A perfect bowl-like submesoscale vortex from seismic reflection transect in the Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Yang ◽  
Haibin Song ◽  
Kun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Chukchi Sea ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Physical Oceanography ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Seismic Line ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Right

<p>The eddies are ubiquitous in the ocean and play an important role in the transportation and redistribution of heat, salt, carbon, nutrients and other materials in the global ocean, thus can regulate global climate and affect the distribution of marine organism. Compared with mesoscale eddies, submesoscale vortices (SVs) have smaller spatial and temporal scales, which impose higher requirements on observation and simulation. The oceanic SVs have a strong vertical velocity, which provides an important supply of nutrients in the upper ocean.</p><p>Many researchers have studied the SVs in the Arctic Ocean by physical oceanography methods (e.g., <em>in-situ </em>measurements and satellite observations). Here, we found a perfect bowl-like SV using a new method named seismic oceanography (SO). SO can use multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection data to produce surprisingly detailed images of water column. Compared with the traditional physical oceanography methods, SO has the advantages of high acquisition efficiency, high lateral resolution (~10 m) and full depth imaging of seawater.</p><p>We used MCS data to image the water column in the in autumn Northeast Chukchi Sea, and captured a perfect bowl-like structure with a depth range of ~200-620m. The structure is almost bilaterally symmetric and has dip angles of 4.8° and 5.5° on the left and on the right, respectively. And it has a horizontal scale of about 12 km at the top and 4.5 km at the bottom, and both the top and bottom of it are near horizontal. The reflections are almost blank in its interior, but are intense and very narrow (~30 m thick) at the lateral boundaries. This indicated that the interior water is homogeneous and quite different from that around it. Fortunately, there is an XBT station near the seismic line and collected almost simultaneously (only one day apart) with the seismic line. The XBT station shows obvious high temperature anomaly over 2°C at the depth of 210-700 m. Therefore, we concluded the structure is a subsurface warm SV, i.e. anticyclonic warm eddy, and may be a submesoscale coherent vortex (SCV). The anomalies from the surrounding water masses indicate that the SV was created at the edge of the Arctic Ocean and then advected here.</p><p>In addition, we used Rossby number (Ro) and Okubo-Weiss (OW) parameter calculated from daily-averaged re-analysis hydrographic data (~3.5 km of grid spacing at 75°N ) from Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) to analyze the SV. Result shows that the values of the Ro and OW parameter in the area of the SV are both negative. This also suggests that this SV is an anticyclone. This submesoscale anticyclonic vortex may be generated from the friction effect between the warm inflow from the North Pacific and the right wall of Barrow Canyon after passing through the Bering Strait, and then transported to the Northeast of Chukchi Sea by the Beaufort Gyre.</p>

scholarly journals Structure and drivers of ocean mixing north of Svalbard in summer and fall 2018

Ocean Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 365-381
Author(s):  
Zoe Koenig ◽  
Eivind H. Kolås ◽  
Ilker Fer
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Tidal Currents ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Ocean Mixing ◽  
Atlantic Sector ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Nonlinear Relation

Abstract. The Arctic Ocean is a major sink for heat and salt for the global ocean. Ocean mixing contributes to this sink by mixing the Atlantic- and Pacific-origin waters with surrounding waters. We investigate the drivers of ocean mixing north of Svalbard, in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic, based on observations collected during two research cruises in summer and fall 2018. Estimates of vertical turbulent heat flux from the Atlantic Water layer up to the mixed layer reach 30 W m−2 in the core of the boundary current, and average to 8 W m−2, accounting for ∼1 % of the total heat loss of the Atlantic layer in the region. In the mixed layer, there is a nonlinear relation between the layer-integrated dissipation and wind energy input; convection was active at a few stations and was responsible for enhanced turbulence compared to what was expected from the wind stress alone. Summer melting of sea ice reduces the temperature, salinity and depth of the mixed layer and increases salt and buoyancy fluxes at the base of the mixed layer. Deeper in the water column and near the seabed, tidal forcing is a major source of turbulence: diapycnal diffusivity in the bottom 250 m of the water column is enhanced during strong tidal currents, reaching on average 10−3 m2 s−1. The average profile of diffusivity decays with distance from the seabed with an e-folding scale of 22 m compared to 18 m in conditions with weaker tidal currents. A nonlinear relation is inferred between the depth-integrated dissipation in the bottom 250 m of the water column and the tidally driven bottom drag and is used to estimate the bottom dissipation along the continental slope of the Eurasian Basin. Computation of an inverse Froude number suggests that nonlinear internal waves forced by the diurnal tidal currents (K1 constituent) can develop north of Svalbard and in the Laptev and Kara seas, with the potential to mix the entire water column vertically. Understanding the drivers of turbulence and the nonlinear pathways for the energy to turbulence in the Arctic Ocean will help improve the description and representation of the rapidly changing Arctic climate system.

scholarly journals Modelling the effect of boundary scavenging on Thorium and Protactinium profiles in the ocean

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 7853-7896 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Roy-Barman
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Transport Parameters ◽  
Lateral Transport ◽  
Transport Reaction ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Boundary Scavenging

Abstract. The "boundary scavenging" box model is a cornerstone of our understanding of the particle-reactive radionuclide fluxes between the open ocean and the ocean margins. However, it does not describe the radionuclide profiles in the water column. Here, I present the transport-reaction equations for radionuclides transported vertically by reversible scavenging on settling particles and laterally by horizontal currents between the margin and the open ocean. Analytical solutions of these equations are compared with existing data. In the Pacific Ocean, the model produces "almost" linear 230Th profiles (as observed in the data) despite lateral transport. However, omitting lateral transport biased the 230Th based particle flux estimates by as much as 50%. 231Pa profiles are well reproduced in the whole water column of the Pacific Margin and from the surface down to 3000 m in the Pacific subtropical gyre. Enhanced bottom scavenging or inflow of 231Pa-poor equatorial water may account for the model-data discrepancy below 3000 m. The lithogenic 232Th is modelled using the same transport parameters as 230Th but a different source function. The main source of 232Th scavenged in the open Pacific is advection from the ocean margin, whereas a net flux of 230Th produced in the open Pacific is advected and scavenged at the margin, illustrating boundary exchange. In the Arctic Ocean, the model reproduces 230Th measured profiles that the uni-dimensional scavenging model or the scavenging-ventilation model failed to explain. Moreover, if lateral transport is ignored, the 230Th based particle settling speed may by underestimated by a factor 4 at the Arctic Ocean margin. The very low scavenging rate in the open Arctic Ocean combined with the enhanced scavenging at the margin accounts for the lack of high 231Pa/230Th ratio in arctic sediments.

Supplementary material to "The 3.6 ka Aniakchak tephra in the Arctic Ocean: a constraint on the Holocene radiocarbon reservoir age in the Chukchi Sea"

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Pearce ◽  
Aron Varhelyi ◽  
Stefan Wastegård ◽  
Francesco Muschitiello ◽  
Natalia Barrientos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Chukchi Sea ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Reservoir Age

Implementation of a multipurpose Arctic Ocean Observing System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stein Sandven ◽  
Hanne Sagen ◽  
Agnieszka Beszczynska-Möller ◽  
Peter Vo ◽  
Marie-Noelle Houssais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Sea Floor ◽  
Acoustic Thermometry ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Global Coverage ◽  
Cable Systems ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Observing Systems

<p>The central Arctic Ocean is one of the least observed oceans in the world. This ice-covered region is challenging for ocean observing with respect to technology, logistics and costs. Many physical, biogeochemical, biological, and geophysical processes in the water column and sea floor under the sea ice are difficult to observe and therefore poorly understood. Today, there are technological advances in platforms and sensors for under-ice observation, which offer possibilities to install and operate sustained observing infrastructures in the Arctic Ocean. The goal of the INTAROS project is to develop integrated observing systems in the Arctic, including improvement of data sharing and dissemination to various user groups. INTAROS supports a number of systems providing data from the ocean in delayed mode as well as in near-real time mode, but only a few operate in the ice-covered areas.</p><p>Autonomous observing platforms used in the ice-free oceans such as Argo floats, gliders, and autonomous surface vehicles cannot yet be used operationally in ice-covered Arctic regions. The limitation is because the sea ice prevents these underwater platforms from reaching the surface for satellite communication and geopositioning. To improve the Arctic Ocean Observing capability OceanObs19 recommended ‘to pilot a sustained multipurpose acoustic network for positioning, tomography, passive acoustics, and communication in an integrated Arctic Observing System, with eventual transition to global coverage’. Acoustic networks have been used locally and regionally in the Arctic for underwater acoustic thermometry, geo-positioning for floats and gliders, and passive acoustic. The Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment (CAATEX) is a first step toward developing a basin-scale multipurpose acoustic network using modern instrumentation.</p><p>To provide secure data delivery, submarine cables are needed either as dedicated cabled observatories or as hybrid cable systems (sharing the cable infrastructure between science and commercial telecommunications), or both combined. Several large-scale cabled observatories existing coastal areas in world oceans, but none on the Arctic Ocean. At OceanObs19 it was recommended to transition (telecom+sensing) SMART subsea cable systems from present pilots to trans-ocean implementation, to address climate, ocean circulation, sea level, tsunami and earthquake early warning, ultimately with global coverage. Cabled observatories, either stand alone or branching from a hybrid system, could provide power and real time communication to support connected water column moorings and sea floor instrumentation as well as docking mobile platforms. Subsea cable developers are looking into the possibility to deploy a communication cable across the Arctic Ocean from Europe to Asia, because this offers a much shorter route compared to the terrestrial cables.</p><p> An international consortium of leading scientists in ocean observing with experience in state-of-the-art technologies on platforms, sensors, subsea cable technology, acoustic communication and data transmission plan to establish a project to implement and test the system based on experience from the CAATEX experiment and other Arctic observing system experiments. The INTAROS project is presently developing a Roadmap for an integrated Arctic Observing System, where multipurpose ocean observing systems will be one component.</p>

