25. River Heat Flux into the Arctic Ocean

Long-term observations and data analyses of water temperatures and discharge over the northern regions determine water temperature regimes and quantify river heat flux into the ocean system. This chapter presents an overview of thermal regime and heat flux for the large rivers in northern regions. This chapter compares the results for the Siberian and North American arctic watersheds/regions, and highlights the differences and changes in water temperature and heat flux due to climate variation and human effect. Given the limited water temperature observations, this chapter is unable to discuss the variability and change in river thermal conditions over the northern regions of the North America. There is a knowledge gap in river temperature and heat contribution along the arctic coast of North America. Advanced hydrologic models and remote sensing data have provided opportunities to improve our understanding of river thermal characteristics across the northern regions. There is a need to continue to explore remote sensing data/products in the investigations of river water temperature and heat transport processes and to develop coupled land–ocean models, in order to better quantify land–ocean linkage and connections across the northern coastal regions.