Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS) 2023 Mooring Design and Cruise Support

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS) is a multidisciplinary observational program that includes physical and chemical oceanographic, atmospheric, and ice observations, complemented by servicing of moorings and deployments of drifting buoys to assess the ocean's role in climate change. These observations are critical to the Arctic Ocean observational network. The NABOS project’s goal is to understand the role of the eastern Eurasian Basin, including its shelves, in redistributing ice and the bulk of Arctic riverine waters between the eastern and western Arctic. Monitoring of the partitioning of freshwater in the eastern Eurasian Basin allows researchers to study the role of different atmospheric regimes in distributing freshwater to different parts of the basins and further downstream to the central Arctic Ocean. The current project will support the recovery of nine existing moorings and the design, fabrication, shipping, and deployment of nine new moorings to support an additional period of time-series observations. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) Mooring Operations and Engineering (MOE) group will provide expertise and technical services to accomplish the design and fabrication of nine (9) deep-water, under-ice, subsurface moorings for use by the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observation System (NABOS) Project. These moorings will be deployed in the Arctic Ocean during a cruise that will take place in the late summer of 2023. This award will facilitate the mobilization of nine moorings onto the designated vessel at the departure port. The moorings will be available for rapid deployment during a cruise to the Eastern Eurasian Basins of the Arctic Ocean. The mooring locations provide an east-west array of observations designed to better understand the role of fresh waters in regulating vertical ocean mixing across and along this region and the transport of heat from the ocean interior towards areas of sea ice in the Eurasian and Makarov basins and the northern Laptev and East Siberian seas. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.