Circulation and Thermohaline Structure along the Chukchi-Beaufort Continental Slope
Abstract
My long-term goal is to understand the mean and time-varying density structure and circulation dynamics of the continental slope of the Arctic Ocean and how the slope interacts with the adjacent shelves and basin. The circumpolar boundary currents of the Arctic Ocean are important in the distribution and exchange of mass, heat, and material around the basin and between the shelves and the interior ocean. However, this province of the Arctic Ocean is the least understood and sampled portion of the Arctic. The field effort and data analyses are addressing the following questions and objectives: 1. What is the decorrelation length scale of the alongslope density field? Does this length scale differ between the Chukchi and Beaufort slopes? 2. How does the magnitude of the alongshore pressure gradient vary along the Chukchi-Beaufort continental slope? Are these changes associated with distinctly different water masses? 3. How does the cross-slope pressure gradient vary along the Beaufort-Chukchi continental slope? 4. Is the flow in the upper halocline consistent with the thermal wind balance? 5. Combine the temperature-salinity data with biogeochemical measurements to better define the water masses encountered along the slope.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA609730
Entities
People
- Thomas Weingartner
Organizations
- University of Alaska Fairbanks