A warm jet in a cold ocean
Name
s41467-021-22505-5.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
9.9 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
c9d14129f47225ec17e6b0236509b779
Author(s)
MacKinnon, Jennifer A.
Simmons, Harper L.
Hargrove, John
Thomson, Jim
Peacock, Thomas
Alford, Matthew H.
Barton, Benjamin I.
Boury, Samuel
Brenner, Samuel D.
Couto, Nicole
Date Issued
April 2021
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
MacKinnon, Jennifer A, Simmons, Harper L, Hargrove, John, Thomson, Jim, Peacock, Thomas et al. 2021. "A warm jet in a cold ocean." Nature Communications, 12 (1).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Abstract Unprecedented quantities of heat are entering the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait, particularly during summer months. Though some heat is lost to the atmosphere during autumn cooling, a significant fraction of the incoming warm, salty water subducts (dives beneath) below a cooler fresher layer of near-surface water, subsequently extending hundreds of kilometers into the Beaufort Gyre. Upward turbulent mixing of these sub-surface pockets of heat is likely accelerating sea ice melt in the region. This Pacific-origin water brings both heat and unique biogeochemical properties, contributing to a changing Arctic ecosystem. However, our ability to understand or forecast the role of this incoming water mass has been hampered by lack of understanding of the physical processes controlling subduction and evolution of this this warm water. Crucially, the processes seen here occur at small horizontal scales not resolved by regional forecast models or climate simulations; new parameterizations must be developed that accurately represent the physics. Here we present novel high resolution observations showing the detailed process of subduction and initial evolution of warm Pacific-origin water in the southern Beaufort Gyre.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22505-5
