MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Oceanographers discovered a mechanism that cools water in the Barents Sea and prevents warm waters from the Atlantic Ocean from getting into the circumpolar regions. Once this mechanism is clear, scientists will be able to forecast more accurately ice conditions along the Northern Sea Route and assess fishing options in the Russian Arctic, the MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) Center for Scientific Communication said.
"The Barents Sea is a key fishing area in Russia. Therefore, it is important to know whether the warm current's influence will spread further to the northeast thus increasing productivity in the Russian Arctic. The conducted research shows there is a mechanism that hinders this process, at least in the short term," the university's Center for Scientific Communication quoted Zinaida Zabudkina, a junior researcher at MIPT, as saying.
The scientist and her colleagues made the discovery while analyzing data collected between 1977 and 2024 by oceanographers in the Barents Sea's northeastern areas and near the St. Anna Trench in the Kara Sea's northern part. Researchers say this region plays an important role in the water exchange between the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.
In the past, warm Atlantic waters cooled in the Barents Sea's western part due to a heat exchange with cold air, and then submerged under fresher waters in the reservoir's eastern part. In recent decades, the Atlantic currents' waters have got warmer, and thus they no longer have time to cool to low temperatures in the Barents Sea's western part, which presumably may lead to increased penetration of warm Atlantic waters into the Russian Arctic.
Russian scientists say this has not happened due to a previously unknown mechanism of water cooling associated with the sea ice formation. The thing is that when ice forms, a large amount of fresh water is withdrawn from the sea column, and the remaining masses become saltier, denser and heavier. Those cold waters emerge in large quantities and sink, thereby cooling the deep layers, including the waters coming from the Atlantic along with warm currents.
According to MIPT's Chief Researcher Alexander Osadchiev, since the beginning of the current century, this mechanism has been actively preventing the Atlantic heat from spreading into the Russian Arctic's eastern regions. Thus, the scientist is doubtful about a significant increase in fishing productivity in the Kara Sea's northern part over the coming years. This should be taken into account when forecasting the Northern Sea Route and Arctic ecosystems' conditions, the researchers concluded.