Labrador Sea freshening linked to Beaufort Gyre freshwater release

Jiaxu Zhang; Wilbert Weijer; Michael Steele; Wei Cheng; Tarun Verma; Milena Veneziani

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21470-3

Nature Communications (Feb 2021)

Labrador Sea freshening linked to Beaufort Gyre freshwater release

Jiaxu Zhang,
Wilbert Weijer,
Michael Steele,
Wei Cheng,
Tarun Verma,
Milena Veneziani

Affiliations

Jiaxu Zhang: Computational Physics and Methods, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Wilbert Weijer: Computational Physics and Methods, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Michael Steele: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington
Wei Cheng: Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, now Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington
Tarun Verma: Computational Physics and Methods, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Milena Veneziani: Fluid Dynamics and Solid Mechanics, Los Alamos National Laboratory

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21470-3
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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The Beaufort Gyre in the western Arctic Ocean has accumulated a large amount of freshwater. Here, the authors show that a historical release in the 1980s resulted in a strong freshening of the western Labrador Sea, suggesting that a future release of the current freshwater volume could even be more impactful.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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