Arctic Ocean Surface Conceals Far Warmer Water Layer 50 Meters Down: "Ticking Time Bomb"

[hatrack]

A pocket of warm ocean water underneath the surface of the Canada Basin could melt a significant portion of the region's sea ice pack if it were to ascend, a new study suggests.

The study, published in Science Advances by researchers from Yale University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, looked at temperatures in the Canada Basin from the past 30 years. The basin in the Arctic Ocean is north of Alaska and parts of Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It typically has a warm layer of water about 50 metres below the surface, a previously known feature in the western Arctic.

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4803485.1535565223!/fileImage/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/original_780/canada-basin-warm-water.png
Heat currently trapped below the surface has the potential to melt some of the Arctic region's sea ice pack if it reaches the surface, according to researchers. (Yale University)

Warm water typically floats, because it's lighter than cold water. But in the basin, the warm water doesn't float because it's insulated and the saltiness makes it heavy enough to sink. The colder, fresher water sits above, near the sea ice. The study found that over the past 30 years the amount of heat in the the warm layer has doubled.

EDIT

Unlike other oceans, where deeper layers tend to have colder temperatures, the Arctic has been known to have a warmer subsurface, said co-author John Toole. But the sustained temperature increase in this warm layer was a surprise. Toole calls the warming layer "a ticking time bomb." "That heat isn't going to go away," he said. "Eventually ... it's going have to come up to the surface and it's going to impact the ice."

EDIT

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sea-ice-warm-layer-1.4803195

[lunasun]

1. Kick

[Canoe52]

2. Tic tic tic

Just talked to my sister, she was complaining of forecasters saying it wasn’t supposed to rain but it was raining at her house. She said “they need to stop looking at their radars and go outside to see if it’s raining” Bit my tongue, didn’t ask if the forecasters had an office in her little town far away from the metropolitan area the forecast was for. But it was her comment for the day on science.
Sigh.