The Atlantic Water Boundary Current in the Eastern Arctic: Composition, Transport, Variability and Dynamics

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will use moored velocity and hydrographic time series to quantify the input of the warm Atlantic Water emanating from Fram Strait into the Arctic Ocean and determine the dynamics of the flow that lead to exchange with interior waters. This is made possible through collaboration with scientists from five international research institutions (known collectively as the ATWAIN project) who will contribute moorings and provide the ship time. Together, 9 moorings will be deployed across the Atlantic Water boundary current for a full year in a configuration that will resolve the relevant dynamical scales of the current. Four of the moorings will be provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and five by ATWAIN. The array will be deployed and recovered using a Norwegian ice-strengthened vessel. The funds to fabricate all of the moorings and the technician time to deploy and recover them have already been obtained through a combination of private sources (for the WHOI moorings) and foreign funding agencies (for the ATWAIN moorings). In this proposal the PI is seeking support for (i) participation on the recovery cruise by the PI and a shipboard technician; (ii) processing of the mooring data and shipboard hydrographic/velocity data; (iii) scientific analysis of the resulting observational data in conjunction with the foreign collaborators; (iv) a graduate student to work on the project; and (v) an outreach program. The flow and modification of warm Atlantic Water within the Arctic Ocean contributes to the waters that form the Meridional Overturning Circulation, sometimes known as the ocean conveyor belt, that is a major aspect of the global climate system. This project will significantly enhance our understanding of the time and space varying processes contributing to that modification.