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  • Arctic  (15)
  • Mixing  (12)
  • American Geophysical Union  (27)
  • Annual Reviews
  • Blackwell Publishing Ltd
  • Nature Publishing Group
  • 2010-2014  (27)
  • 1980-1984
  • 1
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 35 (2008): L03402, doi:10.1029/2007GL032837.
    Description: Arctic rivers transport huge quantities of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the Arctic Ocean. The prevailing paradigm is that DOC in arctic rivers is refractory and therefore of little significance for the biogeochemistry of the Arctic Ocean. We show that there is substantial seasonal variability in the lability of DOC transported by Alaskan rivers to the Arctic Ocean: little DOC is lost during incubations of samples collected during summer, but substantial losses (20–40%) occur during incubations of samples collected during the spring freshet when the majority of the annual DOC flux occurs. We speculate that restricting sampling to summer may have biased past studies. If so, then fluvial inputs of DOC to the Arctic Ocean may have a much larger influence on coastal ocean biogeochemistry than previously realized, and reconsideration of the role of terrigenous DOC on carbon, microbial, and food-web dynamics on the arctic shelf will be warranted.
    Description: This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers OPP-0436106, OPP- 0519840, and EAR-0403962, and is a contribution to the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH).
    Keywords: DOC ; Arctic ; Rivers
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 35 (2008): L08606, doi:10.1029/2008GL033532.
    Description: Turbulent-scale temperature and conductivity were measured during the pan-arctic Beringia 2005 Expedition. The rates of dissipation of thermal variance and diapycnal diffusivities are calculated along a section from Alaska to the North Pole, across deep flat basins (Canada and Makarov Basins) and steep ridges (Alpha-Mendeleev and Lomonosov Ridges). The mixing rates are observed to be small relative to lower latitudes but also remarkably non-uniform. Relatively elevated turbulence is found over deep topography, confirming the dominant role of bottom-generated internal waves. Measured patterns of mixing in the Arctic are also associated with other mechanisms, such as double-diffusive structures and deep overflows. A better knowledge of the distribution of mixing is essential to understand the dynamics of the changing Arctic environment.
    Description: This work was funded by the National Science Foundation through a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (ARC-0527874) and grant ARC-0612342 with additional support from the Doherty Foundation and internal WHOI Funds.
    Keywords: Turbulence ; Arctic ; Topography
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): C05011, doi:10.1029/2006JC003899.
    Description: In September 2004 a detailed physical and chemical survey was conducted on an anticyclonic, cold-core eddy located seaward of the Chukchi Shelf in the western Arctic Ocean. The eddy had a diameter of ∼16 km and was centered at a depth of ∼160 m between the 1000 and 1500 m isobaths over the continental slope. The water in the core of the eddy (total volume of 25 km3) was of Pacific origin, and contained elevated concentrations of nutrients, organic carbon, and suspended particles. The feature, which likely formed from the boundary current along the edge of the Chukchi Shelf, provides a mechanism for transport of carbon, oxygen, and nutrients directly into the upper halocline of the Canada Basin. Nutrient concentrations in the eddy core were elevated compared to waters of similar density in the deep Canada Basin: silicate (+20 μmol L−1), nitrate (+5 μmol L−1), and phosphate (+0.4 μmol L−1). Organic carbon in the eddy core was also elevated: POC (+3.8 μmol L−1) and DOC (+11 μmol L−1). From these observations, the eddy contained 1.25 × 109 moles Si, 4.5 × 108 moles NO3 −, 5.5 × 107 moles PO3 −, 1.2 × 108 moles POC, and 1.9 × 109 moles DOC, all available for transport to the interior of the Canada Basin. This suggests that such eddies likely play a significant role in maintaining the nutrient maxima observed in the upper halocline. Assuming that shelf-to-basin eddy transport is the dominant renewal mechanism for waters of the upper halocline, remineralization of the excess organic carbon transported into the interior would consume 6.70 × 1010 moles of O2, or one half the total oxygen consumption anticipated arising from all export processes impacting the upper halocline.
    Description: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, and office of Naval Research; DH OPP-0124900, NB OPP-0124868, DK OPP 0124872, RP N00014-02-1-0317.
    Keywords: Arctic ; Eddy ; Carbon ; Nutrients ; Shelf-basin exchange ; Chukchi Sea
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): G04S60, doi:10.1029/2006JG000371.
    Description: Export of nitrate and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the upper Kuparuk River between the late 1970s and early 2000s was evaluated using long-term ecological research (LTER) data in combination with solute flux and catchment hydrology models. The USGS Load Estimator (LOADEST) was used to calculate June–August export from 1978 forward. LOADEST was then coupled with a catchment-based land surface model (CLSM) to estimate total annual export from 1991 to 2001. Simulations using the LOADEST/CLSM combination indicate that annual nitrate export from the upper Kuparuk River increased by ~5 fold and annual DOC export decreased by about one half from 1991 to 2001. The decrease in DOC export was focused in May and was primarily attributed to a decrease in river discharge. In contrast, increased nitrate export was evident from May to September and was primarily attributed to increased nitrate concentrations. Increased nitrate concentrations are evident across a wide range of discharge conditions, indicating that higher values do not simply reflect lower discharge in recent years but a significant shift to higher concentration per unit discharge. Nitrate concentrations remained elevated after 2001. However, extraordinarily low discharge during June 2004 and June–August 2005 outweighed the influence of higher concentrations in determining export during these years. The mechanism responsible for the recent increase in nitrate concentrations is uncertain but may relate to changes in soils and vegetation associated with regional warming. While changes in nitrate and DOC export from arctic rivers reflect changes in terrestrial ecosystems, they also have significant implications for Arctic Ocean ecosystems.
    Description: This work was supported by the Arctic System Science Program of the National Science Foundation (OPP- 0436118) and by NSF funding for the Arctic LTER through a series of grants from 1987 to present.
    Keywords: Nitrate ; DOC ; Arctic ; Rivers ; Change
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): C04008, doi:10.1029/2001JC001248.
    Description: Observations of the ocean, atmosphere, and ice made by Ice-Ocean Environmental Buoys indicate that mixing events reaching the depth of the halocline have occurred in various regions in the Arctic Ocean. Our analysis suggests that these mixing events were mechanically forced by intense storms moving across the buoy sites. In this study, we analyzed these mixing events in the context of storm developments that occurred in the Beaufort Sea and in the general area just north of Fram Strait, two areas with quite different hydrographic structures. The Beaufort Sea is strongly influenced by inflow of Pacific water through Bering Strait, while the area north of Fram Strait is directly affected by the inflow of warm and salty North Atlantic water. Our analyses of the basin-wide evolution of the surface pressure and geostrophic wind fields indicate that the characteristics of the storms could be very different. The buoy-observed mixing occurred only in the spring and winter seasons when the stratification was relatively weak. This indicates the importance of stratification, although the mixing itself was mechanically driven. We also analyze the distribution of storms, both the long-term climatology and the patterns for each year in the past 2 decades. The frequency of storms is also shown to be correlated (but not strongly) to Arctic Oscillation indices. This study indicates that the formation of new ice that leads to brine rejection is unlikely the mechanism that results in the type of mixing that could overturn the halocline. On the other hand, synoptic-scale storms can force mixing deep enough to the halocline and thermocline layer. Despite a very stable stratification associated with the Arctic halocline, the warm subsurface thermocline water is not always insulated from the mixed layer.
    Description: This study has been supported by the NASA Cryospheric Science Program and the International Arctic Reseach Center. We benefited from discussion with Dr. A. Proshutinsky. D. Walsh wishes to thank the Frontier Research System for Global Change for their support. The IOEB program was supported by ONR High-Latitude Dynamics Program and Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC).
    Keywords: Arctic Ocean ; Mixing ; Storm ; Upper ocean
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  • 6
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    American Geophysical Union
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): C04S06, doi:10.1029/2006JC003643.
    Description: A three-dimensional coupled ocean/ice model, intended for long-term Arctic climate studies, is extended to include tidal effects. From saved output of an Arctic tides model, we introduce parameterizations for (1) enhanced ocean mixing associated with tides and (2) the role of tides fracturing and mobilizing sea ice. Results show tides enhancing loss of heat from Atlantic waters. The impact of tides on sea ice is more subtle as thinning due to enhanced ocean heat flux competes with net ice growth during rapid openings and closings of tidal leads. Present model results are compared with an ensemble of nine models under the Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison Project (AOMIP). Among results from AOMIP is a tendency for models to accumulate excessive Arctic Ocean heat throughout the intercomparison period 1950 to 2000 which is contrary to observations. Tidally induced ventilation of ocean heat reduces this discrepancy.
    Description: This research is supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs under cooperative agreements OPP-0002239 and OPP-0327664 with the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
    Keywords: Tide ; Arctic ; Climate
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 111 (2006): C12004, doi:10.1029/2006JC003667.
    Description: Observations indicate that oceanic mixing is intensified near the head of submarine canyons. How the presence of canyon walls affects the local production and distribution of mixed fluid is an open question. These dynamics are addressed through rotating tank experiments which impose mixing at middepth at the closed end of a channel open to a larger body of water. Turbulence is generated in a linearly stratified fluid with initial buoyancy frequency N by means of a single bar oscillated with frequency ω. The mixed fluid quickly reaches a steady state height h ∼ (ω/N)1/2 independent of the Coriolis frequency f and collapses into the channel interior. A small percentage of the fluid exported from the turbulent zone enters a boundary current. The bulk forms a cyclonic circulation in front of the bar. As the recirculation cell expands to fill the channel, it restricts horizontal entrainment into the turbulent zone. Mixed fluid flux decays with time as t inline equation and is dependent on the size of the mixing zone and the balance between turbulence, rotation, and stratification. The recirculation cell is confined within the channel, and export of mixed fluid into the basin is restricted to the weak boundary current. As horizontal entrainment is shut down, long-term production of mixed fluid relies more on vertical entrainment. However, the scalings indicate that short-term dynamics are the most applicable to oceanic conditions.
    Description: This work was supported by the Ocean Ventures Fund, the Westcott Fund, and the WHOI Academic Programs Office. Financial support was also provided by the National Science Foundation through grant OCE-9616949.
    Keywords: Mixing ; Canyon ; Laboratory
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 26 (2012): GB4018, doi:10.1029/2011GB004192.
    Description: A series of seasonally distributed measurements from the six largest Arctic rivers (the Ob', Yenisey, Lena, Kolyma, Yukon and Mackenzie) was used to examine the magnitude and significance of Arctic riverine DIC flux to larger scale C dynamics within the Arctic system. DIC concentration showed considerable, and synchronous, seasonal variation across these six large Arctic rivers, which have an estimated combined annual DIC flux of 30 Tg C yr−1. By examining the relationship between DIC flux and landscape variables known to regulate riverine DIC, we extrapolate to a DIC flux of 57 ± 9.9 Tg C yr−1for the full pan-arctic basin, and show that DIC export increases with runoff, the extent of carbonate rocks and glacial coverage, but decreases with permafrost extent. This pan-arctic riverine DIC estimate represents 13–15% of the total global DIC flux. The annual flux of selected ions (HCO3−, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Sr2+, and Cl−) from the six largest Arctic rivers confirms that chemical weathering is dominated by inputs from carbonate rocks in the North American watersheds, but points to a more important role for silicate rocks in Siberian watersheds. In the coastal ocean, river water-induced decreases in aragonite saturation (i.e., an ocean acidification effect) appears to be much more pronounced in Siberia than in the North American Arctic, and stronger in the winter and spring than in the late summer. Accounting for seasonal variation in the flux of DIC and other major ions gives a much clearer understanding of the importance of riverine DIC within the broader pan-arctic C cycle.
    Description: Funding for this work was provided through NSF-OPP-0229302 and NSF-OPP-0732985. Additional support to SET was provided by an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship.
    Description: 2013-06-14
    Keywords: Arctic ; Dissolved inorganic carbon ; Ocean acidification ; Permafrost ; River biogeochemistry ; Weathering
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 8 (2007): Q08013, doi:10.1029/2007GC001652.
    Description: We report first evidence for hydrothermal activity from the southern Knipovich Ridge, an ultra-slow spreading ridge segment in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Evidence comes from optical backscatter anomalies collected during a systematic side-scan sonar survey of the ridge axis, augmented by the identification of biogeochemical tracers in the overlying water column that are diagnostic of hydrothermal plume discharge (Mn, CH4, ATP). Analysis of coregistered geologic and oceanographic data reveals that the signals we have identified are consistent with a single high-temperature hydrothermal source, located distant from any of the axial volcanic centers that define second-order segmentation along this oblique ridge system. Rather, our data indicate a hydrothermal source associated with highly tectonized seafloor that may be indicative of serpentinizing ultramafic outcrops. Consistent with this hypothesis, the hydrothermal plume signals we have detected exhibit a high methane to manganese ratio of 2–3:1. This is higher than that typical of volcanically hosted vent sites and provides further evidence that the source of the plume signals reported here is most probably a high-temperature hydrothermal field that experiences some ultramafic influence (compare to Rainbow and Logachev sites, Mid-Atlantic Ridge). While such sites have previously been invoked to be common on the SW Indian Ridge, this may be the first such site to be located along the Arctic ultra-slow spreading ridge system.
    Description: Connelly and German were funded by NERC grant NER/B/S/ 2000/00755, NERC Core Strategic Funding at NOC, and the ChEss project of the Census of Marine Life.
    Keywords: Hydrothermal ; Arctic ; Serpentinization ; Knipovich Ridge
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): G02026, doi:10.1029/2007JG000470.
    Description: Permafrost is a defining characteristic of the Arctic environment. However, climate warming is thawing permafrost in many areas leading to failures in soil structure called thermokarst. An extensive survey of a 600 km2 area in and around the Toolik Lake Natural Research Area (TLNRA) revealed at least 34 thermokarst features, two thirds of which were new since ∼1980 when a high resolution aerial survey of the area was done. Most of these thermokarst features were associated with headwater streams or lakes. We have measured significantly increased sediment and nutrient loading from thermokarst features to streams in two well-studied locations near the TLNRA. One small thermokarst gully that formed in 2003 on the Toolik River in a 0.9 km2 subcatchment delivered more sediment to the river than is normally delivered in 18 years from 132 km2 in the adjacent upper Kuparuk River basin (a long-term monitoring reference site). Ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate concentrations downstream from a thermokarst feature on Imnavait Creek increased significantly compared to upstream reference concentrations and the increased concentrations persisted over the period of sampling (1999–2005). The downstream concentrations were similar to those we have used in a long-term experimental manipulation of the Kuparuk River and that have significantly altered the structure and function of that river. A subsampling of other thermokarst features from the extensive regional survey showed that concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate were always higher downstream of the thermokarst features. Our previous research has shown that even minor increases in nutrient loading stimulate primary and secondary production. However, increased sediment loading could interfere with benthic communities and change the responses to increased nutrient delivery. Although the terrestrial area impacted by thermokarsts is limited, the aquatic habitat altered by these failures can be extensive. If warming in the Arctic foothills accelerates thermokarst formation, there may be substantial and wide-spread impacts on arctic stream ecosystems that are currently poorly understood.
