICESat record.

Thinning and volume loss of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover: 2003–2008

Annual Freshwater and Heat Content From 2003-2004: First Results from the Beaufort Gyre Observing System

Joint Effects of Boundary Currents, Thermohaline Intrusions and Gyre Circulation on the Recent Warming of Atlantic Water in the Canada Basin: 1993-2007

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Annual Freshwater and Heat Content From 2003-2004: First Results from the Beaufort Gyre Observing System

Joint Effects of Boundary Currents, Thermohaline Intrusions and Gyre Circulation on the Recent Warming of Atlantic Water in the Canada Basin: 1993-2007