Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate
Abstract The Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre, the largest Arctic freshwater reservoir, plays a crucial role for climate and marine ecosystems. Understanding how it changes in a warming climate is therefore essential. Here, using high-resolution simulations and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phas...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02028-3 |
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| author | Qiang Wang Qi Shu Shizhu Wang Xinyue Li Sergey Danilov Fangli Qiao Zhenya Song Fan Wang Thomas Jung |
| author_facet | Qiang Wang Qi Shu Shizhu Wang Xinyue Li Sergey Danilov Fangli Qiao Zhenya Song Fan Wang Thomas Jung |
| author_sort | Qiang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre, the largest Arctic freshwater reservoir, plays a crucial role for climate and marine ecosystems. Understanding how it changes in a warming climate is therefore essential. Here, using high-resolution simulations and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 data, we find that the Beaufort Gyre will increasingly accumulate freshwater, elevate sea level, and spin up its circulation as the climate warms. These changes, collectively referred to as inflation, are more pronounced in the Beaufort Gyre region than in other Arctic areas, amplifying the spatial asymmetry of the Arctic Ocean. The inflation is driven by increased surface freshwater fluxes and intensified surface stress from wind strengthening and sea ice decline. Current climate models tend to underestimate this inflation, which could be alleviated by high-resolution ocean models and improved atmospheric circulation simulations. The inflation of the Beaufort Gyre underscores its growing importance in a warming climate. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7f347622335949efa328f14b19974d3a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-7f347622335949efa328f14b19974d3a2025-01-26T12:54:02ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352025-01-016111210.1038/s43247-025-02028-3Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climateQiang Wang0Qi Shu1Shizhu Wang2Xinyue Li3Sergey Danilov4Fangli Qiao5Zhenya Song6Fan Wang7Thomas Jung8Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)First Institute of Oceanography and Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural ResourcesFirst Institute of Oceanography and Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural ResourcesAlfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)First Institute of Oceanography and Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural ResourcesFirst Institute of Oceanography and Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural ResourcesKey Laboratory of Ocean Observation and Forecasting and Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS)Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)Abstract The Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre, the largest Arctic freshwater reservoir, plays a crucial role for climate and marine ecosystems. Understanding how it changes in a warming climate is therefore essential. Here, using high-resolution simulations and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 data, we find that the Beaufort Gyre will increasingly accumulate freshwater, elevate sea level, and spin up its circulation as the climate warms. These changes, collectively referred to as inflation, are more pronounced in the Beaufort Gyre region than in other Arctic areas, amplifying the spatial asymmetry of the Arctic Ocean. The inflation is driven by increased surface freshwater fluxes and intensified surface stress from wind strengthening and sea ice decline. Current climate models tend to underestimate this inflation, which could be alleviated by high-resolution ocean models and improved atmospheric circulation simulations. The inflation of the Beaufort Gyre underscores its growing importance in a warming climate.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02028-3 |
| spellingShingle | Qiang Wang Qi Shu Shizhu Wang Xinyue Li Sergey Danilov Fangli Qiao Zhenya Song Fan Wang Thomas Jung Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate |
| title_full | Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate |
| title_fullStr | Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate |
| title_short | Dominant inflation of the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre in a warming climate |
| title_sort | dominant inflation of the arctic ocean s beaufort gyre in a warming climate |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02028-3 |
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