    Description: The results presented in this report are based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grants to the Arctic Hyporheic project (OPP- 0327440) and the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research Program (DEB- 9810222).
    Keywords: Arctic ; Climate change ; Streams ; Ecosystem dynamics ; Sediment ; Thermokarst ; Water quality
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  • 11
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 115 (2010): C10018, doi:10.1029/2009JC005660.
    Description: Variations in the Arctic central Canada Basin mixed layer properties are documented based on a subset of nearly 6500 temperature and salinity profiles acquired by Ice-Tethered Profilers during the period summer 2004 to summer 2009 and analyzed in conjunction with sea ice observations from ice mass balance buoys and atmosphere-ocean heat flux estimates. The July–August mean mixed layer depth based on the Ice-Tethered Profiler data averaged 16 m (an overestimate due to the Ice-Tethered Profiler sampling characteristics and present analysis procedures), while the average winter mixed layer depth was only 24 m, with individual observations rarely exceeding 40 m. Guidance interpreting the observations is provided by a 1-D ocean mixed layer model. The analysis focuses attention on the very strong density stratification at the base of the mixed layer in the Canada Basin that greatly impedes surface layer deepening and thus limits the flux of deep ocean heat to the surface that could influence sea ice growth/decay. The observations additionally suggest that efficient lateral mixed layer restratification processes are active in the Arctic, also impeding mixed layer deepening.
    Description: Support for the ITP program and this study was provided by the U. S. National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Support for the IMB program came from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
    Keywords: Mixed layer ; Arctic
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  • 12
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011): C11028, doi:10.1029/2011JC007211.
    Description: Five surf zone dye tracer releases from the HB06 experiment are simulated with a tracer advection diffusion model coupled to a Boussinesq surf zone model (funwaveC). Model tracer is transported and stirred by currents and eddies and diffused with a breaking wave eddy diffusivity, set equal to the breaking wave eddy viscosity, and a small (0.01 m2 s−1) background diffusivity. Observed and modeled alongshore parallel tracer plumes, transported by the wave driven alongshore current, have qualitatively similar cross-shore structures. Although the model skill for mean tracer concentration is variable (from negative to 0.73) depending upon release, cross-shore integrated tracer moments (normalized by the cross-shore tracer integral) have consistently high skills (≈0.9). Modeled and observed bulk surf zone cross-shore diffusivity estimates are also similar, with 0.72 squared correlation and skill of 0.4. Similar to the observations, the model bulk (absolute) cross-shore diffusivity is consistent with a mixing length parameterization based on low-frequency (0.001–0.03 Hz) eddies. The model absolute cross-shore dispersion is dominated by stirring from surf zone eddies and does not depend upon the presence of the breaking wave eddy diffusivity. Given only the bathymetry and incident wave field, the coupled Boussinesq-tracer model qualitatively reproduces the observed cross-shore absolute tracer dispersion, suggesting that the model can be used to study surf zone tracer dispersion mechanisms.
    Description: This research was supported by SCCOOS, CA Coastal Conservancy, NOAA, NSF, ONR, and CA Sea Grant.
    Description: 2012-05-18
    Keywords: Dispersion ; Mixing ; Surf zone ; Tracer
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  • 13
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011): C11027, doi:10.1029/2011JC007210.
    Description: A model that accurately simulates surf zone waves, mean currents, and low-frequency eddies is required to diagnose the mechanisms of surf zone tracer transport and dispersion. In this paper, a wave-resolving time-dependent Boussinesq model is compared with waves and currents observed during five surf zone dye release experiments. In a companion paper, Clark et al. (2011) compare a coupled tracer model to the dye plume observations. The Boussinesq model uses observed bathymetry and incident random, directionally spread waves. For all five releases, the model generally reproduces the observed cross-shore evolution of significant wave height, mean wave angle, bulk directional spread, mean alongshore current, and the frequency-dependent sea surface elevation spectra and directional moments. The largest errors are near the shoreline where the bathymetry is most uncertain. The model also reproduces the observed cross-shore structure of rotational velocities in the infragravity (0.004 〈 f 〈 0.03 Hz) and very low frequency (VLF) (0.001 〈 f 〈 0.004 Hz) bands, although the modeled VLF energy is 2–3 times too large. Similar to the observations, the dominant contributions to the modeled eddy-induced momentum flux are in the VLF band. These eddies are elliptical near the shoreline and circular in the mid surf zone. The model-data agreement for sea swell waves, low-frequency eddies, and mean currents suggests that the model is appropriate for simulating surf zone tracer transport and dispersion.
    Description: This research was supported by SCCOOS, CA Coastal Conservancy, NOAA, NSF, ONR, and CA Sea Grant.
    Description: 2012-05-18
    Keywords: Mixing ; Surf zone ; Tracer dispersion
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  • 14
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): C02027, doi:10.1029/2011JC007033.
