Freshening of the Barents Sea during the recent decade and its impact on the outflow of dense waters

Raj, Roshin P.; Lien, Vidar S.; Chatterjee, Sourav; Surendran, Saradhy; Bonaduce, Antonio; Bertino, Laurent

doi:10.5194/sp-7-osr10-6-2026

Articles | Volume 7-osr10

https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-7-osr10-6-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Report:

10th edition of the Copernicus Ocean State Report (OSR10)

https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-7-osr10-6-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7-osr10

30 Sep 2026

| OSR10 | Chapter 2.3

| 30 Sep 2026 | OSR10 | Chapter 2.3

Freshening of the Barents Sea during the recent decade and its impact on the outflow of dense waters

Roshin P. Raj, Vidar S. Lien, Sourav Chatterjee, Saradhy Surendran, Antonio Bonaduce, and Laurent Bertino

Data sets

Arctic Ocean Physics Reanalysis EU Copernicus Marine Service Product https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00007

ESA Sea Surface Salinity Climate Change Initiative (Sea_Surface_Salinity_cci): Monthly sea surface salinity product for the Southern Hemisphere on a 25km EASE grid, v5.5, for 2010 to 2023 Jacqueline Boutin et al. https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/0397ca6f625e47f489684bad2bd533bb

Short summary

Dense water formed and exiting from the Barents Sea constitutes an important part of the global ocean circulation. Considering the significant impact of salinity changes in dense water formation, we investigate the salinity changes in the Barents Sea during the past 3 decades. Our results highlight the recent freshening and its drivers in the northern and southern Barents Sea and show its impact on the density of the waters exiting the Barents Sea.