EGU General Assembly 2008
Session Programme Meeting Programme Personal Programme Search
 
Quick Search
Programme Groups
Union Symposia
Interdivision Sessions
Educational Symposia
Atmospheric Sciences
Biogeosciences
Climate: Past, Present, Future
Cryospheric Sciences
Earth & Space Science Informatics
Energy, Resources & the Environment
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology
Geodesy
Geodynamics
Geomorphology
Geosciences Instrumentation & Data Systems
Hydrological Sciences
Isotopes in Geosciences: Instrumentation and Applications
Magnetism, Palaeomagnetism, Rock Physics & Geomaterials
Natural Hazards
Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics
Ocean Sciences
Planetary & Solar System Sciences
Seismology
Soil System Sciences
Solar-Terrestrial Sciences
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology & Palaeontology
Tectonics & Structural Geology
Medal Lectures
Great Debates in Geosciences
Short Courses
Keynote Lectures
Townhall Meetings
Division Business Meetings
Editorial Board Meetings
Union Meetings
Splinter Meetings
  Information - CL30 Arctic and subarctic ocean circulation and climate change - natural and anthropogenic forcing (co-listed in CR)

Event Information
The Arctic climate at present is showing signs of rapid change. Satellite data show that sea ice cover over the Arctic Ocean is decreasing, on average by 2-3 % per decade. The Arctic perennial ice cover has declined as much as 9.2 % from 1978 to 2000. Over the past two decades surface temperature at latitudes higher than 60° N has increased at an average rate of 0.5 °C per decade. The cold halocline layer insulating the ice from the warm Atlantic water below has thinned and disappeared in some areas. Oceanographic data indicate warming and increased extent of Atlantic-derived waters in the Arctic Ocean at 200-900 m depth, which seems consistent with greater inflow of Atlantic waters forced by change to the positive mode of the North Atlantic Oscillation/Arctic Oscillation (NAO/AO) .
The West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) is the major pathway for warm and saline Atlantic water to enter the Arctic Ocean. The heat transport has a significant influence on the hydrographic conditions in the Arctic Ocean and on water mass modifications in the Nordic Seas, and to some extent the overflow into the North Atlantic. However, the geological history of exchange of waters and energy between the lower latitudes of the North Atlantic and the Pacific, and the Arctic Ocean is relatively poorly constrained. This session aims to assess and elucidate both the timing and variability of the warm and saline water inflow and cold and fresh water outflow from the Arctic Ocean in modern and geologic time scales.

Preliminary List of Solicited Speakers

Co-Sponsorship

General Statement
The information contained hereafter has been compiled and uploaded by the Session Organizers via the "Organizer Session Form". The Session Organizers have therefore the sole responsibility that this information is true and accurate at the date of publication, and the conference organizer cannot accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made, and he makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with regard to the material published.



Back to Session Programme

 
 
 
 


©2002-2008 Copernicus Systems + Technology GmbH