HR: 15:25h
AN: C53A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: The Arctic Freshwater Budget: model results, comparisons to data, implications
AU: * Tremblay, B
EM: tremblay@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Newton, R
EM: bnewton@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Warren, L
EM: warren@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AB: A detailed characterization of the fresh water reservoir of the Arctic Ocean, as simulated by the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (Uvic-ESCM) is presented. These runs combine a full, 3 dimensional, global ocean circulation model, a simple land surface model, and an elastic-viscous-plastic ice model coupled to an energy moisture balance model, with specified wind forcing from NCEP renalsysis data. The model has increased resolution in the Arctic Ocean, which is the focus of this set of experiments. The sea ice export produced by this model compare well with in-situ and satellite-derived measurements of the volume and area fluxes, as well as some other model simulations. The mean seasonal cycle and the year-to-year variability in the temperature and salinity structure of the peripheral seas of the Arctic Ocean, the precipitation minus evaporation and river runoff are compared with the NCEP reanalysis and in-situ data. The model shows a link between the atmospheric circulation regimes over the Arctic region, and the fresh water reservoir and fluxes out of the Arctic. We find a positive correlation between the cyclonicity and the export of liquid and frozen fresh water from the Arctic. For the liquid part, the amplitude of the response to changes in atmospheric forcing is smaller than that of the ice and lags the forcing by several months. The magnitude of the fresh water reservoir changes (both solid and liquid) are compared; and their (net and individual) effect on the meridional overturning circulation of the Atlantic, as measured by its stream function, is assessed. A fresh water budget for the full (Arctic) ice-ocean system is presented as well as the exchange between fresh water in the solid and liquid phase within the system.
DE: 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504)
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (3309)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting