Upper ocean hydrography in the central Arctic Ocean
has relaxed since 2000 to near-climatological conditions
that pertained before the dramatic changes of the 1990s. The
behavior of the anomalies of temperature and salinity in the
central Arctic Ocean follow a first-order linear response to
the AO with time constant of...
Pacific winter waters, a major source of nutrients and buoyancy to the Arctic Ocean, are thought to ventilate the Arctic's lower halocline either by injection (isopycnal or penetrative) of cold saline shelf waters, or by cooling and freshening Atlantic waters upwelled onto the shelf. Although ventilation at salinity (S) >...
Hydrographic and tracer data from 2002 illustrate Atlantic water pathways and
variability in the Mendeleev Ridge and Chukchi Borderland (CBLMR) region of the
Arctic Ocean. Thermohaline double diffusive intrusions (zigzags) dominate both the Fram
Strait (FSBW) and Barents Sea Branch Waters (BSBW) in the region. We show that
details of...
Continental shelf sediments are sinks for dissolved oxygen and sources of many major and minor nutrients required for oceanic surface primary production, resulting in a strong coupling between benthic and pelagic biogeochemical cycling. However, the influence and spatiotemporal variability of benthic remineralization on bottom-water chemistry and the supply of nutrients...
Recent organic-rich deposits on the Peru continental margin
occur along the upper slope (100-450 m) between about ll°S and 16°S
and along the lower continental slope (>2000 m). The upper slope
deposits reflect high biological production in response to coastal
upwelling, but preservation of organic matter is enhanced by the...
Photosynthetic production of organic matter by microscopic oceanic phytoplankton fuels ocean ecosystems
and contributes roughly half of the Earth's net primary production. For 13 years, the Sea-viewing Wide
Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) mission provided the first consistent, synoptic observations of global ocean
ecosystems. Changes in the surface chlorophyll concentration, the primary...
Most climate models predict a weakening of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation for the 21st century when forced by increasing levels of greenhouse gas concentrations. The model spread, however, is rather large, even when the forcing scenario is identical, indicating a large uncertainty in the response to forcing. In order...
Climate models predict a gradual weakening of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) during the twenty-first century due to increasing levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Using an ensemble of 16 different coupled climate models performed for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on...
In the Arctic Ocean, Pacific source water can be distinguished from Atlantic source
water by nitrate-phosphate concentration relationships, with Pacific water having higher
phosphate concentrations relative to those of nitrate. Furthermore, Pacific water, originally
from the inflow through Bering Strait, is clearly recognizable in the outflows of lowsalinity
waters from...