Analysis of Arctic Ocean Fluxes
Abstract
High resolution coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean regional models continue to under-predict observed rapid decreases in ice pack areal extent and volume. The recent Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) and Stratified Ocean Dynamics of the Arctic (SODA) Department Research Initiatives (DRIs) have generated important data sets investigating a range of small scale processes not captured by these models. Existing and on-going data from these initiatives include long term observations from Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoys (AOFBs) made in my researchgroup co-located with WHOI Ice Tethered Profilers deployed on Arctic ice floes. These collaborative observations have been made over successive years in both the Canada Basin and Transpolar drift, and will be used in the proposed work to quantify processes controlling upper pycnocline diffusivity, entrainment of heat trapped in the pycocline by strong surface forcing events, and the complicated interplay of summer solar irradiance and ice melt-out and the formation of near-surface temperature maxima. This proposal will support deployment of an AOFB in the northern Canada Basin in collaboration with WHOI colleagues, and a flux package / current profiler on a buoy in the Beaufort Sea with UW collaborators. These analyses and data sets will provide important benchmarks for the rapidly developing physics being implemented in high resolution coupled numerical models.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 11, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312813
Entities
People
- Timothy Stanton
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- San José State University
- United States Navy