Shelf-Basin Exchange across the Western Arctic Boundary Current

北冰洋的盐跃层往往将海洋表面的海冰与温暖的大西洋水流动带入海洋的热量隔离开来。因此，这种盐跃层结构或持久性的变化将对北极海冰覆盖的变化速度产生重要影响，从而对全球气候产生重大影响。这种盐跃层是如何维持的是一个悬而未决的问题，但有一种理论强烈地表明，北冰洋周围大陆架的冷水横向流动。2002-2004年，一个高分辨率的系泊阵列横跨巴罗峡谷以东的博福特海的搁板和上坡。该阵列由垂直剖面化电导率/温度/深度传感器(CTD系泊剖面仪)、声学多普勒海流剖面仪和剖面声海流计组成。两个系泊设备之间的距离仅为5公里，这是首次使用系泊设备在罗斯比变形半径范围内测量北极的边界流系统。该阵列在所有季节返回了3000多个天气横坡CTD剖面和18,000个绝对速度剖面。提供资金用于对这一数据集进行分析。主要研究人员的中心假设是，边界流系统的动力学首先决定了质量和性质从陆架向开阔海洋的转移，而开阔海洋又被认为维持了北极西部的上层盐跃层。分析工作将集中在上升流动力学、涡旋形成、次生环流和非地转动力学上。

The halocline of the Arctic Ocean tends to isolate the sea ice on the surface of the ocean from the heat carried into the ocean with flows of warm Atlantic Water. Changes in the structure or persistence of this halocline will, thus, have an important influence on the rate of change of sea ice cover in the Arctic and, consequently, global climate. How this halocline is maintained is an open question, but one theory strongly implicates the lateral flux of cold waters from the shelves surrounding the Arctic Ocean.In 2002-2004 a high-resolution mooring array was situated across the shelfbreak and upper slope of the Beaufort Sea, east of Barrow Canyon. The array consisted of vertically profiling conductivity/temperature/ depth sensors (CTD Moored Profilers), combined with Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers and profiling acoustic current meters. The moorings were spaced only 5 km apart, and represent the first time that the boundary current system in the Arctic has been measured at the scale of the Rossby radius of deformation using moorings. The array returned over 3,000 synoptic cross-slope CTD sections and 18,000 absolute velocity sections, over all of the seasons. Funds are provided to carry out the analysis of this data set. The principal investigators' central hypothesis is that the dynamics of the boundary current system dictates, to first order, the transfer of mass and properties from the shelf to the open ocean, which, in turn, is thought to maintain the upper halocline of the western Arctic. The analysis effort will focus upon upwelling dynamics, eddy formation, and secondary circulation and ageostrophic dynamics.