Dynamics of the Beaufort Sea: Ice-Tethered Profiler observations of stratification and velocity
Abstract
A critical question for the future Arctic system is how its components interact on timescales from days to decades, including how the ocean shapes the ice cover, and in turn how a changing ice cover influences the ocean. We propose to use Ice-Tethered Profilers with Velocity (ITP-Vs) to provide detailed observations of the ice-ocean system from the ice-ocean boundary layer to several hundred meters depth. Direct observations of temperature, salinity, and ocean velocity in the upper 250 m, as well as turbulent fluxes of heat, salt, and momentum just beneath the ice cover will be collected. One year of high-resolution in time observations are expected to be collected. This effort will involve building one Ice-Tethered Profiler, deploy this ITP and an additional ITP-V in 2020, and completing the data handling, post-processing, and a first analysis of four systems. The four systems include two additional ITP-Vs deployed in 2019 that are currently collecting observations. We additionally propose to build two ITP-V systems for deployment in 2021. These systems will contribute to the SODA DRI effort to investigate key processes governing the dynamics and water masses of the Beaufort Sea. The ability to investigate a range of ocean processes and water mass properties together with intermittent, seasonal, and spatial changes to the ocean and ice cover provides an extensive dataset that will advance our understanding of the oceans role in the evolution of the Arctic sea ice cover, as well as the upper-oceans response to changes in sea ice properties.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012743
Entities
People
- Sylvia T. Cole
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution