Summertime freshwater fractions in the surface water of the western Arctic Ocean evaluated from total alkalinity

As a quasi-conservative tracer, measures of total alkalinity （TA） can be utilized to trace the relative fractions of freshwater and seawater. In this study, based on the TA and related data collected during the third Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition （JulySeptember 2008, 3rd CHINARE-Arctic） and the fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition （JulySeptember 2010, 4th CH1NARE-Arctic）, fractions of sea-ice meltwater, river runoff, and seawater within the surface water of the western Arctic Ocean were determined using salinil~~ and TA relationships. The largest fraction of seeL-ice meltwater was found around 75~N within the Canada Basin during both surveys, which is located at the ice edge. Generally, it was found that the frac- tion of river runoff was less than that of sea-ice meltwater. The river runoff, composed mainly of contributions from the Yukon River carried by Bering inflow water and the Mackenzie River, was influenced by the currents, leading to two peak areas of its fraction. Our results show that the dilution effect of freshwater carried by Bering inflow water during the 3rd CH1NARE-Arctic in 2008 expedition period may be stronger than that during the 4th CH1NARE-Arctic in 2010 expedition period. The peak area of sea-ice meltwater fraction during the 4th CH1NARE-Arctic was different from that of the 3rd CHINAR-E-Arctic, corresponding to their sea-ice condition.     

Experiment of near surface layer parameters in ice camp over Arctic Ocean

Estimates of near surface layer parameters over 78°N drifting ice in ice camp over the Arctic ocean are made using bulk transfer methods with the data from the experiments operated by the Chinese Arctic Scientific Expedition in August 22-September 3,2003.The results show that the net radiation received by the snow surface is only 3.6 W/m2,among which the main part transported into atmosphere in term of sensible heat and latent heat,which account for 52% and 31% respectively,and less part being transported to deep ice in the conductive process.The bulk transfer coefficient of momentum is about 1.16×10-3 in the near neutral layer,which is a little smaller than that obtained over 75°N drifting ice.However,to compare with the results observed over 75°N drifting ice over the Arctic Ocean in 1999,it can be found that the thermodynamic and momentum of interactions between sea and air are significant different with latitudes,concentration and the scale of sea ice.It is very important on considering the effect of sea-air-ice interaction over the Arctic Ocean when studying climate modeling.     

Characteristics and variations of the picophytoplankton community in the Arctic Ocean

Picophytoplankton are responsible for much of the carbon fixation process in the Arctic Ocean, and they play an im- portant role in active microbial food webs. The climate of the Arctic Ocean has changed in recent years, and picophytoplankton, as the most vulnerable part of the high-latitude pelagic ecosystem, have been the focus of an increasing number of scientific studies. This paper reviews and summarizes research on the characteristics of picophytoplankton in the Arctic Ocean, including their abundance, biomass, spatial distribution, seasonal variation, commtmity structure, and factors influencing their growth. The impact of climate change on the Arctic Ocean picophytoplankton community is discussed, and future research directions are considered.     

Outflow of Pacific water from the Chukchi Sea to the Arctic Ocean

Pacific water exits the Chukchi Sea shelf through Barrow Canyon in the east and Herald Canyon in the west, forming an eastward-directed shelfbreak boundary current that flows into the Beaufort Sea. Here we summarize the transformation that the Pacific water undergoes in the two canyons, and describe the characteristics and variability of the resulting shelfbreak jet, using recently collected summertime hydrographic data and a year-long mooting data set. In both canyons the northward-flowing Pacific winter water switches from the western to the eastern flank of the canyon, interacting with the northward-flowing summer water. In Barrow canyon the vorticity structure of the current is altered, while in Herald canyon a new water mass mode is created. In both instances hydraulic effects are believed to be partly responsible for the observed changes. The shelfl）reak jet that forms from the canyon outflows has distinct seasonal configurations, from a bottom-intensified flow carrying cold, dense Pacific water in spring, to a surface-intensified current advecting warm, buoyant water in summer. The current also varies significantly on short timescales, from less than a day to a week. In fall and winter much of this mesoscale variability is driven by storm events, whose easterly winds reverse the current and cause upwelling. Different types of eddies are spawned from the current, which are characterized here using hydrographic and satellite data.     

