Research Summaries

Back Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoy Observations for ICEX2016

Fiscal Year 2015
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Oceanography
Investigator(s) Stanton, Timothy P.
Sponsor Office of Naval Research (Navy)
Summary In the context of ongoing Arctic change, in particular the record-setting summertime reductions in extent and volume of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover (e.g. Comiso et al., 2008; Maslanik et al., 2007), it is important to understand the dynamics and energetics of the significantly thinned central Arctic ice cover under summer forcing conditions. By late summer, much of the Beaufort Sea now has thin, warm, weak ice cover with widespread melt ponds, making it highly vulnerable to wind / wave forced rapid breakup, which occurred, for example, in 2012. The proposed research extends autonomous observations of ocean-ice interactions that were studied with a series of 3 sets of ice-supported sensors during the 2014 summer Marginal Ice Zone DRI field project by deploying a similar instrument cluster in the southern Beaufort Sea during the March 2016 ICEX field project. The proposed measurements focus on the roles of mixed layer heat storage, turbulence within and below the ocean surface mixed layer, surface wave induced motion, and the thermodynamics of the ocean-ice system in triggering enhanced ice/albedo feedbacks that control ice retreat.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal