Increasing River Discharge to the Arctic Ocean

Authors

Bruce J. Peterson, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
Robert M. Holmes, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
James W. McClelland, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
Charles J. Vorosmarty, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
Richard B. Lammers, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
Alexander I. Shiklomanov, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
Igor A. Shiklomanov, State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
Stefan Rahmstorf, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Abstract

Synthesis of river-monitoring data reveals that the average annual discharge of fresh water from the six largest Eurasian rivers to the Arctic Ocean increased by 7% from 1936 to 1999. The average annual rate of increase was 2.0 ± 0.7 cubic kilometers per year. Consequently, average annual discharge from the six rivers is now about 128 cubic kilometers per year greater than it was when routine measurements of discharge began. Discharge was correlated with changes in both the North Atlantic Oscillation and global mean surface air temperature. The observed large-scale change in freshwater flux has potentially important implications for ocean circulation and climate.

Department

Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

12-13-2002

Journal Title

Science

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1077445

Document Type

Report

Recommended Citation

Peterson, B.J., R.M. Holmes, J.W. McClelland, C.J. Vorosmarty, R.B. Lammers, A.I. Shiklomanov, I.A. Shiklomanov, and S. Rahmstorf (2002) Increasing River Discharge to the Arctic Ocean, Science, 298:2171-2173, 13 Dec., 2002.