The sources of Antarctic bottom water in a global ice–ocean model

Two mechanisms contribute to the formation of Antarctic bottom water (AABW). The first, and probably the most important, is initiated by the brine released on the Antarctic continental shelf during ice formation which is responsible for an increase in salinity. After mixing with ambient water at the shelf break, this salty and dense water sinks along the shelf slope and invades the deepest part of the global ocean. For the second one, the increase of surface water density is due to strong cooling at the ocean–atmosphere interface, together with a contribution from brine release. This induces deep convection and the renewal of deep waters. The relative importance of these two mechanisms is investigated in a global coupled ice–ocean model. Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) concentrations simulated by the model compare favourably with observations, suggesting a reasonable deep water ventilation in the Southern Ocean, except close to Antarctica where concentrations are too high. Two artificial passive tracers released at surface on the Antarctic continental shelf and in the open-ocean allow to show clearly that the two mechanisms contribute significantly to the renewal of AABW in the model. This indicates that open-ocean convection is overestimated in our simulation. Additional experiments show that the amount of AABW production due to the export of dense shelf waters is quite sensitive to the parameterisation of the effect of downsloping and meso-scale eddies. Nevertheless, shelf waters always contribute significantly to deep water renewal. Besides, increasing the P.R. Gent, J.C. McWilliams [Journal of Physical Oceanography 20 (1990) 150–155] thickness diffusion can nearly suppress the AABW formation by open-ocean convection.     

Circulation and melting under the Ross Ice Shelf: estimates from evolving CFC,salinity and temperature fields in the Ross Sea

Temperature, salinity and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 11, 12 and 113 were measured on a line of stations along the front of the Ross Ice Shelf in the austral summers of 1984, 1994 and 2000. Water mass distributions were similar each year but with high variability in the cross-sectional areas. CFC concentrations increased and salinity decreased with time throughout the water column. CFC saturation levels in the shelf and surface waters also increased with time and ranged from 43% to 90%. The undersaturation was due to inflow of low-CFC modified Circumpolar Deep Water, gas exchange limited by sea ice cover and isolation of water from the atmosphere beneath the ice shelf. The residence time of dense shelf waters resulting from sea ice formation is less well constrained by the chemical data than is the strong flow into the Ross Ice Shelf cavity. Shelf waters are transformed over about 3.5 years, by net basal melting of the ice shelf, into fresher Ice Shelf Water (ISW), which emerges as a large plume near the central ice front at temperatures below the sea surface freezing point. We estimate an average ISW production rate of 0.86 Sv and an average net basal melt rate of 60 km³/year for the Ross Ice Shelf exceeding a 300 m draft (75% of the ice cavity) during recent decades from box and stream tube models fit to all of the CFC and salinity data. Model fits to the individual data sets suggest ISW production and net basal melt rate variability due to interannual changes on a shorter time scale than our observations. ISW production based on the CFC budget is better constrained than net basal melting based on thermohaline data, with a heat budget yielding a rate of only 20 km³/yr. Reconciling differences between apparent freshwater and temperature changes under the ice shelf involves considerations of mixing, freezing and the flow of meltwater across the ice shelf grounding line.     

A Coupled Ice-Ocean Model in the Pan-Arctic and North Atlantic Ocean: Simulation of Seasonal Cycles

A coupled ice-ocean model is configured for the pan-Arctic and northern North Atlantic Ocean with a 27.5 km resolution. The model is driven by the daily atmospheric climatology averaged from the 40-year NCEP reanalysis (1958–1997). The ocean model is the Princeton Ocean Model (POM), while the sea ice model is based on a full thermodynamical and dynamical model with plastic-viscous rheology. A sea ice model with multiple categories of thickness is utilized. A systematic model-data comparison was conducted. This model reasonably reproduces seasonal cycles of both the sea ice and the ocean. Climatological sea ice areas derived from historical data are used to validate the ice model performance. The simulated sea ice cover reaches a maximum of 14 × 10⁶ km² in winter and a minimum of 6.7 × 10⁶ km² in summer. This is close to the 95-year climatology with a maximum of 13.3 × 10⁶ km² in winter and a minimum of 7 × 10⁶ km² in summer. The simulated general circulation in the Arctic Ocean, the GIN (Greenland, Iceland, and Norwegian) seas, and northern North Atlantic Ocean are qualitatively consistent with historical mapping. It is found that the low winter salinity or freshwater in the Canada Basin tends to converge due to the strong anticyclonic atmospheric circulation that drives the anticyclonic ocean surface current, while low summer salinity or freshwater tends to spread inside the Arctic and exports out of the Arctic due to the relaxing wind field. It is also found that the warm, saline Atlantic Water has little seasonal variation, based on both simulation and observations. Seasonal cycles of temperature and salinity at several representative locations reveals regional features that characterize different water mass properties.     

