Variation of freshwater components in the Canada Basin during 1967–2010

As a conservative tracer, oxygen isotopes in seawater are widely used for water mass analysis, along with temperature and salinity. In this study, seawater oxygen-18 datasets in the Canada Basin during 1967–2010 were obtained from the four cruises of the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition(1999, 2003, 2008, and 2010) and the NASA database. Fractions of sea ice meltwater and river runoff were determined from the salinity-18O system. Our results showed that the river runoff decreased from the south to the north in the Canada Basin. The enhanced amount of river runoff observed in the southern Canada Basin may originate from the Mackenzie River, transported by the Beaufort Gyre. The river runoff component showed maximum fractions during 1967–1969, 1978–1979, 1984–1985, 1993–1994, and 2008–2010, indicating the refresh time of the river runoff was 5.0–16.0 a in the Canada Basin. The temporal variation of the river runoff was related to the change of the Arctic Oscillation(AO) index, suggesting the freshwater stored in the Canada Basin was affected by surface sea ice drift and water mass movement driven by atmospheric circulation.     

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

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 g...     

A double-halocline structure in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean

1IntroductionAs a particular hydrographic feature,the upperArctic Ocean is salinity-stratified.A year-round halo-cline exists between the fresher,colder mixed Layerand the saltier,warmer middle layer(the Atlantic Lay-er),which is important to the permanent sea ice coverin the Arctic Ocean for it insulates the ice pack fromthe heat in the Atlantic Layer throughout the Arctic O-cean(Maykut and Untersteiner,1971).Characterizedby its vertically uniform temperature near freezingpoint,the haloc…     

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.     

2008年夏季加拿大海盆永久冰区的淡水累积现象

A combination of δ~(18)O and salinity data was employed to explore the freshwater balance in the Canada Basin in summer 2008.The Arctic river water and Pacific river water were quantitatively distinguished by using different saline end-members.The fractions of total river water,including the Arctic and Pacific river water,were high in the upper 50 m and decreased with depth as well as increasing latitude.In contrast,the fraction of Pacific river water increased gradually with depth but decreased toward north.The inventory of total river water in the Canada Basin was higher than other arctic seas,indicating that Canada Basin was a main storage region for river water in the Arctic Ocean.The fraction of Arctic river water was higher than Pacific river water in the upper 50 m while the opposite was true below 50 m.As a result,the inventories of Pacific river water were higher than those of Arctic river water,demonstrating that the Pacific inflow through the Bering Strait is the main source of freshwater in the Canada Basin.Both the river water and sea-ice melted water in the permanent ice zone were more abundant than those in the region with sea-ice just melted.The fractions of total river water,Arctic river water,Pacific river water increased northward to the north of 82°N,indicating an additional source of river water in the permanent ice zone of the northern Canada Basin.A possible reason for the extra river water in the permanent ice zone is the lateral advection of shelf waters by the Trans-Polar Drift.The penetration depth of sea-ice melted waters was less than 30 m in the southern Canada Basin,while it extended to 125 m in the northern Canada Basin.The inventory of seaice melted water suggested that sea-ice melted waters were also accumulated in the permanent ice zone,attributing to the trap of earlier melted waters in the permanent ice zone via the Beaufort Gyre.     

Contrasting patterns of river runoff and sea-ice melted water in the Canada Basin

The fractions of river runoff and sea-ice melted water in the Canada Basin in summer 2003 were determined by the salinity-18O system. The fraction of river runoff(fR) was high in the upper 50 m of the water column and decreased with depth and latitude. The signals of the river runoff were confined to water depths above 200 m. The total amount of river runoff in the Canada Basin was higher than that in other arctic seas, indicating that the Canada Basin is a main storage region for river runoff. The penetration depth of the sea-ice melted water was less than 50 m to the south of 78°N, while it was about 150 m to the north of 78°N. The total amount of sea-ice melted water was much higher to the north of 78°N than to the south of 78°N, indicating the sea-ice melted waters accumulated on the ice edge. The abundant sea-ice melted water on the ice edge was attributed to the earlier melted water in the southern Canada Basin and transported by the Beaufort Gyre or the reinforced melting of sea ice by solar radiation in the polynya.     

