UK scientists have detected a huge dome of fresh water that is
developing in the western Arctic Ocean. The bulge is some 8,000
cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002. The
team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a
great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the
Beaufort Gyre. This would force the water together, raising sea
surface height, the group tells the journal Nature Geoscience.
"In the western Arctic, the Beaufort Gyre is driven by a
permanent anti-cyclonic wind circulation. It drives the water,
forcing it to pile up in the centre of the gyre, and this domes
the sea surface," explained lead author Dr Katharine Giles from
the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) at
University College London. "In our data, we see the trend being
biggest in the centre of the gyre and less around the edges,"
she told BBC News. Dr Giles and colleagues made their discovery
using radar satellites belonging to the European Space Agency
(Esa). These spacecraft c