SPRING ICE AND SALT FLUX IN THE EASTERN BERING SEA MARGINAL ICE ZONE

(Abstract – AGU Ocean Sciences, February 2012)

Authors: Margaret E Sullivan¹, Sigrid A Salo², Phyllis J Stabeno², Calvin W Mordy¹
Institutions: 1. JISAO, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
                    2. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA, Seattle, WA, USA.

Sea ice on the Eastern Bering Sea can reach as far south as Bristol Bay, with varying extents in warm and cold years. Annual ice forms mainly in the northern Bering Sea in late autumn and winter. It is advected southward by northeasterly winds. The ice edge retreats under southerly winds or when local insolation or above-zero ocean temperatures melt ice faster than it is replaced. The southern marginal ice zone (MIZ) is dynamic; forming, breaking, and banding in spring as the average extent is receding. We present a data set of 27 ice cores from NSF-BEST cruises in the Bering Sea MIZ in spring 2007-2009. Thicknesses ranged from 23-~329 cm, salinities 2.5-10.5 psu, temperatures from -9.5 to -1.8 C and nitrate values from 0-13 μmoles kg−1. We combine these in-situ data with shipboard observations, AMSR_E ice concentrations and Modis True Color satellite data to estimate southward transport of freshwater/salt by sea ice at two latitude bands in the middle domain of the central Bering Sea Shelf.

Submitted for
07. High latitude studies (Van Pelt, Lomas, Sigler)
165: Climate Change Impacts on the Bering Sea and Related Polar Seas: From Observation to Prediction