Evaluation of ocean model ventilation with CFC-11: comparison of 13 global ocean models

We compared the 13 models participating in the Ocean Carbon Model Intercomparison Project (OCMIP) with regards to their skill in matching observed distributions of CFC-11. This analysis characterizes the abilities of these models to ventilate the ocean on timescales relevant for anthropogenic CO₂ uptake. We found a large range in the modeled global inventory (±30%), mainly due to differences in ventilation from the high latitudes. In the Southern Ocean, models differ particularly in the longitudinal distribution of the CFC uptake in the intermediate water, whereas the latitudinal distribution is mainly controlled by the subgrid-scale parameterization. Models with isopycnal diffusion and eddy-induced velocity parameterization produce more realistic intermediate water ventilation. Deep and bottom water ventilation also varies substantially between the models. Models coupled to a sea-ice model systematically provide more realistic AABW formation source region; however these same models also largely overestimate AABW ventilation if no specific parameterization of brine rejection during sea-ice formation is included. In the North Pacific Ocean, all models exhibit a systematic large underestimation of the CFC uptake in the thermocline of the subtropical gyre, while no systematic difference toward the observations is found in the subpolar gyre. In the North Atlantic Ocean, the CFC uptake is globally underestimated in subsurface. In the deep ocean, all but the adjoint model, failed to produce the two recently ventilated branches observed in the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Furthermore, simulated transport in the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) is too sluggish in all but the isopycnal model, where it is too rapid.     

The Effect of Seasonal Variability of Atlantic Water on the Arctic Sea Ice Cover

Under the influence of global warming, the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean (AO) is expected to reduce with a transition toward a seasonal ice cover by the end of this century. A comparison of climate-model predictions with measurements shows that the actual rate of ice cover decay in the AO is higher than the predicted one. This paper argues that the rapid shrinking of the Arctic summer ice cover is due to its increased seasonality, while seasonal oscillations of the Atlantic origin water temperature create favorable conditions for the formation of negative anomalies in the ice-cover area in winter. The basis for this hypothesis is the fundamental possibility of the activation of positive feedback provided by a specific feature of the seasonal cycle of the inflowing Atlantic origin water and the peaking of temperature in the Nansen Basin in midwinter. The recently accelerated reduction in the summer ice cover in the AO leads to an increased accumulation of heat in the upper ocean layer during the summer season. The extra heat content of the upper ocean layer favors prerequisite conditions for winter thermohaline convection and the transfer of heat from the Atlantic water (AW) layer to the ice cover. This, in turn, contributes to further ice thinning and a decrease in ice concentration, accelerated melting in summer, and a greater accumulation of heat in the ocean by the end of the following summer. An important role is played by the seasonal variability of the temperature of AW, which forms on the border between the North European and Arctic basins. The phase of seasonal oscillation changes while the AW is moving through the Nansen Basin. As a result, the timing of temperature peak shifts from summer to winter, additionally contributing to enhanced ice melting in winter. The formulated theoretical concept is substantiated by a simplified mathematical model and comparison with observations.     

Open‐ocean convection and polynya formation in a large‐scale ice‐ocean model

The physical processes responsible for the formation in a large‐scale ice–ocean model of an offshore polynya near the Greenwich meridian in the Southern Ocean are analysed. In this area, the brine release during ice formation in autumn is sufficient to destabilise the water column and trigger convection. This incorporates relatively warm water into the surface layer which, in a first step, slows down ice formation. In a second step, it gives rise to ice melting until the total disappearance of the ice at the end of September. Two elements are crucial for the polynya opening. The first one is a strong ice‐transport divergence in fall induced by south‐easterly winds, which enhances the amount of local ice formation and thus of brine release. The second is an inflow of relatively warm water at depth originating from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, that sustains the intense vertical heat flux in the ocean during convection. The simulated polynya occurs in a region where such features have been frequently observed. Nevertheless, the model polynya is too wide and persistent. In addition, it develops each year, contrary to observations. The use of a climatological forcing with no interannual variability is the major cause of these deficiencies, the simulated too low density in the deep Southern Ocean and the coarse resolution of the model playing also a role. A passive tracer released in the polynya area indicates that the water mass produced there contributes significantly to the renewal of deep water in the Weddell Gyre and that it is a major component of the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) inflow into the model Atlantic.     

The effect of tides on the volume of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

Tides are believed to drive vertical mixing in the Arctic Ocean, thereby helping heat to reach the bottom of the sea ice layer, especially in regions with thick ice covers. However, tides are usually not included in ocean models. We investigated the effect of tides on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean using an ice-coupled ocean model that includes tides simultaneously. We found that with tidal forcing, the volume of sea ice increased by 8.5% in Baffin Bay, whereas it decreased by 17.8% in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The increase in sea ice volume in Baffin Bay results from the convergence of sea ice, driven by tidal residual currents. In contrast, the decrease in ice volume in the Canadian Archipelago is due to the suppression of ice formation in winter, especially in areas with steep topography, where the vertical mixing of temperature is enhanced by tides. Our results imply that tides should be directly included into the oceanic general circulation model (OGCM) to realistically reproduce the distribution of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.     

Spatial and seasonal variability of global ocean diapycnal transport inferred from Argo profiles

The global diapycnal transport in the ocean interior is one of the significant branches to return the deep water back toward near-surface. However, the amount of the diapycnal transport and the seasonal variations are not determined yet. This paper estimates the dissipation rate and the associated diapycnal transports at 500 m, 750 m and 1 000 m depth throughout the global ocean from the wide-spread Argo profiles, using the finescale parameterizations and classic advection-diff usion balance. The net upwelling is ~5.2±0.81 Sv (Sverdrup) which is approximately one fifth in magnitude of the formation of the deep water. The Southern Ocean is the major region with the upward diapycnal transport, while the downwelling emerges mainly in the northern North Atlantic. The upwelling in the Southern Ocean accounts for over 50% of the amount of the global summation. The seasonal cycle is obvious at 500 m and vanishes with depth, indicating the energy source at surface. The enhancement of diapycnal transport occurs at 1000min the Southern Ocean, which is pertinent with the internal wave generation due to the interaction between the robust deep-reaching flows and the rough topography. Our estimates of the diapycnal transport in the ocean interior have implications for the closure of the oceanic energy budget and the understanding of global Meridional Overturning Circulation.     

Formation mechanism of the Weddell Sea Polynya and the impact on the global abyssal ocean

An experiment using a global ocean–ice model with an interannual forcing data set was conducted to understand the variability in the Southern Ocean. A winter-persisting polynya in the Weddell Sea (the Weddell Polynya, WP) was simulated. The process of WP breaking out after no-WP years was explored using the successive WPs found in the late 1950s. The results suggested that the anomalously warm deep water, saline surface layer, and a cyclonic wind stress over the Maud polynya region in early winter are essential for the surface layer to be dense enough to trigger deep convections which maintain a winter-persisting polynya; also, the reanalyzed surface air temperature (SAT) over the observed polynya region is too high for an ocean–ice model’s bulk formula to yield sufficient upward heat fluxes to induce WP formation. Therefore the Weddell Polynya, a series of WPs observed from satellite in the mid-1970s, is reproduced by replacing the SAT with a climatological one. Subsequent to the successive WP events, density anomalies excited in the Weddell Sea propagate northward in the Atlantic deep basins. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is enhanced through the increased meridional density gradient. The enhanced ACC and its meandering over the abyssal ridges excite buoyancy anomalies near the bottom at the southwestern end of the South Pacific basin. The buoyancy signals propagate northward and eventually arrive in the northern North Pacific.     

The marine barite saturation state of the world's oceans

This paper addresses the question of the eventual control of barium concentration in seawater by an equilibrium with barite. For this, we have used a new thermodynamic model to compute the barite saturation index of ocean waters, mainly from GEOSECS data. Our results show that equilibrium between barite and seawater is reached in a number of places: cold surface waters of the Southern Ocean, waters at intermediate depths (2000–3500 m) in the Pacific, deep waters (2000–3500 m) of the Gulf of Bengal. The only samples for which a slight barite supersaturation is found are the surface waters at GEOSECS station G89 in the Weddell Gyre. Besides these locations, the rest of the world's oceans is undersaturated, as was established by Church and Wolgemuth [Church, T.M., Wolgemuth, K., 1972. Marine barite saturation, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 15 35–44.]. There is a return to undersaturation of the water column at depths of about 3500 m in the Pacific and of about 2500 m in the Southern Ocean. The reverse is found for GEOSECS station 446 in the Gulf of Bengal for which the highest Ba concentrations can be found at depth: surface waters are undersaturated and equilibrium is reached below 2000 m. Finally, we briefly discuss the role of biogenic and inorganic processes on barite formation in the ocean as well as the influence of strontium substitution in marine barites.     

Ventilation of the Black Sea pycnocline. Parameterization of convection, numerical simulations and validations against observed chlorofluorocarbon data

Data from field observations and numerical model simulations are used to understand and quantify the pathways by which passive tracers penetrate into the Black Sea intermediate and deep layers. Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) concentrations measured during the1988 R.V. Knorr cruise show strong decrease with increasing density in the Black Sea and illustrate the very slow rate of ventilation of deep water in this basin. We develop a 3D numerical model based on the Modular Ocean Model (MOM), and calibrate it in a way to produce consistent simulations of observed temperature, salinity and CFCs. One important feature is the implementation of a special parameterization for convection, which is an alternative of the convective adjustment in MOM and handles the penetration of the Bosporus plume into the halocline. The model forcing includes interannually variable wind, heat and water fluxes constructed from Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set and ECMWF atmospheric analysis data and river runoff data. The analysis of observations and simulated data are focused on correlations between thermohaline and tracer fields, dynamic control of ventilation, and the relative contributions of sources at the sea surface and outflow from the Bosporus Strait in the formation of intermediate and deep waters. A simple theory is developed which incorporates the outflow from the strait along with the vertical circulation (vertical turbulent mixing and Ekman upwelling) and reveals their mutual adjustment. The analyses of simulated and observed CFCs demonstrate that most of the CFC penetrating the deep layers has its source at the sea surface within the Black Sea rather than from the Marmara Sea via the Bosporus undercurrent. Under present-day conditions, the surface CFC signals have reached only the upper halocline. Intrusions below 600 m are not simulated. The major pathways of penetration of CFCs are associated with cold-water mass formation sites, Bosporus effluent, as well as with the diapycnal mixing in the area of Rim Current. Future CFC sampling strategies coherent with the unique conditions in the Black Sea are discussed.     

全球热带海洋海表温度场异常对北极海冰的影响

本文利用1951?2021年哈德莱中心提供的海冰和海温最新资料以及美国国家海洋和大气管理局气候预报中心提供的NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,分析探讨了北极海冰70余年的长期变化特征,进而研究了其快速减少与热带海温场异常变化之间的联系,揭示了在全球热带海洋海温场变化与北极海冰之间存在密切联系的事实。结果表明,北极海冰异常变化最显著区域出现在格陵兰海、卡拉海和巴伦支海。热带不同海区对北极海冰的影响存在明显时滞时间和强度差异,热带大西洋的影响相比偏早,印度洋次之,太平洋偏晚。热带大西洋、印度洋和中东太平洋海温异常影响北极海冰的最佳时间分别是后者滞后26个月、30个月和34个月,全球热带海洋影响北极海冰的时滞时间为33个月。印度洋SST对北极海冰的影响程度最强,其次是太平洋,最弱是大西洋。全球热带海洋对北极海冰的影响过程中,热带东太平洋和印度洋起主导作用。当全球热带海洋SST出现正（负）距平时,北极海冰会出现偏少（多）的趋势,而AO、PNA、NAO对北极海冰变化起重要作用,是热带海洋与北极海冰相系数的重要“纽带”。而AO、PNA和NAO不仅受热带海洋SST的影响,同时也受太平洋年代际振荡PDO和大西洋多年代际AMO的影响,这一研究为未来北极海冰快速减少和全球气候变暖机理的深入研究提供理论支撑。     

印度洋海底压强的季节和长期变化

利用2003—2015年的重力恢复和气候实验(Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, GRACE)卫星观测数据, 揭示了印度洋海底压强的变化特征, 并探讨了其变化机制。结果表明, 印度洋海底压强具有显著的季节变化特征, 北半球冬季在40°S以北(南), 海底压强呈负(正)异常, 夏季分布与冬季相反。印度洋区域的海底压强空间分布与Ekman输送空间分布有较好的对应关系。正压涡度方程诊断结果表明, 利用风场重构的海底压强能够较好地解释印度洋海底压强的季节和长期变化。此外, 海平面变化收支分析表明, 海底压强的变化在高纬度区域主导了海平面变化。     

基于CryoSat-2数据的2010-2017年北极海冰厚度和体积的季节与年际变化特征

北极海冰变化影响着全球物质平衡、能量交换和气候变化。本文基于CryoSat-2测高数据和OSI SAF海冰密集度及海冰类型产品,分析了2010-2017年北极海冰面积、厚度和体积的季节和年际变化特征,结合NCEP再分析资料探讨了融冰期北极气温异常和夏季风异常对海冰变化的影响。结果表明,结冰期海冰面积的增加量波动较大,海冰厚度的增加量呈明显下降趋势。融冰期海冰厚度的减小量波动较大,2013年以后融冰期海冰面积的减小量逐年增加。海冰体积的变化趋势和面积变化更相似,融冰期的减小速率大于结冰期的增加速率。融冰期北极海表面大气温度异常与海冰融化量正相关。夏季风影响海冰的辐合和辐散,在弗拉姆海峡海冰的输运过程中起关键作用,促进了北冰洋表层水向大洋深层的传输。     

A global coupled sea ice–ocean model

A new sea ice model, GELATO, was developed at Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (CNRM) and coupled with OPA global ocean model. The sea ice model includes elastic–viscous–plastic rheology, redistribution of ice floes of different thicknesses, and it also takes into account leads, snow cover and snow ice formation. Climatologies of atmospheric surface parameters are used to perform a 20-year global ocean–sea ice simulation, in order to compute surface heat fluxes from diagnosed sea ice or ocean surface temperature. A surface salinity restoring term is applied only to ocean grid cells with no sea ice to avoid significant surface salinity drifts, but no correction of sea surface temperature is introduced. In the Arctic the use of an ocean model substantially improves the representation of sea ice, and particularly of the ice edge in all seasons, as advection of heat and salt can be more accurately accounted for than in the case of, for example, a sea ice–ocean mixed layer model. In contrast, in the Antarctic, a region where ocean convective processes bear a much stronger influence in shaping sea ice characteristics, a better representation of convection and probably of sea ice (for example, of frazil sea ice, brine rejection) would be needed to improve the simulation of the annual cycle of the sea ice cover. The effect of the inclusion of several ice categories in the sea ice model is assessed by running a sensitivity experiment in which only one category of sea ice is considered, along with leads. In the Arctic, such an experiment clearly shows that a multicategory sea ice model better captures the position of the sea ice edge and yields much more realistic sea ice concentrations in most of the region, which is in agreement with results from Bitz et al. [J. Geophys. Res. 106 (C2) (2001) 2441–2463].     

Sources and distribution of fresh water in the East Greenland Current

Fresh water flowing from the Arctic Ocean via the East Greenland Current influences deep water formation in the Nordic Seas as well as the salinity of the surface and deep waters flowing from there. This fresh water has three sources: Pacific water (relatively fresh cf. Atlantic water), river runoff, and sea ice meltwater. To determine the relative amounts of the three sources of fresh water, in May 2002 we collected water samples across the East Greenland Current in sections from 81.5°N to the Irminger Sea south of Denmark Strait. We used nitrate-phosphate relationships to distinguish Pacific waters from Atlantic waters, salinity to obtain the sum of sea ice melt water and river runoff water, and total alkalinity to distinguish the latter. River runoff contributed the largest part of the total fresh water component, in some regions with some inventories exceeding 12 m. Pacific fresh water (Pacific source water S ∼ 32 cf. Atlantic source water S ∼ 34.9) typically provided about 1/3 of the river runoff contribution. Sea ice meltwater was very nearly non-existent in the surface waters of all sections, likely at least in part as a result of the samples being collected before the onset of the melt season. The fresh water from the Arctic Ocean was strongly confined to near the Greenland coast. We thus conjecture that the main source of fresh water from the Arctic Ocean most strongly impacting deep convection in the Nordic Seas would be sea ice as opposed to fresh water in the liquid phase, i.e., river runoff, Pacific fresh water, and sea ice meltwater.     

The marine chemistry of dimethylsulfide

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) was determined in surface seawater and vertical hydrographic profiles in the Atlantic Ocean during two cruises from Hamburg to Montevideo (Uruguay), and from Miami (Florida) into the Sargasso Sea. These data cover most of the ecological zones of the Atlantic. DMS concentrations are related to the levels of marine primary production, in agreement with its release by marine phytoplankton in laboratory cultures. The vertical distribution of DMS in the euphotic zone follows that of primary production, with a maximum at or near the ocean surface and a decrease with depth. Below the level of 1% light penetration, DMS levels decline gradually, but DMS remains detectable even in the bottom waters. The mean DMS concentration in surface water is 84.4, and in deep water 3.2 ng S (DMS) 1^?1. No steep gradients of DMS exist near the sea surface on scales of centimeters to tenths of millimeters. At a drift station, DMS was observed to be diurnally variable, with an increase in concentration in the euphotic zone throughout the day. DMS is actively turned over in the surface ocean with a residence time of a few days, but it is apparently very stable in the deep sea. DMS is the major volatile sulfur compound in the ocean, and its transfer across the air-sea interface contributes significantly to the atmospheric sulfur budget.     

