Understanding the annual cycle of the Arctic Ocean bottom pressure

Abstract

Ocean bottom pressure (OBP) observations in the Arctic from in situ pressure recorders and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission, averaged over the basin, reveal annual oscillations of about 2 cm. The maximum occurs in late summer to early fall and the minimum in late winter to early spring. We derive a simple model of OBP response to runoff and precipitation minus evaporation (P‐E) that agrees in phase with the observations and is 10% larger.