Collaborative Research: EAGER: Microstructure Observations of Vertical Mixing and Heat Fluxes from Chipods Deployed on Arctic Observing Network Cruises

气候变化正在导致北冰洋变暖，北冰洋海冰融化。这两种影响是相互关联的，因为海洋变暖可以更快地融化海冰，而当海冰融化时，更多的阳光进入海洋，使海洋变得更加温暖。融化的海冰也可能导致更多的海洋湍流，因为它允许在海洋表面产生更大的波浪。我们还没有完全了解海冰融化和海洋变暖是如何相互影响的，在北冰洋进行海洋测量是困难的。在这里，我们建议使用现有的湍流观测数据集来了解北极水域变暖是否与海洋混合有关，识别混合的区域模式，并量化近年来的变化。这些观测是用一种高度专业化的仪器进行的，这种仪器可以直接测量海洋湍流，这种仪器在北冰洋很少使用。拟议工作的一部分是开发在这种独特环境中解释数据的新方法。一旦这些方法被开发出来，它们可能使长期监测北极湍流的变化成为可能。推动这项工作的动机是为了更好地了解北极气候变化将如何影响海洋和海冰之间的相互作用。这既是北极沿海社区面临海冰减少和海岸侵蚀加剧的一个重要目标，也是改善对全球气候预测的一个重要目标。该提案将支持两位女科学家的早期职业生涯，还将支持与白桦水族馆合作开发一个展览，向广大观众解释北极气候变化。气候变化正在戏剧性地改变北冰洋，包括北冰洋几十年来的海冰消失。了解海冰减少和北冰洋变暖之间的潜在反馈对于预测和减缓未来的气候变化至关重要。在此，我们提议利用在北极观测网两次巡航上收集的264条船上湍流观测剖面的现有数据集，以评估北冰洋边界洋流区域的垂直混合强度，并量化混合强度与(近年来已变暖的)边界流温度之间的任何相关性；以及查明北冰洋大陆架混合的区域模式，并量化混合速率相对于先前研究的任何变化。我们的目标是利用这些结果来提高我们对气候变暖中北极海洋混合的理解，并为未来监测北极混合环境的变化提供信息。这些部署代表了在北冰洋首次使用湍流仪器，这些仪器可以常规地部署在水文测量巡航中，由于北冰洋和通常部署这些仪器的较低纬度海洋之间的差异，处理和解释产生的数据将需要新的方法。一旦完成，这项分析将提供有关北极海洋垂直混合变化的信息，以及热量和营养物质的垂直输送将如何在不断变化的气候中演变的信息。这项工作的基本目标是增进对北极气候及其在边缘垂直混合率方面的可能轨迹的了解。在北极沿海社区面临海冰流失和海岸侵蚀的情况下，这一目标在区域和全球范围内对于改善对未来气候的预测都很重要。此外，这项建议旨在支持两名女性科学家的早期职业生涯，并将支持与白桦水族馆合作开发一个展览，向广大观众解释北极气候变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Climate change is causing the Arctic Ocean to get warmer and Arctic sea ice to melt. These two effects are related, because a warmer ocean can melt sea ice faster, and when sea ice melts, more sunlight gets into the ocean, making it even warmer. Melted sea ice may also result in more ocean turbulence as it allows for bigger waves on the ocean surface. We do not fully understand how melting sea ice and a warming ocean influence each other, and it is difficult to make ocean measurements in the Arctic Ocean. Here we propose to use an existing dataset of turbulence observations to understand whether warming of Arctic waters is associated with ocean mixing, to identify regional patterns in mixing, and to quantify changes in recent years. These observations were made with a highly specialized instrument that can directly measure ocean turbulence, which has been infrequently used in the Arctic Ocean. Part of the proposed work is to develop new methods to interpret the data in this unique environment. Once these methods are developed, they may make long term monitoring of changes in Arctic turbulence possible. The motivation driving this work is to improve understanding of how Arctic climate change will affect interactions between the ocean and sea ice. This is an important goal both for Arctic coastal communities, who face a loss of sea ice and increasing coastal erosion, and for improving predictions of global climate. The proposal will support the early careers of two female scientists, and will also support a collaboration with the Birch Aquarium to develop an exhibit to explain Arctic climate change to a broad audience.Climate change is dramatically altering the Arctic Ocean, including the multidecadal loss of Arctic sea ice. Understanding potential feedbacks between sea ice loss and the warming Arctic Ocean is of critical importance to predicting and mitigating future climate change. Here we propose to use an existing dataset of 264 profiles of shipboard turbulence observations collected on two Arctic Observing Network cruises to assess the strength of vertical mixing in boundary current regions of the Arctic Ocean, and quantify any correlation between the strength of mixing and temperature of boundary currents (which have warmed in recent years); and identify regional patterns in mixing along the Arctic shelves and quantify any changes in mixing rates relative to prior studies. We aim to use the results to both improve our understanding of Arctic ocean mixing in a warming climate and inform future efforts to monitor changes in the Arctic mixing environment. These deployments represent some of the first uses of turbulence instruments in the Arctic ocean which can be routinely deployed on hydrography cruises, and processing and interpreting the resulting data will require new methods due to differences between the Arctic ocean and the lower latitude oceans where these instruments are usually deployed. Once completed, this analysis will provide information about changes in Arctic oceanic vertical mixing and how the vertical transport of heat and nutrients will evolve in a changing climate. The underlying objective of this work is to improve understanding of the Arctic climate and its likely trajectory in terms of vertical mixing rates along the margins. This aim is important regionally, as Arctic coastal communities face a loss of sea ice and coastal erosion, and globally for improving predictions of the future climate. Additionally, this proposal is structured to support the early careers of two female scientists, and will also support a collaboration with the Birch Aquarium to develop an exhibit to explain Arctic climate change to a broad audience.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.