2008年加拿大海盆次表层暖水的精细结构的研究

自2004年以来,在加拿大海盆频繁发生的次表层暖水(near surface temperature maximum,NSTM)现象是北极快速变化响应的事实之一.采用2008年中国第3次北极科学考察的CTD数据和西北冰洋联合研究计划与美国波弗特环流观测系统计划2008年航次的CTD数据以及冰浮标ITP18数据,对加拿大...     

加拿大海盆东南部锚定观测双扩散阶梯的时间演化研究

加拿大海盆上层,分布着高温高盐的大西洋水和相对低温低盐的盐跃层下部水,两水团之间形成一系列的双扩散阶梯。通过分析2005年8月-2011年8月期间的锚定潜标数据,对双扩散阶梯和这两种水团之间的相互作用进行研究。基于固定盐度范围的方法,在盐度廓线中识别阶梯结构,在盐度34.45~34.83范围内,获取18个阶梯结构,并研究阶梯的参数。发现双扩散阶梯的位温主要受与其接近的水团的影响,同时也受其相邻的阶梯生成或消亡的影响,大西洋水对其上方的双扩散阶梯和盐跃层下部水起到加热作用;而盐跃层下部水的深度变化主导着大西洋水和双扩散阶梯的深度变化。两个相邻的阶梯具有一致的位温和深度变化趋势。通过经验公式,估计大西洋水通过双扩散阶梯向上传输的热通量为0.05~0.6 W/m2,且由下至上呈现逐渐增大的趋势。最后,估算由双扩散造成的垂向涡扩散系数为3×10-6~3.3×10-5 m2/s,且由下至上呈现逐渐减小的趋势。     

加拿大海盆深层双扩散对流的观测分析

The Canada Basin(CB) is the largest sub-basin in the Arctic, with the deepest abyssal plain of 3 850 m. The double-diffusive process is the possible passage through which the geothermal energy affects the above isolated deep waters. With the temperature-salinity-pressure observations in 2003, 500-m-thick transition layers and lower1 000-m-thick bottom homogenous layers were found below 2 400 m in the central deep CB. Staircases with downward-increasing temperature and salinity are prominent in the transition layers, suggesting the doublediffusive convection in deep CB. The interface of the stairs is about 10 m thick with 0.001–0.002°C temperature difference, while the thicknesses of the homogenous layers in the steps decrease upward from about 60 to 20 m.The density ratio in the deep central CB is generally smaller than 2, indicating stronger double-diffusive convection than that in the upper ocean of 200–400 m. The heat flux through the deepest staircases in the deep CB varies between 0.014 and 0.031 W/m2, which is one-two orders smaller than the upper double-diffusive heat flux,but comparable to the estimates of geothermal heat flux.     

2008年夏季加拿大海盆净二氧化碳吸收量评估

The third Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition(CHINARE) was conducted in the summer of 2008.During the survey,the surface seawater partial pressure of CO_2(pCO_2) was measured,and sea water samples were collected for CO_2 measurement in the Canada Basin.The distribution of pCO_2 in the Canada Basin was determined,the influencing factors were addressed,and the air-sea CO_2 flux in the Canada Basin was evaluated.The Canada Basin was divided into three regions:the ice-free zone(south of 77°N),the partially ice-covered zone(77°–80°N),and the heavily ice-covered zone(north of 80°N).In the ice-free zone,pCO_2 was high(320 to 368μatm,1 μatm=0.101 325 Pa),primarily due to rapid equilibration with atmospheric CO_2 over a short time.In the partially ice-covered zone,the surface pCO_2 was relatively low(250 to 270 μatm) due to ice-edge blooms and icemelt water dilution.In the heavily ice-covered zone,the seawater pCO_2 varied between 270 and 300 μatm due to biological CO_2 removal,the transportation of low pCO_2 water northward,and heavy ice cover.The surface seawater pCO_2 during the survey was undersaturated with respect to the atmosphere in the Canada Basin,and it was a net sink for atmospheric CO_2.The summertime net CO_2 uptake of the ice-free zone,the partially ice-covered zone and the heavily ice-covered zone was(4.14±1.08),(1.79±0.19),and(0.57±0.03) Tg/a(calculated by carbon,1Tg=10~(12) g),respectively.Overall,the net CO_2 sink of the Canada Basin in the summer of 2008 was(6.5±1.3) Tg/a,which accounted for 4%–10% of the Arctic Ocean CO_2 sink.