Articles | Volume 17, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1081-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1081-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Review article
| 
17 Aug 2021
Review article |
| 17 Aug 2021
| 17 Aug 2021
Freshwater in the Arctic Ocean 2010–2019
Amy Solomon
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Physical Sciences Laboratory, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory,
Boulder, Colorado, USA
Céline Heuzé
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg,
Sweden
Benjamin Rabe
Climate Sciences Division, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und
Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Sheldon Bacon
Marine Physics and Ocean Climate Division, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK
Laurent Bertino
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Center for
Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
Patrick Heimbach
Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA
Jun Inoue
Division for Research and Education, Meteorology and Glaciology Group, National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, Japan
Doroteaciro Iovino
Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici, Bologna, Italy
Ruth Mottram
Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Xiangdong Zhang
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Yevgeny Aksenov
Marine Physics and Ocean Climate Division, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK
Ronan McAdam
Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici, Bologna, Italy
An Nguyen
Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Roshin P. Raj
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Center for
Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
Han Tang
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
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- A switch in thermal and haline contributions to stratification in the Greenland Sea during the last four decades C. Gjelstrup & C. Stedmon 10.1016/j.pocean.2024.103283
- Arctic sea level variability from high-resolution model simulations and implications for the Arctic observing system G. Lyu et al. 10.5194/os-18-51-2022
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- Contribution of satellite sea surface salinity to the estimation of liquid freshwater content in the Beaufort Sea M. Umbert et al. 10.5194/os-20-279-2024
- Seasonal dynamics of chemistry in an Arctic glacier-fed river A. Gödde et al. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176645
- Comparison of Climate Model Large Ensembles With Observations in the Arctic Using Simple Neural Networks Z. Labe & E. Barnes 10.1029/2022EA002348
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- Changes in Beaufort High and Their Impact on Sea Ice Motion in the Western Arctic during the Winters of 2001–2020s X. Chang et al. 10.3390/jmse12010165
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Discussed (final revised paper)
Latest update: 11 Jul 2025
Short summary
Freshwater in the Arctic Ocean plays a critical role in the global climate system by impacting ocean circulations, stratification, mixing, and emergent regimes. In this review paper we assess how Arctic Ocean freshwater changed in the 2010s relative to the 2000s. Estimates from observations and reanalyses show a qualitative stabilization in the 2010s due to a compensation between a freshening of the Beaufort Gyre and a reduction in freshwater in the Amerasian and Eurasian basins.
Freshwater in the Arctic Ocean plays a critical role in the global climate system by impacting...
