Abstract
Understanding oceanic effects on climate in the Pacific-Arctic region requires knowledge of the mean circulation and its variability in the region. This chapter presents an overview of the mean regional circulation patterns, spatial and temporal variability, critical processes and property fluxes from the northern North Pacific into the western Arctic Ocean, with emphasis on their impact on sea ice. First, results from a high-resolution, pan-Arctic ice-ocean model forced with realistic atmospheric data and observations in the Alaskan Stream, as well as exchanges across the Aleutian Island Passes, are discussed. Next, general ocean circulation in the deep Bering Sea, shelf-basin exchange, and flow across the Bering shelf are investigated. Also, flow across the Chukchi Sea, pathways of Pacific summer water and oceanic forcing of sea ice in the Pacific-Arctic region are analyzed. Finally, we hypothesize that the northward advection of Pacific Water together with the excess oceanic heat that has accumulated below the surface mixed layer in the western Arctic Ocean due to diminishing sea ice cover and subsequent increased solar insolation are critical factors affecting sea ice growth in winter and melt the following year. We argue that process-level understanding and improved model representation of ocean dynamics and ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions in the Pacific-Arctic region are needed to advance knowledge and improve prediction of the accelerated decline of sea ice cover and amplified climate warming in the Arctic.
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Acknowledgements
Funding support for the development and integration of the NAME model as well as analyses of results that contributed to this publication was provided to W. Maslowski, J. Clement Kinney, A. F. Roberts and R. Osinski by multiple grants from the Regional and Global Climate Modeling of the Department of Energy, the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Office of Naval Research. Computer resources were provided by the Department of Defense High Performance Computer Modernization Program (DOD/HPCMP). The contributions by S. Okkonen were supported by funding from the Cooperative Institute for Alaska Research, NSF-ARCSS, and NASA. Support for W. Williams was provided by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
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Maslowski, W., Clement Kinney, J., Okkonen, S.R., Osinski, R., Roberts, A.F., Williams, W.J. (2014). The Large Scale Ocean Circulation and Physical Processes Controlling Pacific-Arctic Interactions. In: Grebmeier, J., Maslowski, W. (eds) The Pacific Arctic Region. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8863-2_5
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