Tracer‐derived freshwater composition of the Siberian continental shelf and slope following the extreme Arctic summer of 2007

Abstract

We investigate the freshwater composition of the shelf and slope of the Arctic Ocean north of the New Siberian Islands using geochemical tracer data ( δ 18 O, Ba, and PO* 4 ) collected following the extreme summer of 2007. We find that the anomalous wind patterns that partly explained the sea ice minimum at this time also led to significant quantities of Pacific‐derived surface water in the westernmost part of the Makarov Basin. We also find larger quantities of meteoric water near Lomonosov Ridge than were found in 1995. Dissolved barium is depleted in the upper layers in one region of our study area, probably as a result of biological activity in open waters. Increasingly ice‐free conditions compromise the quantitative use of barium as a tracer of river water in the Arctic Ocean.