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Warming of Baltic Sea water masses since 1850

The Baltic Sea is among the fastest-warming seas globally in recent decades affecting biogeochemical conditions such as euxinic areas but also pelagic and benthic marine ecosystems. It is therefore crucial to understand how this heat gain is distributed vertically. We used reconstructed atmospheric...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate dynamics 2023-08, Vol.61 (3-4), p.1311-1331
Main Authors: Dutheil, C., Meier, H. E. M., Gröger, M., Börgel, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The Baltic Sea is among the fastest-warming seas globally in recent decades affecting biogeochemical conditions such as euxinic areas but also pelagic and benthic marine ecosystems. It is therefore crucial to understand how this heat gain is distributed vertically. We used reconstructed atmospheric forcing fields for 1850–2008 to perform an ocean climate simulation that adequately captures climatogical temperature and salinity profiles. Then, a water mass classification distinguishes three water masses corresponding to the classical view, warm and fresh surface waters, cold and fresh intermediate waters, and cold and salty bottom waters, and two transition water masses. The temperature trends show a similar three layers pattern with fast warming at the surface (~ 0.06 K decade − 1 ) and bottom (> 0.04 K decade − 1 ) and slow in the intermediate layers (
ISSN:0930-7575
1432-0894
DOI:10.1007/s00382-022-06628-z