Heat balance in the Chukchi Sea

Naoki Ohta1, Hiromichi Ueno2, Motoyo Itoh3, Takashi Kikuchi4, Kohei Mizobata5, Eiji Watanabe6 and Shigeto Nishino3, (1)Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, (2)Hokkaido University, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan, (3)Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Japan, (4)JAMSTEC Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kanagawa, Japan, (5)Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan, (6)Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
Abstract:
Interannual variation of heat balance in the Chukchi Sea in summer was investigated through analysis of satellite-derived sea-ice concentrations and reanalysis products during 1999–2010. The solar heat input varied from 4.3 to 8.0 × 1020 J over the Chukchi Sea defined in this study (5.9 × 105 km2). These values were larger than the heat transport from the Bering Strait ranging from 2.9 to 5.1 × 1020 J, suggesting that the Chukchi Sea was the area where the Pacific Water from the Bering Sea was strongly modified, affecting the interannual variation of the heat transport to the interior Arctic basin. Interannual variation in the latent, sensible, longwave radiation fluxes and the heat of fusion of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea are small compared with the heat transport from the Bering Strait as well as the solar heat input in the Chukchi Sea.
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