    Description: Observations of the spatial distribution and persistence of thermohaline structure are presented, and show how advection and diffusion affect a passive tracer. More than two years of underwater glider observations in the central subtropical North Pacific showed thermohaline variability over horizontal scales from 5 to 1300 km. Thermohaline fluctuations along isopycnals (spice fluctuations) were elevated in layers throughout the water column with the largest fluctuations near the surface and subtropical frontal regions. Fluctuations were uncorrelated between the layers but stirred by the same velocity field. Spice variance had local extrema in the vertical because of differences in source water properties and the influence of neighboring water masses. Spice variance spanned about three orders of magnitude along deeper isopycnals with larger variance where different water masses met and where velocity and vorticity variance were elevated. Horizontal wave number spectra of spice had slopes of −2 everywhere in the upper 1000 m. Submesoscale spice fluctuations had slopes in physical space near the ratio of the Coriolis parameter to the buoyancy frequency (f/N), consistent with predictions of quasi-geostrophic theory. In the mixed layer, thermohaline structure had a significant annual cycle with smaller interannual differences. Thermohaline fluctuations left behind during restratification and isolated from the mixed layer decayed with time because of diffusion along isopycnals. Horizontal diffusivity estimates in the remnant mixed layer were 0.4 m2 s−1 at 15–28 km wavelengths and 0.9 m2 s−1 at 35–45 km wavelengths.
    Description: We gratefully acknowledge the National Science Foundation for funding this work under grant number OCE0452574.
    Description: 2012-08-18
    Keywords: Diffusion ; Mixing ; Spice ; Stirring ; Thermohaline structure
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  • 15
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): C07014, doi:10.1029/2003JC001988.
    Description: A diagnostic, isopycnal advection-diffusion model based on a climatological, geostrophic flow field is used to study the uptake of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the portion of the thermocline that outcrops in the open North Pacific (σ θ ≤ 26.6 kg m−3). In addition to advection, isopycnal diffusion is required to match the CFC data collected during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) in the early 1990s. Using reduced outcrop saturations of 80–95% for isopycnals outcropping in the northwestern North Pacific (σ θ ≥ 25.4 kg m−3), together with an isopcynal interior diffusivity of 2000 m2 s−1 and enhanced diffusion (5000 m2 s−1) in the Kuroshio Extension region, further improves the model-data agreement. Along-isopycnal diffusion is particularly important for isopycnals with shadow zones/pool regions in the western subtropical North Pacific that are isolated from direct advective ventilation. The isopycnal mixing causes an estimated increase in CFC-12 inventories on these isopycnals, compared to advection only, ranging from 10–20% (σ θ = 25.6 kg m−3) to 50–130% (σ θ = 26.6 kg m−3) over the subtropics in 1993. This contribution has important consequences for subduction rate estimates derived from CFC inventories and for the location of the subsurface CFC maxima. When tracer ages are derived from the modeled CFC distributions, time-evolving mixing biases become apparent that reflect the nonlinearities in the atmospheric CFC time histories. Comparison with model-calculated ideal ages suggests that during the time of WOCE (∼1993), ventilation ages based on CFC-12 were biased young by as much as 16–24 years for pCFC-12 ages of 25 years, underestimating ideal ages by as much as 40–50%.
    Description: Most of this work was performed while S.M. was a graduate student at the University of Washington under the support of NSF grant OCE-9819192. A postdoctoral scholarship for S.M. at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Doherty Foundation, helped complete this work. R.E.S. acknowledges support from NSF grant OCE-0136897.
    Keywords: Tracers ; Mixing ; Thermocline
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  • 16
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): C07023, doi:10.1029/2007JC004644.
    Description: A sequence of dye releases in the Hudson River estuary provide a quantitative assessment of horizontal dispersion in a partially mixed estuary. Dye was released in the bottom boundary layer on 4 separate occasions, with varying tidal phase and spring-neap conditions. The three-dimensional distribution of dye was monitored by two vessels with in situ, profiling fluorometers. The three-dimensional spreading of the dye was estimated by calculating the time derivative of the second moment of the dye in the along-estuary, cross-estuary and vertical directions. The average along-estuary dispersion rate was about 100 m2/s, but maximum rates up to 700 m2/s occurred during ebb tides, and minimum rates occurred during flood. Vertical shear dispersion was the principal mechanism during neap tides, but transverse shear dispersion became more important during springs. Suppression of mixing across the pycnocline limited the vertical extent of the patch in all but the maximum spring-tide conditions, with vertical diffusivities in the pycnocline estimated at 4 × 10−5 m2/s during neaps. The limited vertical extent of the dye patch limited the dispersion of the dye relative to the overall estuarine dispersion rate, which was an order of magnitude greater than that of the dye. This study indicates that the effective dispersion of waterborne material in an estuary depends sensitively on its vertical distribution as well as the phase of the spring-neap cycle.
    Description: This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant OCE04-52054 (W. Geyer), OCE00-99310 (R. Houghton), and OCE00-95913 (R. Chant).
    Keywords: Dispersion ; Mixing ; Spring-neap variations
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  • 17
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011): C09019, doi:10.1029/2010JC006818.
    Description: There is an ongoing debate concerning the distribution of eddy stirring across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the nature of its controlling processes. The problem is addressed here by estimating the isentropic eddy diffusivity κ from a collection of hydrographic and altimetric observations, analyzed in a mixing length theoretical framework. It is shown that, typically, κ is suppressed by an order of magnitude in the upper kilometer of the ACC frontal jets relative to their surroundings, primarily as a result of a local reduction of the mixing length. This observation is reproduced by a quasi-geostrophic theory of eddy stirring across a broad barotropic jet based on the scaling law derived by Ferrari and Nikurashin (2010). The theory interprets the observed widespread suppression of the mixing length and κ in the upper layers of frontal jets as the kinematic consequence of eddy propagation relative to the mean flow within jet cores. Deviations from the prevalent regime of mixing suppression in the core of upper-ocean jets are encountered in a few special sites. Such ‘leaky jet’ segments appear to be associated with sharp stationary meanders of the mean flow that are generated by the interaction of the ACC with major topographic features. It is contended that the characteristic thermohaline structure of the Southern Ocean, consisting of multiple upper-ocean thermohaline fronts separated and underlaid by regions of homogenized properties, is largely a result of the widespread suppression of eddy stirring by parallel jets.
    Description: This study was conducted during A.C.N. G.’s stay at MIT, which was supported jointly by MIT and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a NERC Advanced Research Fellowship (NE/C517633/1). R.F. acknowledges the support of NSFaward OCE‐0825376. K.P.’s participation in this work was supported by WHOI bridge support funds.
    Keywords: Antarctic Circumpolar Current ; Eddy stirring ; Mixing
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  • 18
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 39 (2012): L24604, doi:10.1029/2012GL054034.
    Description: Eddies and vortices associated with breaking waves rapidly disperse pollution, nutrients, and terrestrial material along the coast. Although theory and numerical models suggest that vorticity is generated near the ends of a breaking wave crest, this hypothesis has not been tested in the field. Here we report the first observations of wave-generated vertical vorticity (e.g., horizontal eddies), and find that individual short-crested breaking waves generate significant vorticity [O(0.01 s−1)] in the surfzone. Left- and right-handed wave ends generate vorticity of opposite sign, consistent with theory. In contrast to theory, the observed vorticity also increases inside the breaking crest, possibly owing to onshore advection of vorticity generated at previous stages of breaking or from the shape of the breaking region. Short-crested breaking transferred energy from incident waves to lower frequency rotational motions that are a primary mechanism for dispersion near the shoreline.
    Description: Funding was provided by a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship, the Office of Naval Research, and a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Postdoctoral Fellowship.
    Description: 2013-06-21
    Keywords: Mixing ; Nearshore ; Turbulence ; Vorticity ; Waves
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  • 19
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): C02018, doi:10.1029/2007JC004429.
    Description: Radioisotope evaluation of a cold-core, anticyclonic eddy surveyed in September 2004 on the Chukchi Sea continental slope was used to determine its age since formation over the shelf environment. Because the eddy can be shown to have been generated near the shelf break, initial conditions for several age-dependent tracers could be relatively well constrained. A combination of 228Ra/226Ra, excess 224Ra, and 228Th/228Ra suggested an age on the order of months. This age is consistent with the presence of elevated concentrations of nutrients, organic carbon, suspended particles, and shelf-derived neritic zooplankton within the eddy compared to ambient offshore water in the Canada Basin but comparable to values measured in the Chukchi shelf and shelf-break environment. Hence this feature, at the edge of the deep basin, was poised to deliver biogeochemically significant shelf material to the central Arctic Ocean.
    Description: This work was supported by National Science Foundation Polar Programs grants OPP-662690 and OPP-66040N to the University of Miami (DK), and Office of Naval Research grant N00014-02-1-0317 (RP).
    Keywords: Arctic ; Eddy ; Radium
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  • 20
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): G04S54, doi:10.1029/2006JG000353.
    Description: Dramatic changes have been observed in the Arctic over the last century. Many of these involve the storage and cycling of fresh water. On land, precipitation and river discharge, lake abundance and size, glacier area and volume, soil moisture, and a variety of permafrost characteristics have changed. In the ocean, sea ice thickness and areal coverage have decreased and water mass circulation patterns have shifted, changing freshwater pathways and sea ice cover dynamics. Precipitation onto the ocean surface has also changed. Such changes are expected to continue, and perhaps accelerate, in the coming century, enhanced by complex feedbacks between the oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial freshwater systems. Change to the arctic freshwater system heralds changes for our global physical and ecological environment as well as human activities in the Arctic. In this paper we review observed changes in the arctic freshwater system over the last century in terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic systems.
    Description: The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Science Foundation (NSF) for funding this synthesis work. This paper is principally the work of authors funded under the NSF-funded Freshwater Integration (FWI) study.
    Keywords: Arctic ; Freshwater ; System ; Changes ; Impacts
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  • 21
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): L22607, doi:10.1029/2010GL045272.
