1. Jim Carton and Gennady Chepurin University of Maryland
Decadal Variations of upper ocean water properties in the Nordic Seas/Barents Sea Areas
Jim Carton and Gennady Chepurin
University of Maryland
Motivation:
Early 1990s warming: Quadfasel et al., 1991; Carmack et al., 1995; Grotefendt et al., 1998; Morison et al., 1998; Woodgate 2001; Schauer et al., 2002
2000s warming: Schauer et al., 2004; Polyakov, 2005, 2009; Dimtrinko, 2008, 2009; Levitus et al., 2009

2. VMER, CESAR, ARKTIS, MIZEX, CEAREX*, IABP
AIDJEX, LOREX, FRAM I-IV, IABP
Russian and U.S. Drifting Stations, Russian Aircraft Surveys, Submarine Observations, Canadian Island Observation Increase
*Historical information provided by

4. ’65-’74
’76-’85
’00-’09

5. Decadal anomalies at 50m
‘65-’74
‘76-’85
‘00-’09

6. Transects along Fram Strait & Barents Sea

7. T/S anomalies along Fram Strait Transect
‘65-’74
‘76-’85
‘00-’09

8. SST BIAS VS SST
SST [C]

9. SURFACE EXPRESSION OF 2000-2009 WARM ANOMALY

10. Conclusions
Confirm decadal variability in Fram Strait/Barents Sea, both showing three distinct decades since 1960
: salty 0-800m
: cold and fresh 0-800m
: warm and salty 0-400m
Compare in situ and AVHRR SST for 1981-pres
Identify temperature dependent bias in AVHRR up to 1C
Show spatial structure of warming in the 2000s