Role of sea ice in formation of wintertime arctic temperature anomalies

Numerical experiments with the ECHAM5 atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) using the empirical HadISST1.1 data on sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration (SIC) in the 20th century as boundary conditions are analyzed. The experiments show that the model correctly reproduces the wintertime Arctic warming in the last 30 years of the 20th century but is unable to reproduce mid-20th century warming. Because the wintertime Arctic surface air temperature changes are closely related to SIC anomalies, it is assumed that one reason for this discrepancy is the lack of a negative SIC anomaly in the prescribed boundary conditions during a mid-20th century warm period. It is also shown that the model with-out prescribed ice cover changes does not reproduce a temperature trend in the Arctic in recent 30 years of the 20th century. The experimental results indicate that the mid-20th century warming was accompanied by a significant negative anomaly of the wintertime Arctic sea ice extent comparable to current trends and also point to a considerable contribution of natural variability to modern climate changes.     

The long-term variability of sea surface temperature in the seas east of China in the past 40 a

The global surface temperature change since the mid-19th century has caused general concern and intensive study. However, long-term changes in the marginal seas, including the seas east of China, are not well understood because long-term observations are sparse and, even when they exist, they are over limited areas. Preliminary results on the long-term variability of sea surface temperature (SST) in summer and winter in the seas east of China during the period of 1957-2001 are reported using the Ocean Science Database of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the coastal hydrological station in situ and satellite data. The results show well-defined warming trends in the study area. However warming and cooling trends vary from decade to decade, with steady and rapid warming trends after the 1980s and complicated spatial patterns. The distribution of SST variation is intricate and more blurred in the areas far away from the Kuroshio system. Both historical and satellite data sets show significant warming trends after 1985. The warming trends are larger and spread to wider areas in winter than in summer, which means decrease in the seasonal cycle of SST probably linked with recently observed increase of the tropical zooplankton species in the region. Spatial structures of the SST trends are roughly consistent with the circulation pattern especially in winter when the meridional SST gradients are larger, suggesting that a horizontal advection may play an important role in the long-term SST variability in winter.     

Changes in climatic characteristics of Northern Hemisphere extratropical land in the 21st century: Assessments with the IAP RAS climate model

Assessments of future changes in the climate of Northern Hemisphere extratropical land regions have been made with the IAP RAS climate model (CM) of intermediate complexity (which includes a detailed scheme of thermo- and hydrophysical soil processes) under prescribed greenhouse and sulfate anthropogenic forcing from observational data for the 19th and 20th centuries and from the SRES B1, A1B, and A2 scenarios for the 21st century. The annual mean warming of the extratropical land surface has been found to reach 2–5 K (3–10 K) by the middle (end) of the 21st century relative to 1961–1990, depending on the anthropogenic forcing scenario, with larger values in North America than in Europe. Winter warming is greater than summer warming. This is expressed in a decrease of 1–4 K (or more) in the amplitude of the annual harmonic of soil-surface temperature in the middle and high latitudes of Eurasia and North America. The total area extent of perennially frozen ground S _p in the IAP RAS CM changes only slightly until the late 20th century, reaching about 21 million km², and then decreases to 11–12 million km² in 2036–2065 and 4–8 million km² in 2071–2100. In the late 21st century, near-surface permafrost is expected to remain only in Tibet and in central and eastern Siberia. In these regions, depths of seasonal thaw exceed 1 m (2 m) under the SRES B1 (A1B or A2) scenario. The total land area with seasonal thaw or cooling is expected to decrease from the current value of 54–55 million km² to 38–42 in the late 21st century. The area of Northern Hemisphere snow cover in February is also reduced from the current value of 45–49 million km² to 31–37 million km². For the basins of major rivers in the extratropical latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, runoff is expected to increase in central and eastern Siberia. In European Russia and in southern Europe, runoff is projected to decrease. In western Siberia (the Ob watershed), runoff would increase under the SRES A1B and A2 scenarios until the 2050s–2070s, then it would decrease to values close to present-day ones; under the anthropogenic forcing scenario SRES B1, the increase in runoff will continue up to the late 21st century. Total runoff from Eurasian rivers into the Arctic Ocean in the IAP RAS CM in the 21st century will increase by 8–9% depending on the scenario. Runoff from the North American rivers into the Arctic Ocean has not changed much throughout numerical experiments with the IAP RAS CM.     

