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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L07602, doi:10.1029/2006GL029016, 2007

Recent trends in Arctic Ocean mass distribution revealed by GRACE

James Morison

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA


John Wahr

Department of Physics and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Ron Kwok

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA


Cecilia Peralta-Ferriz

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA


Abstract

Measurements of ocean bottom pressure by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and new in situ bottom pressure measurements confirm the accuracy and utility of GRACE measurements in the Arctic Ocean. They reveal a declining trend in bottom pressure that corresponds to mass changes due to decreasing upper ocean salinities near the North Pole and in the Makarov Basin. The spatial distribution and magnitude of these trends suggest the Arctic Ocean is reverting from the cyclonic state characterizing the 1990s to the anticyclonic state that was prevalent prior to the 1990s.

Received 6 December 2006; accepted 6 March 2007; published 4 April 2007.

Keywords: Arctic Ocean; circulation; change.

Index Terms: 1217 Geodesy and Gravity: Time variable gravity (7223, 7230); 1223 Geodesy and Gravity: Ocean/Earth/atmosphere/hydrosphere/cryosphere interactions (0762, 1218, 3319, 4550); 1294 Geodesy and Gravity: Instruments and techniques; 4513 Oceanography: Physical: Decadal ocean variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 4215); 4540 Oceanography: Physical: Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes (0700, 0750, 0752, 0754).

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Citation: Morison, J., J. Wahr, R. Kwok, and C. Peralta-Ferriz (2007), Recent trends in Arctic Ocean mass distribution revealed by GRACE, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L07602, doi:10.1029/2006GL029016.