Vertical redistribution of principle water masses on the Northeast Greenland Shelf

Caroline V. B. Gjelstrup (), Mikael K. Sejr, Laura Steur, Jørgen Schou Christiansen, Mats A. Granskog, Boris P. Koch, Eva Friis Møller, Mie H. S. Winding and Colin A. Stedmon
Additional contact information
Caroline V. B. Gjelstrup: Technical University of Denmark
Mikael K. Sejr: Aarhus University
Laura Steur: Fram Centre
Jørgen Schou Christiansen: UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Mats A. Granskog: Fram Centre
Boris P. Koch: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Eva Friis Møller: Aarhus University
Mie H. S. Winding: Greenland Institute of Natural Resources
Colin A. Stedmon: Technical University of Denmark

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The Northeast Greenland shelf (NEGS) is a recipient of Polar Water (PW) from the Arctic Ocean, Greenland Ice Sheet melt, and Atlantic Water (AW). Here, we compile hydrographical measurements to quantify long-term changes in fjords and coastal waters. We find a profound change in the vertical distribution of water masses, with AW shoaling >60 m and PW thinning >50 m since early 2000’s. The properties of these waters have also changed. AW is now 1 °C warmer and the salinity of surface waters and PW are 1.8 and 0.68 lower, respectively. The AW changes have substantially weakened stratification south of ~74°N, indicating increased accessibility of heat and potentially nutrients associated with AW. The Atlantification earlier reported for the eastern Fram Strait and Barents Sea region has also propagated to the NEGS. The increased presence of AW, is an important driver for regional change leading to a likely shift in ecosystem structure and function.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35413-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-35413-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35413-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().