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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Physical Oceanography
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1415021
This article is part of the Research Topic Physical Processes in the Arctic Ocean and Their Effects on Climate and Marine Ecosystem View all 7 articles

Understanding ocean stratification and its interannual variability in the northeastern Chukchi Sea

Provisionally accepted
Jiaxu Zhang Jiaxu Zhang 1*Wei Cheng Wei Cheng 1Phyllis Stabeno Phyllis Stabeno 2Milena Veneziani Milena Veneziani 3Wilbert Weijer Wilbert Weijer 3Ryan McCabe Ryan McCabe 2
  • 1 University of Washington, Seattle, United States
  • 2 Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Seattle, Washington, United States
  • 3 Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE), Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Ocean stratification on Arctic shelves critically influences nutrient availability, essential for primary production. However, discerning the changes in stratification and their drivers is challenging. Through the use of a high-resolution ocean-sea-ice model, this study investigates the variability in stratification within the northeastern Chukchi Sea over the period from 1987 to 2016. Our analysis, validated against available observations, reveals that summers with weak stratification are marked by a warmer water column that features a saltier upper layer and a fresher lower layer, thereby diminishing the vertical density gradient. In contrast, summers with strong stratification are characterized by a cooler column with a fresher upper layer and a saltier lower layer, resulting in an increased density gradient. This variability is primarily driven by the timing of sea-ice retreat and the consequent variations in meltwater flux, with early retreat leading to less meltwater and saltier surface conditions. This factor significantly outweighs the influence of changes in circulation and associated lateral freshwater transport driven by the Bering Strait inflow. We also find that the synchronization of sea-ice retreat and Bering Strait inflow intensity is linked to the timing and strength of the Aleutian Low's westward shift from the Gulf of Alaska to the Aleutian Basin in the early winter. These insights are crucial for understanding nutrient 1 Zhang et al.dynamics and primary production in the region. Furthermore, monitoring sea-ice retreat timing could serve as a useful proxy for predicting subsequent summer stratification changes.

    Keywords: forced ocean-sea-ice (FOSI) model, Hydrography, sea ice, vertical mixing, nutrient availability, Bering Strait inflow, Aleutian Low

    Received: 09 Apr 2024; Accepted: 24 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Cheng, Stabeno, Veneziani, Weijer and McCabe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jiaxu Zhang, University of Washington, Seattle, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.