Autonomous Observations of the Upper Ocean Stratification and Velocity Field about the Seasonality Retreating Marginal Ice Zone

Abstract

As a contribution to the Marginal Ice Zone ORI, this research element was designed to observe the seasonal evolution of the upper-ocean stratification. document the time-varying ocean currents and characterize the turbulent ice-ocean exchanges of heat, salt and momentum as the sea ice cover retreats poleward in spring/summer using Ice-Tethered Profilers with Velocity. A total of 5 systems were deployed for MIZ, programmed to acquire vertical profiles of upper-ocean temperature, salinity and horizontal velocity at 3 hour resolution, as well as direct vertical turbulent flux estimates from just below the ice-ocean interface several times per day. Results advance understanding of the Arctic air-ice-ocean system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 30, 2016
Accession Number
AD1038905

Entities

People

  • Fredrik T. Thwaites
  • John M. Toole
  • Mary-Louise Timmermans
  • Richard A. Krishfield
  • Sylvia T. Cole

Organizations

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arctic Ocean
  • Boundary Layer
  • Dynamics
  • Internal Waves
  • Layers
  • Marginal Ice Zones
  • Momentum
  • Observation
  • Ocean Currents
  • Oceans
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Regions
  • Salinity
  • Sea Ice
  • Stratification
  • Stratified Fluids
  • Students

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Polar and Arctic Studies