Pathways and Properties of Atlantic Waters in the Western Arctic Ocean

大西洋沃茨（AW）是北冰洋最大的流入量。它们形成了主要的次表层环北极海洋输运系统，并覆盖了内陆盆地。它们是泛北极最大的海洋热量储存库，可能通过斜坡上涌和混合等方式影响上层和海冰。AW的循环携带示踪剂和污染物穿过北极，AW的泛北极分布为入侵物种提供了一个温暖的走廊。在全球范围内，北极修改的AW有助于北大西洋溢出，是一个高纬度（气候敏感）的纬向翻转环流的一部分。然而，尽管人们迫切关注北极的变化，但有关北极主要洋流的基本问题仍然没有答案。一般认为，存在一个气旋性的、等正压的泛北极边界流，地形上沿沿着斜坡和山脊转向。然而，特别是在北极西部，尽管在过去的几十年里，大量增加的观测，仍然很少有出版确认这种流动的物理特性，各种可能的途径的重要性，或量化的边界电流和内部或北极大陆架之间的交换过程。在一些地区，特别是加拿大盆地内部，关于流动方向存在公开的分歧（来自观测和建模）。AW环流的观测描述（特别是关于流动路径和性质的信息）对于验证AW流驱动机制的新兴理论和地面实况数值北极和全球模型（其环流模式可以通过调整基本模型参数来逆转）至关重要。在北极发生剧烈局部变化的时候，我们无法回答有关北冰洋环流的基本物理问题，这阻碍了建模和理论进步以及观测规划。因此，与国家/国际观测、建模和理论伙伴合作，这项工作将利用自1980年代末以来收集的现有历史水文、系泊和漂流浮标数据，对北极西部的大西洋水循环进行基于观测的综合。分析将包括几个未充分利用的数据集，并利用双扩散温度-盐度结构的特点，探索一种追踪水路径的新技术。目标是：（1）确定加拿大盆地大西洋沃茨的路径和变化，包括边界流和内部流;（2）描述流动的关键特征（例如，流向、大小和变化、垂直和水平结构、地形转向、等深线范围）;和（3）研究边界流、内部和陆架之间的交换过程。

Atlantic Waters (AWs) are volumetrically the largest inflow to the Arctic Ocean. They form the major subsurface circum-arctic oceanic transport system and ventilate the interior basins. They are the greatest pan-arctic reservoir of oceanic heat, which may influence upper layers and the sea-ice, for example through slope upwelling and mixing. Circulation of AW carries tracers and contaminants through the Arctic, and the pan-arctic distribution of AW offers a warm corridor for invasive species. Globally, arctic-modification of AW contributes to the North Atlantic overflows and is a high-latitude (climate-sensitive) part of the meridional overturning circulation. Yet, despite the urgent focus on the changing Arctic, fundamental questions about the major ocean current in the Arctic remain unanswered. It is generally believed there is a cyclonic, equivalent-barotropic pan-arctic boundary current, topographically steered along slopes and ridges. However, especially in the western Arctic, despite a large increase in observations in the last decades, there is still little published confirmation of the physical properties of this flow, the importance of various possible pathways, or quantification of exchange processes between the boundary current and the interior or the arctic shelves. There is open disagreement (both from observations and modeling) about the flow direction in some regions, most notably the interior Canada Basin. An observational description of AW circulation (especially information on flow pathways and properties) is essential for verifying emerging theories of the driving mechanisms of the AW flow and for ground-truthing numerical arctic and global models (whose circulation patterns may be reversed by tuning basic model parameters). At a time of dramatic, topical Arctic change, our inability to answer fundamental physical questions about Arctic Ocean circulation is hindering modeling and theoretical advances and observational planning. Thus, in collaboration with national/international observational, modeling and theoretical partners, this effort will conduct an observationally-based synthesis of the Atlantic Water circulation in the western Arctic, using available historic hydrographic, mooring, and drifting buoy data collected since the late 1980s. The analysis will include several underutilized data sets, and exploit a new technique of tracing water pathways using characteristics of double diffusive temperature-salinity structures. The goals are:(1) to define the pathways and variability of Atlantic Waters in the Canadian Basin, including both the boundary current and the interior flow;(2) to describe key features of flow (e.g., flow direction, magnitude and variability, vertical and horizontal structure, topographic steering, isobath range); and(3) to study exchange processes between the boundary current, the interior and the shelves.