A volumetric census of the Barents Sea in a changing climate

The Barents Sea, located between the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, is one of the main pathways of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Changes in the water mass transformations in the Barents Sea potentially affect the thermohaline circulation through the alteration of the dense water formation process. In order to investigate such changes, we present here a seasonal atlas of the Barents Sea including both temperature and salinity for the period 1965–2016. The atlas is built as a compilation of datasets from the World Ocean Database, the Polar Branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography and the Norwegian Polar Institute using the Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA) tool. DIVA allows for a minimization of the expected error with respect to the true field. The atlas is used to provide a volumetric analysis of water mass characteristics and an estimation of the ocean heat and freshwater contents. The results show a recent “Atlantification” of the Barents Sea, that is a general increase in both temperature and salinity, while its density remains stable. The atlas is made freely accessible as user-friendly NetCDF files to encourage further research in the Barents Sea physics (https://doi.org/10.21335/NMDC-2058021735, Watelet et al., 2020).publishedVersio

A field intercomparison between an acoustic current profiler / ADCP and two Savonius type current meters

During an introductory experiment in Lofoten May 1990 data from a vessel mounted ADCP on an anchored research vessel were intercompared with corresponding data from two anchored rotor current meters in a region where the current speed varied between 0 and 30 cm/s. The results showed good agreements when the ships heading was stable. When the anchored ship described "S" or "O"- shaped horizontal motions due to varying wind stress, the ADCP added up to 15 cm/s. to its output signal

Field experiences with a new miniature vector averaging current meter

For several years Inst. of Marine Research Bergen has been developing miniaturized modular current meters. Thanks to major improvements in electronic component technology in recent years, a physically small current meter can now be designed with processing and recording capacity which is comparable to much larger instruments. The paper describes the design and field performance of a new miniaturized vector averaging "Mini" current meter which can measure and record up to 6000 data sets. Via a built in two way optical data communication system all recorded data in the instrument can be transferred to a PC in less than 30 s. In an intercomparision experiment during May 1991 two "Mini" current meters were moored close to two Aanderaa RCM-7 current meters. The instruments were positioned 20 and 28 meters from the surface in a region where the current speed varied from 0 - 20 cm/s. Technically the new instruments functioned well and in accordance with their design specifications. The intercomparision showed that all of the RCM-7 and the "Mini" current meters when compensated for a minor directional offset in one instrument - responded almost identically to current speeds between 4- 14 cm/s. Beyond 14 cm/s the "Mini" current meters showed a slightly higher current speed

SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity Historical Data Collection for the Arctic V2 (Version 2)

The SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity Historical Data Collection for the Arctic Ocean V2 include open access in situ temperature and salinity data for the time period 1900-2019. The data were retrieved from the SeaDataNet infrastructure at the end of July 2019. The dataset format is ODV binary collections. The quality control of the data has been performed with the help of ODV software. Data Quality Flags have been revised following common recommended procedures defined under SeaDataNet 2 project in conjunction with visual expert check

SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity Climatology for the Arctic Ocean (Version 2)

The SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity seasonal climatologies have been processed from the historical Data Collection of the Arctic Ocean (from 56°N to 83°N and from 45°W to 70°E) including temperature and salinity in situ data of the water column  for the period 1955 -2019. Seasonal climatological fields are provided for the whole time period 1955-2019, six decades (1955-1964/1965-1974/1975-1984/1985-1994/1995-2004/2005-2014) and a pentad 2015-2019. A subset of the World Ocean Database 2018 (WOD18, https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOD/pr_wod.html) dataset has been integrated as external data-source to improve data availability for analysis. The climatology has been computed with DIVAnd software, version 2.6.6

SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity Historical Data Collection for the Arctic V1 (Version 1)

The SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity Historical Data Collection for the Arctic Seas include open access in situ data on temperature and salinity for the period 1900 – 2017. The data were retrieved from the SeaDataNet infrastructure at the end of October 2017. The dataset format is ODV binary collections [1]. The quality control of the data has been performed with the help of ODV software. Data Quality Flags have been revised following common recommended procedures defined under SeaDataNet 2 project in conjunction with visual expert check

A volumetric census of the Barents Sea in a changing climate

The Barents Sea, located between the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, is one of the main pathways of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Changes in the water mass transformations in the Barents Sea potentially affect the thermohaline circulation through the alteration of the dense water formation process. In order to investigate such changes, we present here a seasonal atlas of the Barents Sea including both temperature and salinity for the period 1965–2016. The atlas is built as a compilation of datasets from the World Ocean Database, the Polar Branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography and the Norwegian Polar Institute using the Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA) tool. DIVA allows for a minimization of the expected error with respect to the true field. The atlas is used to provide a volumetric analysis of water mass characteristics and an estimation of the ocean heat and freshwater contents. The results show a recent “Atlantification” of the Barents Sea, that is a general increase in both temperature and salinity, while its density remains stable. The atlas is made freely accessible as user-friendly NetCDF files to encourage further research in the Barents Sea physics (https://doi.org/10.21335/NMDC-2058021735, Watelet et al., 2020)