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ArticleWater properties, heat and volume fluxes of Pacific water in Barrow Canyon during summer 2010(Elsevier, 2015-04-25) Itoh, Motoyo ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Kikuchi, Takashi ; Fukamachi, Yasushi ; Ohshima, Kay I. ; Simizu, Daisuke ; Arrigo, Kevin R. ; Vagle, Svein ; He, Jianfeng ; Ashjian, Carin J. ; Mathis, Jeremy T. ; Nishino, Shigeto ; Nobre, CarolinaOver the past few decades, sea ice retreat during summer has been enhanced in the Pacific sector of the Arctic basin, likely due in part to increasing summertime heat flux of Pacific-origin water from the Bering Strait. Barrow Canyon, in the northeast Chukchi Sea, is a major conduit through which the Pacific-origin water enters the Arctic basin. This paper presents results from 6 repeat high-resolution shipboard hydrographic/velocity sections occupied across Barrow Canyon in summer 2010. The different Pacific water masses feeding the canyon – Alaskan coastal water (ACW), summer Bering Sea water (BSW), and Pacific winter water (PWW) – all displayed significant intra-seasonal variability. Net volume transports through the canyon were between 0.96 and 1.70 Sv poleward, consisting of 0.41–0.98 Sv of warm Pacific water (ACW and BSW) and 0.28–0.65 Sv of PWW. The poleward heat flux also varied strongly, ranging from 8.56 TW to 24.56 TW, mainly due to the change in temperature of the warm Pacific water. Using supplemental mooring data from the core of the warm water, along with wind data from the Pt. Barrow weather station, we derive and assess a proxy for estimating heat flux in the canyon for the summer time period, which is when most of the heat passes northward towards the basin. The average heat flux for 2010 was estimated to be 3.34 TW, which is as large as the previous record maximum in 2007. This amount of heat could melt 315,000 km2 of 1-meter thick ice, which likely contributed to significant summer sea ice retreat in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean.
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ArticleThe Pacific water flow branches in the eastern Chukchi Sea(Elsevier, 2023-11-10) Pickart, Robert S. ; Lin, Peigen ; Bahr, Frank B. ; McRaven, Leah T. ; Huang, Jie ; Pacini, Astrid ; Arrigo, Kevin Robert ; Ashjian, Carin J. ; Berchok, Catherine L. ; Baumgartner, Mark F. ; Cho, Kyoungho ; Cooper, Lee W. ; Danielson, Seth L. ; Dasher, Doug H. ; Fuiwara, Amane ; Gann, Jeanette C. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; He, Jiangfeng ; Hirawake, Toru ; Itoh, Motoyo ; Juranek, Laurie ; Kikuchi, Takashi ; Moore, G. W. Kent ; Napp, Jeffrey M. ; John Nelson, R. ; Nishino, Shigeto ; Statscewich, Hank ; Stabeno, Phyllis J. ; Stafford, Kathleen M. ; Ueno, Hiromichi ; Vagle, Svein ; Weingartner, Thomas J. ; Williams, Bill ; Zimmermann, Sarah L.The flow of Pacific-origin water across the Chukchi Sea shelf impacts the regional ecosystem in profound ways, yet the two current branches on the eastern shelf that carry the water from Bering Strait to Barrow Canyon – the Alaskan Coastal Current (ACC) and Central Channel (CC) Branch – have not been clearly distinguished or quantified. In this study we use an extensive collection of repeat hydrographic sections occupied at three locations on the Chukchi shelf, together with data from a climatology of shipboard velocity data, to accomplish this. The data were collected predominantly between 2010 and 2020 during the warm months of the year as part of the Distributed Biological Observatory and Arctic Observing Network. The mean sections show that mass is balanced for both currents at the three locations: Bering Strait, Point Hope, and Barrow Canyon. The overall mean ACC transport is 0.34 ± 0.04 Sv, and that of the CC Branch is 0.86 ± 0.11 Sv. The dominant hydrographic variability at Bering Strait is seasonal, but this becomes less evident to the north. At Barrow Canyon, the dominant hydrographic signal is associated with year-to-year variations in sea-ice melt. Farther south there is pronounced mesoscale variability: an empirical orthogonal function analysis at Bering Strait and Point Hope reveals a distinct ACC mode and CC Branch mode in hydrography and baroclinic transport, where the former is wind-driven. Finally, the northward evolution in properties of the two currents is investigated. The poleward increase in salinity of the ACC can be explained by lateral mixing alone, but solar heating together with wind mixing play a large role in the temperature evolution. This same atmospheric forcing also impacts the northward evolution of the CC Branch.