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Two Modes of Atmosphere–Ocean Interaction in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic Basin

  • MARINE PHYSICS
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Abstract

The paper examines the influence of the main mode of interannual variability of the North Atlantic climate system—the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)—on the hydrophysical and hydrometeorological characteristics of the Nordic seas. A new scheme of the ocean–atmosphere interaction in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Basin is proposed. In the positive NAO phase, the amount of Atlantic water inflow through the Faroe–Shetland Channel into the Norwegian Sea decreases, as well as the specific heat transfer to the atmosphere. Cyclonic activity becomes more active over the marginal seas of the Eurasian shelf in winter in the positive NAO phase. Cyclone trajectories are displaced to the north, which contributes to advection of warm air to the water area of the Nordic seas, and in the Barents Sea region, the frequency of southerly winds increases. The water temperature in the Nordcape Current in this period rises, and the ice extent of the Barents Sea decreases. The processes in the ocean–atmosphere–ice system in the Western Arctic in the negative NAO phase occur in the opposite direction. These conclusions were obtained for a time interval characterized by negative values of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO index). During the positive phase of the AMO, which began to prevail in the 2000s, the processes in the ocean–atmosphere–ice system of the Barents Sea apparently occurred mainly under the influence of advection of Atlantic water with elevated temperatures.

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Notes

  1. Hereinafter, ice cover is understood as the total ice concentration in the Barents Sea, which corresponds to the ice area in deg2.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors consider it their duty to express their gratitude to the reviewers for valuable comments, consideration of which helped improve the article.

Funding

The study was carried out under topic no. 0827-2020-0001 “Fundamental Research of Interaction Processes in the Ocean-Atmosphere System Determining the Regional Spatiotemporal Variability of the Natural Environment and Climate” (Code “Ocean–Atmosphere Interaction”).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia

    N. V. Mikhailova, T. M. Bayankina & A. A. Sizov

Authors
  1. N. V. Mikhailova
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  2. T. M. Bayankina
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  3. A. A. Sizov
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Correspondence to T. M. Bayankina or A. A. Sizov.

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Mikhailova, N.V., Bayankina, T.M. & Sizov, A.A. Two Modes of Atmosphere–Ocean Interaction in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic Basin. Oceanology 61, 443–449 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437021030097

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437021030097

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