Hydrographic Changes in Nares Strait (Canadian Arctic Archipelago) in Recent Decades Based on δ18O Profiles of Bivalve Shells

ARCTIC ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta E. Torres ◽  
Daniela Zima ◽  
Kelly K. Falkner ◽  
Robie W. Macdonald ◽  
Mary O'Brien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Nares Strait ◽  
The North ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Oxygen Isotopic ◽  
Bivalve Shells

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Nares Strait is one of three main passages of the Canadian Archipelago that channel relatively fresh seawater from the Arctic Ocean through Baffin Bay to the Labrador Sea. Oxygen isotopic profiles along the growth axis of bivalve shells, collected live over the 5 – 30 m depth range from the Greenland and Ellesmere Island sides of the strait, were used to reconstruct changes in the hydrography of the region over the past century. The variability in oxygen isotope ratios is mainly attributed to variations in salinity and suggests that the northern end of Nares Strait has been experiencing an increase in freshwater runoff since the mid 1980s. The recent changes are most pronounced at the northern end of the strait and diminish toward the south, a pattern consistent with proximity to the apparently freshening Arctic Ocean source in the north and mixing with Baffin Bay waters as the water progresses southward. This increasing freshwater signal may reflect changes in circulation and ice formation that favor an increased flow of relatively fresh waters from the Arctic Ocean into Nares Strait. </span>

scholarly journals How well does wind speed predict air-sea gas transfer in the sea ice zone? A synthesis of radon deficit profiles in the upper water column of the Arctic Ocean

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 3696-3714 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Loose ◽  
R. P. Kelly ◽  
A. Bigdeli ◽  
W. Williams ◽  
R. Krishfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Gas Transfer ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

scholarly journals On available energy in the ocean and its application to the Barents Sea

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 897-931
Author(s):  
R. C. Levine ◽  
D. J. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Exact Expression ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Available Energy ◽  
The Barents Sea ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract. Following meteorological practice the definition of available potential energy in the ocean is conventionally defined in terms of the properties of the global ocean. However there is also a requirement for a localised definition, for example the energy released when shelf water cascades down a continental shelf in the Arctic and enters a boundary current. In this note we start from first principals to obtain an exact expression for the available energy (AE) in such a situation. We show that the available energy depends on enstrophy and gravity. We also show that it is exactly equal to the work done by the pressure gradient and by buoyancy. The results are used to investigate the distribution of AE in the Barents Sea and surrounding regions relative to the interior of the Arctic Ocean. We find that water entering the Barents Sea from the Atlantic already has a high AE, that it is increased by cooling but that much of the increase is lost overcoming turbulence during the passage through the region to the Arctic Ocean. However on entering the Arctic enough available energy remains to drive a significant current around the margin of the ocean. The core of raised available energy also acts as a tracer which can be followed along the continental slope beyond the dateline.

scholarly journals On the circulation, water mass distribution, and nutrient concentrations of the western Chukchi Sea

Ocean Science ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Jaclyn Clement Kinney ◽  
Karen M. Assmann ◽  
Wieslaw Maslowski ◽  
Göran Björk ◽  
Martin Jakobsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Modelling ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Chukchi Sea ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Sediment Surface ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
East Siberian Sea ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

Abstract. Substantial amounts of nutrients and carbon enter the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait, distributed over three main pathways. Water with low salinities and nutrient concentrations takes an eastern route along the Alaskan coast, as Alaskan Coastal Water. A central pathway exhibits intermediate salinity and nutrient concentrations, while the most nutrient-rich water enters the Bering Strait on its western side. Towards the Arctic Ocean, the flow of these water masses is subject to strong topographic steering within the Chukchi Sea with volume transport modulated by the wind field. In this contribution, we use data from several sections crossing Herald Canyon collected in 2008 and 2014 together with numerical modelling to investigate the circulation and transport in the western part of the Chukchi Sea. We find that a substantial fraction of water from the Chukchi Sea enters the East Siberian Sea south of Wrangel Island and circulates in an anticyclonic direction around the island. This water then contributes to the high-nutrient waters of Herald Canyon. The bottom of the canyon has the highest nutrient concentrations, likely as a result of addition from the degradation of organic matter at the sediment surface in the East Siberian Sea. The flux of nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, and silicate) and dissolved inorganic carbon in Bering Summer Water and Winter Water is computed by combining hydrographic and nutrient observations with geostrophic transport referenced to lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP) and surface drift data. Even if there are some general similarities between the years, there are differences in both the temperature–salinity and nutrient characteristics. To assess these differences, and also to get a wider temporal and spatial view, numerical modelling results are applied. According to model results, high-frequency variability dominates the flow in Herald Canyon. This leads us to conclude that this region needs to be monitored over a longer time frame to deduce the temporal variability and potential trends.

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