青岛气温变化趋势及其预测

根据青岛月平均气温资料（１８９８－１９９２年），研究了９５年来青岛年与季气温变化趋势。指出９５年来青岛年与季平均气温变化是上升的。其中春季增温最显著，冬季次之，秋夏增温最小。同时，根据年温度的变化趋势确定了气候转换期；１９０４－１９２９年为变冷期；１９２５－１９５３年为变暖期；１９５４－１９７９年为变冷期；１９８０年以后又是变暖期，预测该期的最暖时间将出现在９０年代初期。     

Reviewing evidence of marine ecosystem change off South Africa

Recent changes have been observed in South African marine ecosystems. The main pressures on these ecosystems are fishing, climate change, pollution, ocean acidification and mining. The best long-term datasets are for trends in fishing pressures but there are many gaps, especially for non-commercial species. Fishing pressures have varied over time, depending on the species being caught. Little information exists for trends in other anthropogenic pressures. Field observations of environmental variables are limited in time and space. Remotely sensed satellite data have improved spatial and temporal coverage but the time-series are still too short to distinguish long-term trends from interannual and decadal variability. There are indications of recent cooling on the West and South coasts and warming on the East Coast over a period of 20–30 years. Oxygen concentrations on the West Coast have decreased over this period. Observed changes in offshore marine communities include southward and eastward changes in species distributions, changes in abundance of species, and probable alterations in foodweb dynamics. Causes of observed changes are difficult to attribute. Full understanding of marine ecosystem change requires ongoing and effective data collection, management and archiving, and coordination in carrying out ecosystem research.     

基于CMIP6模式的热带太平洋海表温度增暖初步评估

热带太平洋是影响全球气候系统的重要区域,热带太平洋海表温度(SST)的长期变化趋势模拟是国际研究领域关注的热点。基于12个参加第六期国际耦合模式比较计划(CMIP6)的模式结果,本研究对1950年至1999年间多模式模拟得到的热带太平洋SST增暖现象进行了初步评估。结果表明,不同模式对热带太平洋SST增暖的模拟能力差别较大,特别在赤道东太平洋区域,部分模式模拟得到了偏强的SST降温趋势,与实际观测中的SST增温趋势相反,多模式集合平均结果给出了中部型厄尔尼诺事件的增温趋势。通过引入SST增暖变率分析方法,本研究对多模式模拟的热带太平洋SST在过去50 a中的增暖内在变化进行了进一步评估,结果表明目前各模式对热带太平洋SST增暖变率模拟偏弱,空间分布差异较大。     

Influence of radiation and circulation factors on climate change in Western Siberia at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century

An analysis of the air-temperature and atmospheric-pressure fields in Western Siberia is performed based on observations in 1976–2014; a comparison of temperature and pressure variability in two temporal intervals, 1976–2005 and 1985–2014, is carried out. The estimation of contributions from such climate-forming factors as radiation and circulation is performed for the same intervals. It is revealed that an increase in the annual mean ground–air temperature in the investigated region of Western Siberia was still taking place in the period of 1985–2014; however, the warming process was less active than in the 1976–2005 period. Winter months play the largest role in decreasing the temperature growth rate; during these months, the warming process was replaced by a cooling one in the second time interval. It is shown that the circulation factors, that is, the mechanisms described by indices of global circulation, played the dominant role in the period from 1985 to 2014.     

20 世纪热带海洋海表面温度年际变化的特征

利用Hadley中心海冰和海表面温度资料集Had ISST和美国国家海洋大气管理局的扩展重建海温(ERSST)海表面温度(sea surface temperature,SST)观测数据,结合政府间气候变化专门委员会(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,IPCC)中CMIP3(Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3)的24个耦合模式的模拟结果,通过经验正交函数(EOF)分解等方法,对20世纪热带海洋在的SST年际变化进行了分析。结果表明,20世纪热带海洋年际变化的主要规律是ENSO信号,且有持续增强的趋势;热带海盆间存在显著的SST梯度,其长期变化与热带东太平洋显著相关。本文结论有利于理解在全球变暖背景下,海盆间的相互作用对赤道海域气候改变的影响。     

Climate change and warm‐water species at the north‐western boundary of the Mediterranean Sea

The effects of global change are particularly serious in areas where range shifts of species are physically constrained such as the Ligurian Sea, which is one of the coldest sectors of the Mediterranean. In this basin, historical information on water temperature (from the sea surface down to 75 m depth) dates back to the 1950s. Early studies also recorded warm‐water species occurrence. Thanks to these data we provide the first detailed characterization of water temperature variation from 1958 up to 2010 in the layer 0–75 m depth. We coupled this analysis with the available information on rocky reef epibenthic communities (literature review from 1955 to 1964 and field data from 1980 to 2010). The analysis of water temperature revealed several patterns of variation: a cooling phase from 1958 to 1980, a phase of rapid warming from 1980 to 1990 and a phase of slower warming from 1990 to 2010. Inter‐annual variation in temperature increased over the entire period for the water layer down to 20 m. Warm‐water native and alien species richness increased during the warming phases. Literature estimates suggest a decrease in warm‐water native species richness during the cooling phase. The analysis of quantitative data collected in the early 1990s and late 2000s indicated a decrease in the cover of warm‐water native species on shallow rocky reefs and an increase in deeper waters. We argue that increased inter‐annual variation in water temperature may disadvantage native warm‐water species in shallow waters. Our results indicate that the effect of temperature rises in cold, constrained basins may be more complex than the simple prediction of species changing their geographical range according to their thermal limits.     

Effect of including land-use driven radiative forcing of the surface albedo of land on climate response in the 16th–21st centuries

A change in ecosystem types, such as through natural-vegetation-agriculture conversion, alters the surface albedo and triggers attendant shortwave radiative forcing (RF). This paper describes numerical experiments performed using the climate model (CM) of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Russian Academy of Sciences, for the 16th–21st centuries; this model simulated the response to a change in the contents of greenhouse gases (tropospheric and stratospheric), sulfate aerosols, solar constant, as well as the response to change in surface albedo of land due to natural-vegetation-agriculture conversion. These forcing estimates relied on actual data until the late 20th century. In the 21st century, the agricultural area was specified according to scenarios of the Land Use Harmonization project and other anthropogenic impacts were specified using SRES scenarios. The change in the surface vegetation during conversion from natural vegetation to agriculture triggers a cooling RF in most regions except for those of natural semiarid vegetation. The global and annual average RF derived from the IAP RAS CM in late 20th century is ?0.11 W m^?2. Including the land-use driven RF in IAP RAS CM appreciably reconciled the model calculations to observations in this historical period. For instance, in addition to the net climate warming, IAP RAS CM predicted an annually average cooling and reduction in precipitation in the subtropics of Eurasia and North America and in Amazonia and central Africa, as well as a local maximum in annually average and summertime warming in East China. The land-use driven RF alters the sign in the dependence that the amplitude of the annual cycle of the near-surface atmospheric temperature has on the annually averaged temperature. One reason for the decrease in precipitation as a result of a change in albedo due to land use may be the suppression of the convective activity in the atmosphere in the warm period (throughout the year in the tropics) and the corresponding decrease in convective precipitation. In the 21st century, the effect that the land-use driven RF has on the climate response for scenarios of anthropogenic impact is generally small.     

Estimating climate changes in the northern hemisphere in the 21st century under alternative scenarios of anthropogenic forcing

Possible changes in the climate characteristics of the Northern Hemisphere in the 21st century are estimated using a climate model (developed at the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics (OIAP), Russian Academy of Sciences) under different scenarios of variations in the atmospheric contents of greenhouse gases and aerosols, including those formed at the OIAP on the basis of SRES emission scenarios (group I) and scenarios (group II) developed at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI). Over the 21st century, the global annual mean warming at the surface amounts to 1.2?C2.6°C under scenarios I and 0.9?C1.2°C under scenarios II. For all scenarios II, starting from the 2060s, a decrease is observed in the rate of increase in the global mean annual near-surface air temperature. The spatial structures of variations in the mean annual near-surface air temperature in the 21st century, which have been obtained for both groups of scenarios (with smaller absolute values for scenarios II), are similar. Under scenarios I, within the extratropical latitudes, the mean annual surface air temperature increases by 3?C7°C in North America and by 3?C5°C in Eurasia in the 21st century. Under scenarios II, the near-surface air temperature increases by 2?C4°C in North America and by 2?C3°C in Eurasia. An increase in the total amount of precipitation by the end of the 21st century is noted for both groups of scenarios; the most significant increase in the precipitation rate is noted for the land of the Northern Hemisphere. By the late 21st century, the total area of the near-surface permafrost soils of the land of the Northern Hemisphere decreases to 3.9?C9.5 10⁶ km² for scenarios I and 9.7?C11.0 × 10⁶ km² for scenarios II. The decrease in the area of near-surface permafrost soils by 2091?C2100 (as compared to 2001?C2010) amounts to approximately 65% for scenarios I and 40% for scenarios II. By the end of the 21st century, in regions of eastern Siberia, in which near-surface permafrost soils are preserved, the characteristic depths of seasonal thawing amount to 0.5?C2.5 m for scenarios I and 1?C2 m for scenarios II. In western Siberia, the depth of seasonal thawing amounts to 1?C2 m under both scenarios I and II.     

2002-2014年间基于海平面变化的海洋增暖趋势研究

21世纪以来全球变暖进入停滞时期,研究表明,大量热量进入海洋深层是导致全球平均表面温度暂缓上升的主要原因。本文估计和研究了2002.4-2014.12间由热膨胀导致的海平面变化趋势,以此来探测海洋热含量的变化情况。研究使用GRACE重力卫星CSR RL05数据计算了全球海洋的水质量变化,并结合海平面异常数据,计算了由热量变化导致的海平面变化（Net SLA）。将Net SLA与Ishii温度数据计算的海洋热含量进行相关性分析后表明,Net SLA与海洋热含量存在高度相关性,相关系数最大值达0.95。考虑到海洋观测只能表现海洋上层2000m的热含量变化,而除去水质量变化的海平面变化则反映了整层海洋的热含量变化,是估计海洋增暖趋势快慢的有利工具。经计算得出,2002至2014年间南太平洋和南印度洋存在加速增暖趋势,而近年来南半球环状模的增强是导致其增暖的主要原因。     

Properties and changes in empirical orthogonal components of temperature fields in Northern Eurasia in the 20th century

Using data from 55 meteorological stations in the Northern Hemisphere for the 20th century as a whole and separately for 1901–1950 and 1951–2000, the norms and empirical orthogonal components (EOCs) of the fields of the annual mean surface air temperature were calculated. These fields were found to have two components: smooth and nonsmooth. The field of differences between the temperature norms of the first and second halves of the 20th century was found to be projected almost completely on the very first component of fixed sign; i.e., the current climate trend of the Northern Hemisphere is spatially homogeneous. No substantial changes were found in the transition from the first half to the second half of the 20th century, either in the form of components or in the spectrum of eigenvalues, with the only exception being a small growth (in magnitude) in part of the eigenvalues corresponding to the nonsmooth component. This can be explained by the progressing urbanization of northern Eurasia. All coefficients of the temperature-field expansion by natural components are distributed normally, and their temporal correlation functions for smooth components of fields have a form characteristic of processes with long-term memory. The latter manifests itself particularly in the motions of the two main waves of the smooth component and reflects two stages of the current climate warming.     

Carbon oxide in the surface air (Obninsk monitoring station)

The results of measurements of the concentration of carbon oxide (CO) in the atmospheric surface layer over the town of Obninsk (in European Russia, 105 km to the southwest of Moscow) are presented. Air samples were analyzed with the aid of a measuring system consisting of a Fourier-spectrometer and an optic multipass cell. The CO concentration was measured simultaneously with the measurements of air temperature up to a height of 300 m. The measurement data obtained from February 1998 to January 2009 suggest the presence of variations within the range 100–450 ppb (∼80% of all the data) and nonperiodic relatively short-term and anomalously high CO concentrations that reach several ppm. The highest concentrations are due to CO accumulated in the surface air in the presence of temperature inversion and during forest fires. The measurements of the concentration of CO throughout a day revealed its morning and evening maxima, which coincide in time with the increased traffic current. The maxima and minima of seasonal variations in the monthly mean concentrations of CO, which are due to variations in the sources and sinks of CO that happen within a year, are observed in January and June, respectively. The amplitudes of seasonal variations amounted to (53 ± 10)% of the annual mean. The annual mean concentration of CO decreased by ∼12% over the measurement period. A comparison was made with observational data obtained at five monitoring stations located in the latitudes that are close to the latitude of Obninsk. Over the European continent, the concentration of CO tends to decrease with a longitude decrease as it goes from east to west.     

Characteristics of radiative heat transfer in the atmospheric surface layer from the results of direct measurements

Results of direct measurements of the long-wavelength (LW) radiative heat influx (RHI) in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) are presented. These measurements were performed in August 2003 at the IAP RAS base in Tsimlyansk under the conditions of unstable and stable stratification during a weak wind and a cloudless sky and under nonsteady conditions during cumulus cloudiness in the daytime. The underlying surface was dry steppe with spars grass. The in situ RHI measurements were performed with an original optoacoustic receiver having a quasi-spherical angle of view at heights from 0.15 to 4 m. It is shown that the radiative heating in the ASL was many times the actual heating, especially during near-noon hours. In the daytime, the radiative heating attained its maximum at the heights of measurements 0.15–1 m and decreased with height. The radiative heating at these heights in the near-noon hours was on average about 20 K/h, attaining 60 K/h under a cloudless sky and a weak wind. Under inversion stratification, the radiative cooling usually exceeded the actual cooling, amounting on average from 0 to ?8 K/h and changing with height only slightly. Periods with close (in phase) fluctuations of the radiative and actual cooling, sometimes changing to heating, were observed during the night. Regression equations, showing a high correlation between the RHI values at the heights of measurements 0.5 and 1 m and the soil-air temperature differences at the height of measurements, are obtained for different heights. The diurnal mean RHI profiles are characterized by a heating on the order of several K/h in the lower part of the layer of measurements, which decreases with height and changes to cooling at heights of up to 4 m. A change in the effective radiation with height in the layer of measurements, which was obtained through the summation of RHI values at several heights, was significant, attaining on average ?25 W/m² in the near-noon hours and +10 W/m² in the evening hours. The nonradiative (turbulent) heat influx, obtained as the difference between the rates of actual and radiative temperature variations measured in situ, decreased the radiative heating in the daytime many times. The main sources of error in direct RHI measurements are estimated.     

Long-term changes in sea surface temperature(SST) within the southern Levantine Basin

Knowledge of sea surface temperature(SST) behaviour is vital for long-term climate scenarios. This study highlights essential outcomes about the distinguishable and unsurprising warming of the SST along the southern border of the Levantine Basin. The analysis is based on monthly SST data for the period 1948–2018. The southern Levantine Basin has undergone SST increase, during the last 71 years. In this study, a consistent warming trend has been found for the analysed SST data series, with a rate of 0.04°C/a, i.e., 0.4°C/(10 a). From 1975 to 1991 the mean annual SST was 17.1°C, and this increased to be 19.2°C, over the period 2002–2018. Results revealed two opposite trends of variability: a decreasing trend(–0.06°C/a) over the period 1975–1991, and an increasing trend(0.2°C/a) from 2002 to 2018. Over the period 1948–2018, positive mean annual SST anomalies had an average of1.8°C, and negative anomalies had an average of –1.1°C. The lowest SST total increase was found from January to April, with values about 0.03°C, while the highest warming appeared from June to September. The driving mechanisms behind the SST changes need to be more investigated, to understand the future trends and impacts of climate change in the Levantine Basin.     

Rapid decrease in Antarctic sea ice in recent years

A 41-year Antarctic sea ice concentration(SIC) dataset derived from satellite passive microwave radiometers during the period of 1979–2019 has been used to analyze sea ice changes in recent decades. The trends of SIC and sea ice extent(SIE) are calculated during the periods of 1979–2019, 1979–2013, and 2014–2019. The trends show regionally dependent features. The SIC shows an increasing trend in most of the regions except the Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea(BA) during 1979–2019 and 1979–2013. The SIE trend shows a decreasing or decelerating trend in the period of 1979–2019((6 835±2 210) km2/a) compared with the 1979–2013 period((18 600±2 203) km~2/a). In recent years(2014–2019), the SIC and SIE have exhibited decreasing trends(–(34 567±3 521) km~2/month), especially in the Weddell Sea(WS) and Ross Sea(RS) during summer and autumn. The trends are related to regionally dependent causes. The analyses show that the SIC and SIE decreased in response to the warming trend of 2 m air temperature(T_(a-2m)) and have exhibited a good relationship with T_(a-2m) in summer and autumn in recent years. The sea ice decrease in the Antarctic is mainly caused by increases in absorbed energy and southward energy transportation in recent years, such as the increase in gained solar radiation and moist static energy from the south, which demonstrate notable regional characteristics. In the WS region, the local positive feedback from the additional absorbed solar radiation, resulting in warmer air and reduced sea ice, is the main reason for the sea ice decrease in recent years. The increase in southward energy transport has also favored a decrease in sea ice. In the RS region, the increase in southward-transported moist static energy has contributed to the decrease in sea ice, and the increases in cloud cover and longwave radiation have prevented sea ice growth.     

