Dec 13, 2002
Increasing River Discharge to the Arctic Ocean
by
,
Science
- Looks at a synthesis of river-monitoring data which reveals that the average annual discharge of fresh water from the six largest Eurasian rivers to the Arctic Ocean increased by 7% from 1936 to 1999
- Finds the average annual rate of increase was 2.0 ± 0.7 cubic kilometers per year
- Finds the average annual discharge from the six rivers is now about 128 cubic kilometers per year greater than it was when routine measurements of discharge began
- Finds that discharge was correlated with changes in both the North Atlantic Oscillation and global mean surface air temperature
- States the observed large-scale change in freshwater flux has potentially important implications for ocean circulation and climate.