Work

Ob–Yenisei and Lena plumes: wind–driven dynamics and variability

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: River plumes formed by the Ob, Yenisei, and Lena rivers in the Eurasian Arctic are among the largest river plumes globally in terms of area. In this article, a detailed analysis of newly available satellite-derived surface salinity data retrieved for the Eurasian Arctic is presented. Two dominant spreading types of the Ob–Yenisei plume in the Kara Sea are identified. Under westerly–southwesterly winds, the plume remains coastally trapped along the southern coast of the sea, propagates eastward toward the Vilkitskiy Strait and into the Laptev Sea. Its area scales linearly with the combined Ob–Yenisei river discharge volume. Under easterly–northeasterly winds, the Ob–Yenisei plume expands toward the central and northern Kara Sea. Strong northeasterly winds can drive its advection into the northern part of Kara Sea, with plume areas up to 320 thousand km 2 . In the Eastern Arctic, the Lena plume exhibits two patterns governed by the presence or absence of wind–driven advection from the Laptev Sea to the East Siberian Sea via the Sannikov and Laptev Straits, controlled by winds over the southeastern Laptev Sea. Within the East Siberian Sea, the Lena plume behaves largely independently and is primarily wind–forced. Its area could exceed 800 thousand km 2 and shows weak sensitivity to river discharge volume.

Source: Frontiers in Marine Science

DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1681563

Authors: Alexander Savin, Alexander Osadchiev

Institutions: Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Institute of Oceanology. PP Shirshov Russian Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics

Subfield: Atmospheric Science

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801