    Description: Shear instability is the dominant mechanism for converting fluid motion to mixing in the stratified ocean and atmosphere. The transition to turbulence has been well characterized in laboratory settings and numerical simulations at moderate Reynolds number—it involves “rolling up”, i.e., overturning of the density structure within the cores of the instabilities. In contrast, measurements in an energetic estuarine shear zone reveal that the mixing induced by shear instability at high Reynolds number does not primarily occur by overturning in the cores; rather it results from secondary shear instabilities within the zones of intensified shear separating the cores. This regime is not likely to be observed in the relatively low Reynolds number flows of the laboratory or in direct numerical simulations, but it is likely a common occurrence in the ocean and atmosphere.
    Description: This research was supported by NSF grant OCE‐0824871 and ONR grant N00014‐0810495.
    Keywords: Stratification ; Turbulence ; Mixing
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  • 22
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 115 (2010): C12024, doi:10.1029/2009JC006061.
    Description: Turbulent mixing of salt is examined in a shallow salt wedge estuary with strong fluvial and tidal forcing. A numerical model of the Merrimack River estuary is used to quantify turbulent stress, shear production, and buoyancy flux. Little mixing occurs during flood tides despite strong velocities because bottom boundary layer turbulence is dislocated from stratification elevated in the water column. During ebbs, bottom salinity fronts form at a series of bathymetric transitions. At the fronts, near-bottom velocity and shear stress are low, but shear, stress, and buoyancy flux are elevated at the pycnocline. Internal shear layers provide the dominant source of mixing during the early ebb. Later in the ebb, the pycnocline broadens and moves down such that boundary layer turbulence dominates mixing. Mixing occurs primarily during ebbs, with internal shear mixing accounting for about 50% of the total buoyancy flux. Both the relative contribution of internal shear mixing and the mixing efficiency increase with discharge, with bulk mixing efficiencies between 0.02 and 0.07. Buoyancy fluxes in the estuary increase with discharge up to about 400 m3 s−1 above which a majority of the mixing occurs offshore. Observed buoyancy fluxes were more consistent with the k-ɛ turbulence closure than the Mellor-Yamada closure, and more total mixing occurred in the estuary with k-ɛ. Calculated buoyancy fluxes were sensitive to horizontal grid resolution, as a lower resolution grid yielded less integrated buoyancy flux in the estuary and exported lower salinity water but likely had greater numerical mixing.
    Description: This research was funded by National Science Foundation Grant OCE‐0452054. Ralston also received support from The Penzance Endowed Fund in Support of Assistant Scientists and The John F. and Dorothy H. Magee Fund in Support of Scientific Staff at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
    Keywords: Mixing ; Turbulence ; Salt wedge estuary
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  • 23
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    American Geophysical Union
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): C06010, doi:10.1029/2011JC007652.
    Description: We propose a conceptual model for an Arctic sea that is driven by river runoff, atmospheric fluxes, sea ice melt/growth, and winds. The model domain is divided into two areas, the interior and boundary regions, that are coupled through Ekman and eddy fluxes of buoyancy. The model is applied to Hudson and James Bays (HJB, a large inland basin in northeastern Canada) for the period 1979–2007. Several yearlong records from instruments moored within HJB show that the model results are consistent with the real system. The model notably reproduces the seasonal migration of the halocline, the baroclinic boundary current, spatial variability of freshwater content, and the fall maximum in freshwater export. The simulations clarify the important differences in the freshwater balance of the western and eastern sides of HJB. The significant role played by the boundary current in the freshwater budget of the system, and its sensitivity to the wind-forcing, are also highlighted by the simulations and new data analyses. We conclude that the model proposed is useful for the interpretation of observed data from Arctic seas and model outputs from more complex coupled/climate models.
    Description: We thank NSERC and the Canada Research Chairs program for funding. FS acknowledges support from NSF OCE–0927797 and ONR N00014-08-10490.
    Description: 2012-12-20
    Keywords: Arctic ; Models ; Sea ice
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  • 24
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 26 (2012): GB0E02, doi:10.1029/2012GB004299.
    Description: While much of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) within rivers is destined for mineralization to CO2, a substantial fraction of riverine bicarbonate (HCO3−) flux represents a CO2 sink, as a result of weathering processes that sequester CO2 as HCO3−. We explored landscape-level controls on DOC and HCO3− flux in subcatchments of the boreal, with a specific focus on the effect of permafrost on riverine dissolved C flux. To do this, we undertook a multivariate analysis that partitioned the variance attributable to known, key regulators of dissolved C flux (runoff, lithology, and vegetation) prior to examining the effect of permafrost, using riverine biogeochemistry data from a suite of subcatchments drawn from the Mackenzie, Yukon, East, and West Siberian regions of the circumboreal. Across the diverse catchments that we study, controls on HCO3− flux were near-universal: runoff and an increased carbonate rock contribution to weathering (assessed as riverwater Ca:Na) increased HCO3− yields, while increasing permafrost extent was associated with decreases in HCO3−. In contrast, permafrost had contrasting and region-specific effects on DOC yield, even after the variation caused by other key drivers of its flux had been accounted for. We used ionic ratios and SO4 yields to calculate the potential range of CO2 sequestered via weathering across these boreal subcatchments, and show that decreasing permafrost extent is associated with increases in weathering-mediated CO2 fixation across broad spatial scales, an effect that could counterbalance some of the organic C mineralization that is predicted with declining permafrost.
