SEARCH ProjectsConnection Among Atmospheric Forcing, Runoff and Conditions in the Laptev and East-Siberian SeasPI: Igor Semiletov Co: Gunter E. Weller Institution: U of Alaska Fairbanks AbstractThis research proposes to assess the role of atmospheric forcing in linking land hydrology in the watersheds of the Lena, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma rivers with the transport and fate of riverine waters to the Laptev and East Siberian seas. The underlying hypothesis couples elements of Arctic climate change, such as cyclone frequency and warming, with permafrost melting and increased river runoff that lead, in turn, to increased flux of dissolved and solid terrestrial matter to the shelf seas. It is hypothesized, additionally, that shifts between the cyclonic and anticyclonic modes of atmospheric circulation over the central Arctic, in response to the phasing of the Arctic Oscillation (AO), drive environmental shifts in the Laptev and East Siberian seas. These hypotheses will be tested through acquisition, syntheses and analyses of atmospheric, land and ocean hydrological, and hydrochemical data for the Lena River-Laptev Sea and East Siberian land-shelf systems. The research will involve analyses of two existing sets of frozen water, sediment and particulate matter samples obtained in 2000 and 2002 from the Laptev and East Siberian seas. |