Freshwater outflow from Beaufort Sea could alter global climate patterns

The Beaufort Sea, which is the largest Arctic Ocean freshwater reservoir, has increased its freshwater content by 40 percent over the past two decades. How and where this water will flow into the Atlantic Ocean is important for local and global ocean conditions. A new study, funded by a collaboration between CPO’s Climate Variability & Predictability (CVP) and DOE's Earth and Environmental System Modeling Program (E2SM), shows that the freshwater travels through the Canadian Archipelago to reach the Labrador Sea, rather than through the wider marine passageways that connect to seas in Northern Europe. The study is led by researchers with the University of Washington, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and is published in Nature Communications.

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