the pacific gateway to the arctic – quantifying and understanding bering strait oceanic fluxes r....
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The Pacific Gateway to the Arctic – Quantifying and Understanding Bering Strait Oceanic Fluxes
R. Woodgate1, T. Weingartner2, T. Whitledge2, Ron Lindsay1, I. Lavrenov3
1Applied Physics Lab-U. Washington, Seattle, WA
2U. Alaska, Fairbanks, AK
3Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
Sponsorship:
NSF, NOAA, Russian Federation of Science
Arctic Ocean Network Meeting
Boulder, CO, March, 2007
Science Issues Confidence Level
Mass Flux: ~0.8 +/- 0.2 Sv M, S: reasonable, IV: modest
Freshwater Flux: M, S: low, IV: poor 2500 ± 300 km3/yr (2005) (33% of the Arctic FW influx)
Heat Flux: M, S: low, IV: poor 2-5 x1020 J/yr (large regional melting potential)
Dynamics: Mean: reasonable Pacific-Arctic sea level ~0.7 m S, IV: poor Winds (60% of the flow variance) S, IV: good
Ecologically significant: Mean, S, IV: poor Nutrients, C, seds & biota to western Arctic ecosystems
We have missed:
1. Stratification (a problem for most Arctic shelves)
2. Coastal currents
3. Nutrients (nitrate)
4. Comprehensive cross-strait coverage (problematic due to past political & $$ constraints)
This IPY project addresses these issues
Bering Strait Influences:
1. Stratification of the Arctic Ocean
2. Biological Production of the Chukchi Sea and western Arctic Ocean
3. Regional ice conditions (Chukchi Shelf and possibly Chukchi Cap)
4. The Global Hydrologic Cycle
5. The MOC and North Atlantic Boundary currents (possibly)
And responds to:
6. Upstream forcing over the Bering Sea shelf and basin & Gulf of Alaska (salt, freshwater, nutrients)
7. Steric variations between the Arctic and Pacific.
Measurements: Seven, year-round moorings (serviced annually) to capture:
1.) Major water masses and coastal currents
2) Stratification (ISCAT) and ADCPs
3) Nitrate and Fluorescence (ISUS nitrate analyzers on 3 moorings)
4) Cross-strait pressure fluctuations
5) Complete cross-strait coverage
6) CTD, nutrients on annual mooring services cruises,
7) Remote sensing (SST, altimetry, and QuikSCAT)
80 km
2007-2009
Data Management Plan
Data types (available annually):Hourly: currents, temperature, salinity, nitrate, fluorescence, ice thickness (via ADCP), bottom pressure
Hydrography: CTD and nutrients (annually)
Satellite SST: when possibleSatellite altimetry & QuikSCAT: open water season
Data disposition (after quality control):
Project Website: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/BeringStrait.htmlJOSS
Mooring Servicing & CTD Cruises:
Russian Naval Hydrographic vessel: Sever (possibly Khromov or other in 2008)
Logistics
Synergies
NOAA: Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (2008)
Possible collaborations between N. Pacific ARGO program and Arctic Ocean measurements to examine Pacific-Arctic thermosteric variations.