Variability of the water temperature in the western Wadden Sea on tidal to centennial time scales

Daily observations of the sea surface temperature in the Marsdiep tidal inlet, which connects the shallow Dutch western Wadden Sea with the deeper North Sea, already started in the summer of 1860, over 140 years ago. Since the year 2000 the sampling frequency has strongly increased because of the use of electronic sensors and data logging by computer. Analysis of these temperature data has revealed variations with time scales from tidal, daily, seasonal, inter-annual, to centennial. The tidal temperature variations are generated by advection of the seasonally varying temperature gradient between Wadden Sea and North Sea, while the daily variations are mainly caused by the daily variation of solar radiation. The seasonal variation in sea surface temperature only lags a few days behind the coastal surface air temperature, contrary to the sea surface temperature in the deeper nearby North Sea, which is delayed with about 1 month. The North Atlantic Oscillation index has been used as large-scale proxy for the atmospheric forcing of the Wadden Sea temperature. Only for the winter and spring a significant correlation is found between temperature and the winter index. However, this correlation is so strong that also the annual mean temperature is correlated significantly with the North Atlantic Oscillation. At longer time scales, from decadal to centennial, also large temperature variations are observed, of the order of 1.5 °C. However, these are not related to long-term changes of the North Atlantic oscillation. These long-term temperature changes involve a cooling of about 1.5 °C in the first 30 years of the record and a similar warming in the last 25 years. In between, these long-term changes were smaller and more irregular. Similar conclusions can also be applied to individual seasons as well as to the date of the onset of spring.     

Variability of the water temperature in the western Wadden Sea on tidal to centennial time scales

Daily observations of the sea surface temperature in the Marsdiep tidal inlet, which connects the shallow Dutch western Wadden Sea with the deeper North Sea, already started in the summer of 1860, over 140 years ago. Since the year 2000 the sampling frequency has strongly increased because of the use of electronic sensors and data logging by computer. Analysis of these temperature data has revealed variations with time scales from tidal, daily, seasonal, inter-annual, to centennial. The tidal temperature variations are generated by advection of the seasonally varying temperature gradient between Wadden Sea and North Sea, while the daily variations are mainly caused by the daily variation of solar radiation. The seasonal variation in sea surface temperature only lags a few days behind the coastal surface air temperature, contrary to the sea surface temperature in the deeper nearby North Sea, which is delayed with about 1 month. The North Atlantic Oscillation index has been used as large-scale proxy for the atmospheric forcing of the Wadden Sea temperature. Only for the winter and spring a significant correlation is found between temperature and the winter index. However, this correlation is so strong that also the annual mean temperature is correlated significantly with the North Atlantic Oscillation. At longer time scales, from decadal to centennial, also large temperature variations are observed, of the order of 1.5 °C. However, these are not related to long-term changes of the North Atlantic oscillation. These long-term temperature changes involve a cooling of about 1.5 °C in the first 30 years of the record and a similar warming in the last 25 years. In between, these long-term changes were smaller and more irregular. Similar conclusions can also be applied to individual seasons as well as to the date of the onset of spring.     

Warming and depth convergence of the Arctic Intermediate Water in the Canada Basin during 1985-2006

The warming of the Arctic Intermediate Water (AIW) is studied based on the analyses of hydrographic observations in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean during 1985-2006. It is shown that how the anomalously warm AIW spreads in the Canada Basin during the observation time through the analysis of the AIW temperature spatial distribution in different periods. The results indicate that by 2006, the entire Canada Basin has almost been covered by the warming AIW. In order to study interannual variability of the AIW in the Canada Basin, the Canada Basin is divided into five regions according to the bottom topography. From the interannual variation of AIW temperature in each region, it is shown that a cooling period follows after the warming event in upstream regions. At the Chukchi Abyssal Plain and Chukchi Plateau, upstream of the Arctic Circumpolar Boundary Current (ACBC) in the Canada Basin, the AIW temperature reached maximum and then started to fall respectively in 2000 and 2002. However, the AIW in the Canada Abyssal Plain and Beaufort Sea continues to warm monotonically until the year 2006. Furthermore, it is revealed that there is convergence of the AIW depth in the five different regions of the Canada Basin when the AIW warming occurs during observation time. The difference of AIW depth between the five regions of the Canada Basin is getting smaller and smaller, all approaching 410 m in recent years. The results show that depth convergence is related to the variation of AIW potential density in the Canada Basin.