Barents Sea thermal frontal zones variability in 1960–2018

Abstract

This paper discusses our research on the interannual variability in the Barents Sea thermal frontal zones. The length index of the thermal frontal zones (the number of grid nodes with a relevant temperature gradient) and their mean temperature gradients at 50 m depth in August-September 1960–2018 were calculated for an area between 73–78°N, 15–43°E, where the frontal zones are more evident. Thermal frontal zones were identified in the areas where temperature gradients exceeded 0.04 °C/km. Since the beginning of this century, the length index of thermal frontal zones in the Barents Sea has been decreasing and temperature gradients in them have been weakening; in 2010, the length index of frontal zones and the mean temperature gradient reached record low values since 1960. To estimate interannual variability in the positions of thermal frontal zones, their geographical centroids (weighted centers of mass for grid nodes with a relevant temperature gradient) were calculated, taking into account horizontal temperature gradients as weighting coefficients. From the 1960s to the 2010s, the decadal mean centroids of frontal zones shifted northeastwards by 150 km.