HR: 14:20h
AN: C53A-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Are Increasing Freshwater Inputs To The Arctic Ocean Linked To Climate Change?
AU: * Peterson, B J
EM: peterson@mbl.edu
AF: The Ecosystems Center Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AU: Holmes, R M
EM: rholmes@mbl.edu
AF: The Ecosystems Center Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AU: McClelland, J W
EM: jmcclelland@mbl.edu
AF: The Ecosystems Center Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AU: Curry, R G
EM: rcurry@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS 21 365 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AB: The global hydrological cycle has shown evidence of acceleration over the past 40 years. Evidence includes increasing evaporation from low latitude oceans and increasing precipitation, especially at high latitudes. Net melting of arctic glaciers plus runoff from Eurasian arctic rivers alone have added about 4000 km$^{3}$ of extra (anomaly from baseline conditions) freshwater to the Arctic Ocean since about 1960. Glacier melt is primarily driven by arctic warming. The Eurasian discharge monitoring includes 2/3 of total Eurasian runoff which comprises 60% of pan-arctic runoff. An investigation of mechanisms driving changes in Eurasian runoff showed that dams, fires and permafrost melt were probably not the major factors causing increased discharge. The discharge changes appear to be driven by the acceleration of the hemispheric hydrologic cycle driven by warming and possibly by shifts in wind directions. Over the same 40 years the high latitude oceans have freshened. A coordinated effort to reconcile the changes in freshwater inputs with changes in freshwater inventory of the Arctic Ocean, Nordic Seas and North Atlantic over the past 40-50 years would be a valuable contribution.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1836 Hydrologic budget (1655)
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting