HR: 14:40h
AN: A52D-04 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: On Arctic Environmental Change - 1979-2001 coupled ice-ocean model results
AU: * Maslowski, W
EM: maslowsk@nps.navy.mil
AF: Naval Postgraduate School Oceanography Department, 833 Dyer Rd., Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Clement, J
EM: jlclemen@nps.navy.mil
AF: Naval Postgraduate School Oceanography Department, 833 Dyer Rd., Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Dixon, J
EM: jsdixon@nps.navy.mil
AF: Naval Postgraduate School Oceanography Department, 833 Dyer Rd., Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Walczowski, W
EM: walczows@iopan.gda.pl
AF: Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Powstancow Warszawy 55, Sopot, 81-712 Poland
AB: The Arctic Ocean has been traditionally a challenging region for modeling due to the presence of the multi-year ice pack, complex bathymetry and the grid singularity at the North Pole. Regional models of the Arctic Ocean have been developed in part to address some of these issues and to give feedback to global ocean and climate models on requirements for realistic modeling of this region. Results from a coupled ice-ocean model of the pan-Arctic region, configured at a 1/12-degree and 45-level grid and integrated for seven decades using realistic atmospheric data are analyzed to understand recent climate variability in the region. The primary simulation consists of a 48-year spinup followed by a 23-year interannual run forced with a combination of daily-averaged reanalyzed and operational ECMWF data for 1979-2001. The interannual integration provides insights into the recent climate regime shifts between the late 1970s and the 2000s. Model results allow a large-scale view of the sea ice and ocean circulation and changes. At the same time, high resolution provides means to investigate physical processes controlling large-scale ocean and sea ice conditions and their variability. Our earlier findings point to the atmosphere as a dominant driver of the sea ice and ocean circulation, which is confirmed in this current work. The model suggests a relatively efficient horizontal momentum transfer in the vertical direction from the atmosphere through the sea ice into the ocean. The boundary flow along the perimeter of deep basins appears to be one of the critical oceanic processes both responding to and distributing change throughout the region. Analysis of model results for the 2000s helps with understanding most recent changes observed in the Arctic Ocean. Extrapolation of recent trends provides means for limited prediction of future environmental conditions in the region.
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (3309)
DE: 4512 Currents
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
DE: 4532 General circulation
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting