https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0670-1356
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ABSTRACT
The Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea in the Arctic with a mixed layer that is a few psu units saltier than ambient open Arctic water. Such higher salinity is maintained by salty and warm Pacific water inflow through the Bering Strait, implying that changes in inflow characteristics should affect the thermohaline properties of the Chukchi Sea. Recently, two additional controlling factors have been highlighted – the strength of boundary currents along the Siberian coast, and meridional exchanges due to wind-driven transport. In this note, we illustrate that anomalous fresh Chukchi Sea surface salinity in summer-autumn 2021 may be related to the anomalous southward shift of the ice edge and its meltwater source. These anomalous ice conditions occur concurrently with anomalously low Beaufort High, anomalous westerly cyclonic winds over ice-covered and open water Chukchi Sea, and related southward Ekman transport of late season meltwater. The September 2021 ice expansion was the largest in 1981–2021 detrended ice records.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the NASA Ocean Surface Salinity (OSST) and Physical Oceanography Teams. SMAP salinity data are produced by Remote Sensing Systems and sponsored by NASA/OSST. Data are available at www.remss.com. R/V Mirai data are obtained from NOAA/NCEI https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0251653 and https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0246410. Ice drift simulations are available at https://dsrs.atmos.umd.edu/DATA/rare1.15.2/REGRIDED/ice/rare1.15.2_mn_ice_reg_2021.nc. Anonymous reviewer comments and insights were useful and encouraging.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.