Contribution of a pathway through the Arctic Ocean to the re cent reduction in the ice cover

The sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has been reducing and hit the low record in the summer of 2007. The anomaly was extremely large in the Pacific sector. The sea level height in the Bering Sea vs. the Greenland Sea has been analyzed and compared with the current meter data through the Bering Strait. A recent peak existed as a consequence of atmospheric circulation and is considered to contribute to inflow of the Pacific Water into the Arctic Basin. The timing of the Pacific Water inflow matched with the sea ice reduction in the Pacific sector and suggests a significant increase in heat flux. This component should be included in the model prediction for answering the question when the Arctic sea ice becomes a seasonal ice cover.     

Estimation of Oceanic Heat Flux Under Sea Ice in the Arctic Ocean

Oceanic heat flux(Fw) is the vertical heat flux that is transmitted to the base of sea ice. It is the main source of sea ice bottom melting. The residual method was adopted to study oceanic heat flux under sea ice. The data acquired by 28 ice mass balance buoys(IMBs) deployed over the period of 2004 to 2013 in the Arctic Ocean were used. Fw values presented striking seasonal and spatial variations. The average summer Fw values for the Canada Basin, Transpolar Drift, and Multiyear Ice area were 16.8, 7.7, and 5.9 W m^-2, respectively. The mean summer F-w for the whole Arctic was 10.1 W m^-2, which was equivalent to a bottom melt of 0.4 m. Fw showed an autumn peak in November in the presence of the near-surface temperature maximum(NSTM). The average Fw for October to December was 3.7 W m^-2. And the average Fw for January to March was 1.0 W m^-2, which was approximately one third of the average Fw in the presence of NSTM. The summer Fw was almost wholly attributed to the incident solar radiation that enters the upper ocean through leads and the open water. Fw calculated through the residual method using IMB data was compared with that calculated through the parameterization method using Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoy data. The results revealed that the Fw provided by the two methods were consistent when the sea ice concentration exceeded 70% and mixing layer temperature departure from freezing point was less than 0.15℃. Otherwise, the Fw yielded by the residual method was approximately one third smaller than that provided by the parameterization method.     

A sub-surface eddy at inertial current layer in the Canada Basin,Arctic Ocean

An Arctic Ocean eddy in sub-surface layer is analyzed in this paper by use of temperature,salinity and current profiles data obtained at an ice camp in the Canada Basin during the second Chinese Arctic Expedition in summer of 2003.In the vertical temperature section,the eddy shows itself as an isolated cold water block at depth of 60 m with a minimum temperature of-1.5℃,about 0.5℃ colder than the ambient water.Isopycnals in the eddy form a pattern of convex,which indicates the eddy is anticyclonic.Although maximum velocity near 0.4 m s-1 occurs in the current records observed synchronously,the current pattern is far away from a typical eddy.By further analysis,inertial frequency oscillations with amplitudes comparable with the eddy velocity are found in the sub-surface layer currents.After filter the inertial current and mean current,an axisymmetric current pattern of an eddy with maximum velocity radius of 5 km is obtained.The analysis of the T-S characteristics of the eddy core water and its ambient waters supports the conclusion that the eddy was formed on the Chukchi Shelf and migrated northeastward into the northern Canada Basin.     

Radiolaria fossils in the surface sediments and sedimentary environment in the Bering Sea

Totally 2472 grains of Radiolaria belonging to 36 Genera and 45 species are distinguished from 12 surface sediments in the Bering Sea. The distribution characteristics of Radiolaria fossils in the surface sediments are as follows: (1) From the shelf of shallow water to the upper of continental slope, there are a few Radiolaria fossils and monotonous genus and species; (2) In the lower of continental slope, Radiolaria fossils are poor in the volcanic cinders and turbidite; (3) The abundance and diversity of Radiolaria fossils are high in clay of the basin. The dominant species of Radiolaria is Spongotrochus glacialis on the continental shelf. Current, topography, water depth, and temperature etc. are key factors influencing Radiolaria distribution. The sources of sediments mainly are terrigenous, biogenic and volcanic sediments in the survey area and they are mostly from the Kamchatka peninsula in the east of Russia and the Aleutian Islands.     

Origin and chronology for hornblende gabbroic intrusions in Urad Zhongqi of western Inner Mongolia and their tectonic implications

The Urad Zhongqi mafic intrusions crop out in western Inner Mongolia and are dominated by hornblende gabbro.Zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating indicates that the mafic pluton was emplaced in the Early Permian(272 ± 3Ma).The hornblende gabbro rocks have low concentrations of Si O2,high total Fe2O3,Mg O,Ni,Co,Sc and Cr.The rocks are characterized by selective enrichment of large ion lithophile elements(LILE) and light rare earth elements(LREE),and depletion in high field strength elements(HFSE)(e.g.Nb,Ta,Zr,Hf,P and Ti).It suggests that they formed from a primary magma generated by the partial melting of lithospheric mantle material had been previously modified by subduction-related fluids.According to the geochemical data and the geology of the region,the authors found that the Early Permian hornblende gabbroic in western Inner Mongolia formed in a post-collisional extensional setting.     

Modeling Arctic Ocean heat transport and warming episodes in the 20th century caused by the intruding Atlantic Water

This study investigates the Arctic Ocean warming episodes in the 20th century using both a high-resolution coupled global climate model and historical observations. The model, with no flux adjustment, reproduces well the Atlantic Water core temperature （AWCT） in the Arctic Ocean and shows that four largest decadalscale warming episodes occurred in the 1930s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, in agreement with the hydrographic observational data. The difference is that there was no pre-warming prior to the 1930s episode, while there were two pre-warming episodes in the 1970s and 80s prior to the 1990s, leading the 1990s into the largest and prolonged warming in the 20th century. Over the last century, the simulated heat transport via Fram Strait and the Barents Sea was estimated to be, on average, 31.32 TW and 14.82 TW, respectively, while the Bering Strait also provides 15.94 TW heat into the west- ern Arctic Ocean. Heat transport into the Arctic Ocean by the Atlantic Water via Fram Strait and the Barents Sea correlates significantly with AWCT （ C = 0.75 ） at 0- lag. The modeled North Atlantic Oscillation （NAO） index has a significant correlation with the heat transport （ C = 0.37 ）. The observed AWCT has a significant correlation with both the modeled AWCT （ C =0.49） and the heat transport （ C =0.41 ）. However, the modeled NAO index does not significantly correlate with either the observed AWCT （ C = 0.03 ） or modeled AWCT （ C = 0.16 ） at a zero-lag, indicating that the Arctic climate system is far more complex than expected.     

Comparison of Phytoplankton Communities Between Melt Ponds and Open Water in the Central Arctic Ocean

Climate warming has a significant impact on the sea ice and ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean.Under the increasing numbers of melt ponds in Arctic sea ice,the phytoplankton communities associated with the ice system are changing.During the 7th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition cruise in summer 2016,photosynthesis pigments and nutrients were analyzed,revealing differences in phytoplankton communities between melt ponds and open water in the central Arctic.Photosynthetic pigment analysis suggested that Fuco(5-91μg m^-3)and Diadino(4-21μg m^-3)were the main pigments in the open water.However,the melt ponds had high concentrations of Viola(7-30μg m^-3),Lut(4-59μg m^-3)and Chl b(11-38μg m^-3),suggesting that green algae dominated phytoplankton communities in the melt ponds.The significant differences in phytoplankton communities between melt ponds and open water might be due to the salinity difference.Moreover,green algae may play a more important role in Arctic sea ice ecosystems with the expected growing number of melt ponds in the central Arctic Ocean.     

Fine-resolution simulation of surface current and sea ice in the Arctic Mediterranean Seas

A fine-resolution model is developed for ocean circulation simulation in the National Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is applied to simulate surface current and sea ice variations in the Arctic Mediterranean Seas. A dynamic sea ice model in elastic-viscous-plastic rheology and a thermodynamic sea ice model are employed. A 200-year simulation is performed and a dimatological average of a 10-year period (141st-150th) is presented with focus on sea ice concentration and surface current variations in the Arctic Mediterranean Seas. The model is able to simulate well the East Greenland Current, Beaufort Gyre and the Transpolar Drift, but the simulated West Spitsbergen Current is small and weak. In the March climatology, the sea ice coverage can be simulated well except for a bit more ice in east of Spitsbergen Island. The result is also good for the September scenario except for less ice concentration east of Greenland and greater ice concentration near the ice margin. The extra ice east of Spitsbergen Island is caused by sea ice current convergence forced by atmospheric wind stress.     

The changes of pigment contents and their environmental implications in the lake sediments of Ny-(A)lesund, Svalbard, the Arctic

According to palaeoclimatic and modern instrumental data, numerous studies have indicated that the Arctic climate has undergone a significant warming during the past 100 years, and this may lead to significant impact on the fragile lake ecosystem. In this study, we collected a lake sediment core from the Ny-(A)lesund of Svalbard and determined the concentrations of four pigments including chlorophyll derivatives, total carotenoids, oscillaxanthin and myxoxanthophyll in the sediments. Combined with other physical and chemical proxies such as calcium carbonate, total organic carbon, biogenic silicon etc., we have reconstructed the historical changes of lacustrine primary productivity in Ny-(A)lesund, especially for the past 100 years. The results showed that during the period of Little Ice Age (LIA), the climate was unfavorable for the growth of the lake algae, and thus the lacustrine productivity declined. This result was supported by the relatively low contents of pigment and biogenic silica in the sediments. In contrast, the contents of total organic carbon (TOC) and sediment pigments increased significantly in the upper 5 cm (~1890AD), reflecting the rapid growth of the lake algae, thus the great increase of lacustrine primary productivity, corresponding to the warming climate after LIA. However, the biogenic silica in the upper sediments still had a relatively low level, and this might be related to the growth competition with other algae species. Over the past 100 years, the ratio of Osc/Myx in the sediments decreased continuously, indicative of durative increase of myxoxanthophyll in blue-green algal pigments, and this might imply that the human activity had enhanced the nutrition level of the lake in the Arctic region.     

Characteristics of change of the SST in the tropical western Pacific and the tropical Indian Ocean and its response to the change of the Antarctic ice area

In this paper, by using ocean surface temperature data (COADS), the study is made of the characteristics of the monthly and annual changes of the SST in the tropical western Pacific and Indian Oceans, which have important influences on the climate change of the whole globe and the relation between ENSO(E1 Nino-Southern Oscillation) and the Antarctic ice area is also discussed. The result indicates that in the tropical western Pacific and the Indian Oceans the change of Sea Surface Temperture (SST) is conspicuous both monthly and armaully, and shows different change tendency between them. This result may be due to different relation in the vibration period of SST between the two Oceans. The better corresponding relationship is obvious in the annual change of SST in the tropical Indian Ocean with the occurrence El Nino and LaNlra. The change of the SST in the tropical western Pacific and the tropical Indian Oceans has a close relation to the Antarctic ice area, especially to the ice areas in the eastern-south Pole and Ross Sea, and its notable correlative relationship appears in 16 months when the SST of the tropical western Pacific and the Indian Oceans lag back the Antarctic ice area.     

Measurements of sea ice thickness and its subice morphology analysis using ice-penetration radar in the Arctic Ocean

1　IntroductionSeaice ,asanimportantcomponentoftheArcticclimatesystem ,hasdrawnsignifi cantscientificinterest.Seaicethicknessanditsmorphologyhavedramaticimpactsono cean atmosphere iceinteractions(Wadhams 1 994;Barryetal.1 993 ;Dickson 1 999;PadhamsandNorman 2 0 0 0 ) ,whichdirectlyaffecttheexchangeprocessandspeedofheatandmassbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere ,dominatethephysicalmechanicsfea turesofseaice ,andaffecttheseaicemovement&deformationaswellasicefreezing&meltingprocess(Hollandetal.1 99…     

Numerical simulation of the impact of underlying surface changes on Arctic climate

Using a regional atmospheric model for Arctic climate simulation, two groups of numerical experiments were carried out to study the inlfuence of changes in the underlying surface (land surface, sea sur...     

A new species of Nassarius (Gastropoda: Nassariidae) from the western Pacific Ocean

This paper describes a new species of Nassarius from the South China Sea,which was recognized when re-sorting the collection of Nassariidae in the Marine Biological Museum,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Qingdao,China.The shells were collected during several investigations,including the National Comprehensive Oceanic Survey in 1958-1959,and the China-Vietnam Co-Investigation on Marine Resource of the Beibu Gulf during 1959-1962.The morphology of the shell and the radula places the new species of Nassarius within the subgenus Zeuxis.It is named Nassarius(Zeuxis) nanhaiensis sp.nov.