The influence of the North Atlantic on climate variations in the Barents Sea and their predictability

Abstract

The effects of Atlantic water inflow on the climate variability in the Barents Sea are studied. Initial data are the series of water temperature at the Kola meridian cross-section, monthly values of ice extent, air temperature at the stations, sea level pressure from the reanalysis data, and sea surface temperature. The methods of multivariate correlation, spectral, and factor analysis and EOF decomposition are used. It was found that variations in the Atlantic water inflow define the main part of interannual variability of sea ice extent, water temperature, and air temperature in the Barents Sea in the cold season. The influence of regional atmospheric circulation on the interannual variability of these parameters is small. The effects that water temperature anomalies in the area of Newfoundland and in the equatorial part of the North Atlantic have on climate parameters in the Barents Sea are discovered. The response of these parameters lags behind the respective anomalies by 9-58 months. The high correlation between them makes it possible to develop the method of statistical forecasting of sea ice extent and water temperature in the Barents Sea with the lead time up to 4 years.