HR: 13:40h
AN: U33B-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Arctic Ocean Surface Warming Trends Over the 20th Century
AU: * Steele, M
EM: mas@apl.washington.edu
AF: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105, United States
AU: Ermold, W
EM: wermold@apl.washington.edu
AF: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105, United States
AU: Zhang, J
EM: zhang@apl.washington.edu
AF: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105, United States
AB: Ocean temperature profiles have been analyzed for summertime sea surface temperature and upper ocean heat content variations over the 20th century, with a focus on the Arctic Ocean peripheral seas. We find that many areas cooled up to ~0.5 degC per decade during 1930-1965 as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index generally fell, while these same areas warmed about the same amount during 1965-1995 as the AO index generally rose. Warming has continued since 1995 in many areas. The amount of upper ocean summertime warming during 1965-1995 is sufficient to reduce the following winter's ice growth by as much as 50 cm. Alternatively, this heat may return to the atmosphere before any ice forms, representing a delay in fall freeze-up of up to ~10 days. This returned heat might be carried by winds over nearby terrestrial tundra ecosystems such as Alaska's North Slope, contributing 15-20 W m-2 to the local heat budget.
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography (9310, 9315)
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 3309, 4513)
DE: 4513 Decadal ocean variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 4215)
DE: 4572 Upper ocean and mixed layer processes
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting