Differences in freshwater content (in meters, a) and SSS (b) between INTAROS-opt and the TOPAZ4 reanalysis. Panels (c) and (d) are the accumulated freshwater content (ยด103 km3) in the Beaufort Sea (enclosed by the red line in panel (b)), and in the Laptev and the East Siberian Seas (enclosed by the blue line in panel (b)) based on the three model simulations, the PHC and WOA climatology (see the legend). Observed freshwater content in the Beaufort Gyre (https://www.whoi.edu/website/beaufortgyre/data) is also overlaid in panel (c).