Arctic Ice-Ocean Interaction in a Time of Rapid Change

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Funds are provided to explore the overarching hypothesis that relatively small-scale aspects of the response of the ice-ocean boundary layer (IOBL) to large-scale forcing play a critical role in understanding the increase and redistribution of Arctic fresh water content. Stronger stratification from freshening that began in the 1990s has resulted in shallower well mixed layers, greatly increasing the mobility of fresh water and reducing its capacity to mix directly with more saline water below. Atmospheric circulation in recent summers has tended to cause fresh water to converge in the Canada Basin, with associated downwelling from Ekman pumping.The work supported here includes three interdependent activities: (i) utilization of upper ocean data from extensive buoy programs (ice-tethered profilers, Arctic Ocean flux buoys, ice mass balance buoys), many recently supported by the Arctic Observing Network, in a modeling study designed to answer fundamental questions regarding turbulent mixing, and to gauge total and fresh water transport in the IOBL; (ii) investigation of specific deficiencies in our understanding of IOBL processes, especially those associated with first year versus multiyear pack ice, horizontal heterogeneity, and extreme stratification; and (iii) execution of field projects focused on particular processes.