    Description: Funding for this work was provided through NSF-OPP-0229302 and NSF-OPP-0732985. Additional support to S.E.T. was provided by an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship.
    Description: 2013-02-21
    Keywords: Arctic ; Bicarbonate ; Dissolved organic carbon ; Permafrost
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  • 25
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 25 (2010): PA4222, doi:10.1029/2010PA001936.
    Description: Observations and an ocean box model are combined in order to test the adequacy of the freshwater forcing hypothesis to explain abrupt climate change given the uncertainties in the parameterization of vertical buoyancy transport in the ocean. The combination is carried out using Bayesian stochastic inversion, which allows us to infer changes in the mass balance of Northern Hemisphere (NH) ice sheets and in the meridional transports of mass and heat in the Atlantic Ocean that would be required to explain Dansgaard-Oeschger Interstadials (DOIs) from 30 to 39 kyr B.P. The mean sea level changes implied by changes in NH ice sheet mass balance agree in amplitude and timing with reconstructions from the geologic record, which gives some support to the freshwater forcing hypothesis. The inversion suggests that the duration of the DOIs should be directly related to the growth of land ice. Our results are unaffected by uncertainties in the representation of vertical buoyancy transport in the ocean. However, the solutions are sensitive to assumptions about physical processes at polar latitudes.
    Description: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant OCE‐0402363 and Department of Energy grant DE‐FG02‐08ER64619.
    Keywords: Inversion ; MOC ; Abrupt ; Sea level ; Coral ; Mixing
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  • 26
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): C03051, doi:10.1029/2003JC001940.
    Description: Arctic Ocean model simulations have revealed that the Arctic Ocean has a basin-wide oscillation with cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation anomalies (Arctic Ocean Oscillation (AOO)) that has a prominent decadal variability [Proshutinsky and Johnson, 1997]. This study explores how the simulated AOO affects the Arctic Ocean stratification and its relationship to the sea ice cover variations. The simulation uses the Princeton Ocean Model coupled to sea ice [Häkkinen and Mellor, 1992; Häkkinen, 1999]. The surface forcing is based on National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis and its climatology, of which the latter is used to force the model spin-up phase. Our focus is to investigate the competition between ocean dynamics and ice formation/melt on the Arctic basin-wide freshwater balance. We find that changes in the Atlantic water inflow can explain almost all of the simulated freshwater anomalies in the main Arctic basin. The Atlantic water inflow anomalies are an essential part of AOO, which is the wind driven barotropic response to the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The baroclinic response to AO, such as Ekman pumping in the Beaufort Gyre, and ice melt/freeze anomalies in response to AO are less significant considering the whole Arctic freshwater balance.
    Description: We gratefully acknowledge the support from National Science Foundation under Grant No OPP-0230184 (AP) and from NASA Headquarters (SH).
    Keywords: Fresh water ; Arctic ; Variability
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  • 27
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): C03042, doi:10.1029/2003JC002007.
    Description: Sea level is a natural integral indicator of climate variability. It reflects changes in practically all dynamic and thermodynamic processes of terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric, and cryospheric origin. The use of estimates of sea level rise as an indicator of climate change therefore incurs the difficulty that the inferred sea level change is the net result of many individual effects of environmental forcing. Since some of these effects may offset others, the cause of the sea level response to climate change remains somewhat uncertain. This paper is focused on an attempt to provide first-order answers to two questions, namely, what is the rate of sea level change in the Arctic Ocean, and furthermore, what is the role of each of the individual contributing factors to observed Arctic Ocean sea level change? In seeking answers to these questions we have discovered that during the period 1954–1989 the observed sea level over the Russian sector of the Arctic Ocean is rising at a rate of approximately 0.123 cm yr−1 and that after correction for the process of glacial isostatic adjustment this rate is approximately 0.185 cm yr−1. There are two major causes of this rise. The first is associated with the steric effect of ocean expansion. This effect is responsible for a contribution of approximately 0.064 cm yr−1 to the total rate of rise (35%). The second most important factor is related to the ongoing decrease of sea level atmospheric pressure over the Arctic Ocean, which contributes 0.056 cm yr−1, or approximately 30% of the net positive sea level trend. A third contribution to the sea level increase involves wind action and the increase of cyclonic winds over the Arctic Ocean, which leads to sea level rise at a rate of 0.018 cm yr−1 or approximately 10% of the total. The combined effect of the sea level rise due to an increase of river runoff and the sea level fall due to a negative trend in precipitation minus evaporation over the ocean is close to 0. For the Russian sector of the Arctic Ocean it therefore appears that approximately 25% of the trend of 0.185 cm yr−1, a contribution of 0.048 cm yr−1, may be due to the effect of increasing Arctic Ocean mass.
    Description: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 0136432.
    Keywords: Arctic ; Sea level rise ; Decadal variability ; Steric effects ; Inverted barometer effect ; Glacial isostatic adjustment
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