NOAA GFDL - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics LaboratoryGFDL - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

Impacts of Eastern Arctic Eurasian Basin Water Properties on the AMOC and Beaufort Sea Atlantic Water Layer

June 1st, 2026

Key Findings

  • Water properties in the Eastern Arctic Eurasian Basin affect the density of Arctic outflows that contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
  • Cooler and saltier waters in this region produce denser outflows through Arctic–Atlantic gateway passages and into the eastern subpolar North Atlantic.
  • Representation of the Atlantic Water (AW) layer in the Eurasian Basin influences the simulated AW layer downstream in the Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea.
  • The results support that the Arctic is the northern terminus of the AMOC and that the Arctic outflow provides the densest water to the AMOC.

Xinyue Wei and Rong Zhang. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2025GL119128

The Arctic Ocean exchanges heat and salt with the North Atlantic through ocean currents that pass through Arctic–Atlantic gateway regions. These exchanges may contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a large-scale ocean circulation that transports heat northward across the Atlantic basin. However, the impacts of the Arctic Eurasian Basin water mass properties on the AMOC and the Atlantic Water layer in the Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea remain unclear and less explored. In this study, a coupled atmosphere-ocean model constrained by observed hydrographic conditions in the Eastern Arctic Eurasian Basin was used to examine how temperature and salinity in this region influence the AMOC and the western Arctic Canadian Basin. The experiments focused on how these water mass properties affect the density of Arctic outflows across Arctic–Atlantic gateway passages and the structure of the Atlantic Water layer in the Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea.

The simulations show that cooler and saltier waters in the Eastern Arctic Eurasian Basin increase the density of Arctic outflows. These denser waters are associated with stronger ocean circulation signals linked to the AMOC across Arctic–Atlantic gateway passages and the eastern subpolar North Atlantic. The simulations also indicate that representing a colder and shallower Atlantic Water layer in the Eurasian Basin produces a simulated Atlantic Water layer downstream in the Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea that is closer to observations, in contrast to the unrealistic warm and thick Atlantic Water layer in this region simulated in many coupled models.

These findings describe how water mass properties in the Eastern Arctic Eurasian Basin influence the AMOC and the structure of the Atlantic Water layer in the Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea. In addition, it highlights the need to accurately represent the water mass properties of the eastern Arctic Eurasian Basin in coupled models to simulate a realistic AMOC and the importance of the eastern Eurasian Basin in shaping the Atlantic Water layer thermal structure in the downstream Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea.

Climatology and Anomalies of the Density-Space AMOC Streamfunction Across Arctic-Atlantic Gateway Sections
(a–c) Mean AMOC streamfunction in the Control Simulation (a), Robust Diagnostic Calculations with temperature/salinity constrained by observations over the Arctic Eurasian Basin (RDC_Eura) (b), and the observationally based long-term mean reconstruction from Zhang and Thomas (2021) (ZT21) (c). The orange lines indicate the Fram Strait (FS)/Barents Sea Opening (BSO) section, green lines indicate the 68°N section in the Nordic Sea, and magenta lines indicate Greenland-Scotland-Ridge (GSR) section. (d–f) Climatology and anomalies of the AMOC streamfunction across FS/BSO (d), 68°N (e), and GSR (f) sections. Black lines show the control simulation, blue lines show RDC_Eura, and red dashed lines show anomalies (RDC_Eura – Control). The black and blue lines in panels (d–f) correspond to the same lines shown in panels (a) and (b). (g–i) Comparison with the ZT21 reconstruction (red lines). The black and blue lines are the same as those shown in panels (d–f).