Regime shift of the dominant factor for halocline depth in the Canada Basin during 1990–2008

The World Ocean Database(WOD) is used to evaluate the halocline depth simulated by an ice-ocean coupled model in the Canada Basin during 1990–2008. Statistical results show that the simulated halocline is reliable.Comparing of the September sea ice extent between simulation and SSM/I dataset, a consistent interannual variability is found between them. Moreover, both the simulated and observed September sea ice extent show staircase declines in 2000–2008 compared to 1990–1999. That supports that the abrupt variations of the ocean surface stress curl anomaly in 2000–2008 are caused by rapid sea ice melting and also in favor of the realistic existence of the simulated variations. Responses to these changes can be found in the upper ocean circulation and the intermediate current variations in these two phases as well. The analysis shows that seasonal variations of the halocline are regulated by the seasonal variations of the Ekman pumping. On interannual time scale, the variations of the halocline have an inverse relationship with the ocean surface stress curl anomaly after 2000,while this relationship no longer applies in the 1990 s. It is pointed out that the regime shift in the Canada Basin can be derived to illustrate this phenomenon. Specifically, the halocline variations are dominated by advection in the 1990 s and Ekman pumping in the 2000 s respectively. Furthermore, the regime shift is caused by changing Transpolar Drift pathway and Ekman pumping area due to spatial deformation of the center Beaufort high(BH)relative to climatology.     

Seasonal Variability of Near-Surface Heat Budget of Selected Oceanic Areas in the North Tropical Indian Ocean

The results obtained from an Ocean General Circulation Model (OGCM), the Modular Ocean Model 2.2, forced with the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data, and observational data have been utilized to document the climatological seasonal cycle of the upper ocean response in the Tropical Indian Ocean. We address the various roles played by the net surface heat flux and the local and remote ocean dynamics for the seasonal variation of near-surface heat budget in the Tropical Indian Ocean. The investigation is based in seven selected boxes in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Equatorial Indian Ocean. The changes of basin-wide heat budget of ocean process in the Arabian Sea and the Western Equatorial Indian Ocean show an annual cycle, whereas those in the Bay of Bengal and the Eastern Equatorial Indian Ocean show a semi-annual cycle. The time tendency of heat budget in the Arabian Sea depends on both the net surface heat flux and ocean dynamics while on the other hand, that in the Bay of Bengal depends mainly on the net surface flux. However, it has been found that the changes of heat budget are very different between western and eastern regional sea areas in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, respectively. This difference depends on seasonal variations of the different local wind forcing and the different ocean dynamics associated with ocean eddies and Kelvin and Rossby waves in each regional sea areas. We also discuss the comparison and the connection for the seasonal variation of near-surface heat budget among their regional sea areas. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observations and modeling of the ice-ocean conditions in the coastal Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas include several important hydrological features： inflow of the Pacific water, Alaska coast current （ ACC ）, the seasonal to perennial sea ice cover, and landfast ice ＇along the Alaskan coast. The dynamics of this coupled ice-ocean system is important for both regional scale oceanography and large-scale global climate change research. A mumber of moorings were deployed in the area by JAMSTEC since 1992, and the data revealed highly variable characteristics of the hydrological environment. A regional high-resolution coupled ice-ocean model of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas was established to simulate the ice-ocean environment and unique seasonal landfast ice in the coastal Beaufort Sea. The model results reproduced the Beaufort gyre and the ACC. The depthaveraged annual mean ocean currents along the Beaufort Sea coast and shelf hreak compared well with data from four moored ADCPs, but the simulated velocity had smaller standard deviations, which indicate small-scale eddies were frequent in the region. The model resuits captured the sea,real variations of sea ice area as compared with remote sensing data, and the simulated sea ice velocity showed an ahnost stationary area along the Beaufort Sea coast that was similar to the observed landfast ice extent. It is the combined effects of the weak oceanic current near the coast, a prevailing wind with an onshore component, the opposite direction of the ocean current, and the blocking hy the coastline that make the Beaufort Sea coastal areas prone to the formation of landfast ice.