Long Term Observations of Inertial Waves and Turbulent Diffusivity in the Upper Pycnocline of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas
Abstract
Over the last one and a half decades, summer melt of the Arctic ice cover increased significantly, with first-year ice now a significant component of the pack ice, and with much of the melt back ocurring in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The summer melt-back freshens the ocean surface layer, which strengthens the seasonal pycnocline, which, in turn, tends to inhibit vetical turbulent transport between the surface layer and underlying layers. On the other hand, large areas of open water allow energetic, near-inertial waves to develop (due to direct air-sea coupling and lack of ice cover dissipation), at least in open water. This enhanced energy input to the ocean should tend to increase turbulent diffusivity of the pycnocline and promote vertical turbulent transport. It remains an open question as to how these two competing effects affect vertical transport and exchange in the Arctic Ocean and how these effect"s are related to proximity to the ice edge. This Moss Landing Marine Laboratories component of the funded proposal ""Long term observ""ations of inertial waves and turbulent diffusivity in the upper pycnocline of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas "" will provide support f"or deployment of the four Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoys (AOFB) that have been funded under the SODA project. Three of hte AOFB s will be deployed during the September 2018 Healy icebreaker cruise with participation of three graduate students. The fourth buoy will be installed as a component of hte NABOS proejct in the Eurasian Basin. Data management, pre-processing and analysis will also be executed through this grant. New software will be written for analysis of the pycnocline diffusivity measurements now being made with the AOFB s in addition to the near-surface heat, salt and momentum fluxes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 24, 2019
- Source ID
- N000141912205
Entities
People
- Timothy Stanton
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- San José State University
- United States Navy