State of the Arctic Ocean in 2007-2010 from Russian field studies

Several scientific expeditions were organized and carried out in the Arctic by Russian research institutes during 2007-2010. The most known are expeditions such as: "Arctic-2007/08", "North Pole-35, 36 and 37" drifting stations, NABOS-2007/08, BARKALAV-2007/08, PALEX-2007/08, SHELF-2010. The area of research activities comprises both the significant part of the deep Arctic basin and the Siberian marginal seas. Positive anomalies in the surface water temperatures were observed in the eastern Arctic in summer 2007. The temperatures were up to 3°С warmer than the regional climatic means. The area with surface temperatures higher than –1.0°С was almost two times larger than in climatology. The moderate surface temperature changes were observed in the deep western Arctic region with a typical range of anomalies from –0.5°С to +0.5°С. The positive anomalies in the surface water temperatures were measured in the northern parts of the Barents and Kara seas (up to 2°C), and in the eastern Laptev Sea (from +2°C to +5°C). The surface water salinities were also significantly modified by unique atmospheric and ice conditions in 2007. The extremely low salinities were observed in the eastern Arctic Ocean (from minus 4 to minus 6 salinity units). The positive temperature and negative salinity anomalies in the surface layers were reduced in 2008 and 2010 relative to the anomalies of the upper ocean water properties observed in 2007. On the other hand, the anomalously warm water temperatures observed in the Atlantic water layer in 2004-2008 remained without changes.