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October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA

Response of the Pan Arctic Ice-Ocean Climate to Atmospheric Circulation Regimes

Jia Wang¹, Bingyi Wu², Meibing Jin³, John Walsh⁴, Motoyoshi Ikeda^5
1International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 930 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 907-474-2685, Fax 907-474-2643, jwang@iarc.uaf.edu
²Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 907-474-7824, Fax 907-474-7204, bywu@ims.uaf.edu
³Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, 245 O'Neill Building, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 907-474-7824, Fax 907-474-7204, mbj@ims.uaf.edu
⁴International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 930 Koyukuk Drive, P.O. Box 757335, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 907-474-2677, Fax 907-474-2679, jwalsh@iarc.uaf.edu
⁵Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Kita North 10-West 5, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan, Phone +81-11706-2360, Fax +81-11706-4865, mikeda@ees.hokudai.ac.jp

Using a coupled ice-ocean model developed by Wang et al. (2002), we investigate the responses of the Arctic Ocean climate (or ice-ocean system) to the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the send mode (or so-scalled the Barents Sea Oscillation, BO). Seven high AO index winters and six low AO index winters (similarly, the high and low BO index winters) were simulated by the coupled ice-ocean model under forcing provided by the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. Statistical analyses and tests were applied to the composite differences between the high and low AO indices. For the high AO index phase that predominated during the 1990s, the results showed a reduction of sea ice in the Arctic Basin accompanied by an increase of sea ice in the Labrador Sea. This pattern resembles the North Atlantic Oscillation seesaw pattern (Roger and van Loon 1979; Wang et al. 1994). During the high AO phase, the Arctic surface salinity increases and the surface temperature decreases, implying that more new ice was produced. The enhanced ice production is a consequence of greater ice export from the Arctic Ocean in response to anomalous cyclonic wind stress. From the subsurface layer to the Atlantic water layer, there is also a seesaw pattern in ocean temperature between the Barents and the Labrador Seas. During the high AO phase, the model reproduces the anomalous temperature intrusion of the Atlantic Water. While both the anomalous surface wind stress and the thermodynamical forcing contribute to sea ice and ocean variability, statistical analyses (EOF, regression, etc.) and significance tests (T- test and F-test) show that the wind stress accounts for a greater portion of these changes during the high AO phase than the thermodynamical forcing. We found that sea ice export is closely related to the BO, rather than the AO.

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