An Annual Cycle of Ice-Ocean Interactions using Autonomous Platforms: Sea Ice Component
Abstract
Ice cover strongly modulates how atmospheric forcing imprints onto Arctic Ocean stratification and circulation. Differences in sea ice properties, including strength, mobility, open water fraction and bottom roughness, likely impact the transfer of momentum and buoyancy from atmosphere to ocean. Upper ocean vertical and horizontal structures also modulate the communication ofatmospheric/ice forcing into the ocean interior. Under this collaborative effort, our specific proposal will address the sea ice component of the system, monitoring the ice bottom roughness using upward-looking moored multibeam sonars for the first time; as well as the ice properties from novel ice-tethered high resolution temperature chains (IMB ~ ice mass balance buoys). The ice drifters will also incorporate wind and sea level pressure sensors, to resolve short-term atmospheric forcing notcaptured by models; and will extend the IMB chain down to 200m to resolve the finest-scale (temporal and vertical) displacements. The collaborative moorings will also be enhanced with amooring-top-to-surface temperature chain. This unique set of observations will quantify the dynamics governing mixed layer evolution, most of the internal wave spectrum, and mesoscale/submesoscale variability in the central Canada Basin. By siting in a region that experiences seasonal ice cover and persisting through an entire annual cycle, the proposedobserving system will capture the interplay between atmosphere, ice and ocean over a broad rangeof atmospheric forcing and ice conditions. This provides the dynamic range required to advance our understanding of momentum and buoyancy transfer into the Arctic Ocean.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 23, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612528
Entities
People
- Jeremy Wilkinson
Organizations
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy