Articles | Volume 10, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-967-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-967-2014
Research article
 | 
28 Nov 2014
Research article |  | 28 Nov 2014

The Rossby radius in the Arctic Ocean

A. J. G. Nurser and S. Bacon

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Cited articles

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Aksenov, Y., Bacon, S., Coward, A. C., and Holliday, N. P.: Polar outflow from the Arctic Ocean: a high-resolution model study, J. Marine Sys., 83, 14–37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2010.06.007, 2010b.
Aksenov, Y., Ivanov, V. V., Nurser, A. J. G., Bacon, S., Polyakov, I. V., Coward, A. C., Naveira Garabato, A. C., and Beszczynska-Moeller, A.: The Arctic Circumpolar Boundary Current, J. Geophys. Res., 116, C09017, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JC006637, 2011.
Budeus, G., Cisewski, B., Ronski, S., Dietrich, D., and Weitere, M.: Structure and effects of a long lived vortex in the Greenland Sea, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L05304, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017983, 2004.
Carmack, E. C.: The freshwater budget of the Arctic ocean: sources, storage and sinks, edited by: Lewis, E. L., NATO Adv. Res. Ser., 91–126, 2000.
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Knowledge of the size of the Rossby radius is important, because it is the horizontal scale of boundary currents, eddies and fronts in fluids on a rotating planet. We find that, in the deep basins of the Arctic Ocean, the Rossby radius is around 10km, but in the shallow shelf seas, it can be less than 1km. This presents a challenge to measurements and models alike.