Synoptic storms and the development of the 1997 warming and freshening event in the Beaufort Sea

The climatic state in the Beaufort Sea in 1997 was characterized by warmer atmosphere, smaller areal coverage of sea ice in summer than average, and a n oceanic mixed layer with a relatively low salinity that persisted into fa ll and and early winter. The most remarkable change occurred near the end o f 1997 when both salinity and temperature in the upper layer varied dramati cally in a short-time period. The evolution of the air-sea-ice condition wa s observed by an autonomous buoy. The buoy observation revealed that deep m ixing that penetrated through the Arctic halocline occurred in response to enhanced wind-stress forcing associated with an intense storm and was mainl y responsible for the abrupt change of temperature and salinity in the mixe d layer near the end of 1997. Similar events were inferred from storms in t he Eurasian basin in 1994. We postulate that synoptic storms plays a very i mportant role in the variations of the heat and salt budgets in the upper A rctic Ocean.