The Pacific Gateway to the Arctic – Quantifying and Understanding Bering Strait Oceanic Fluxes

R. Woodgate1, T. Weingartner2, T. Whitledge2, Ron Lindsay1, I. Lavrenov3

1Applied Physics Lab-U. Washington, Seattle, WA

2U. Alaska, Fairbanks, AK

3Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

Sponsorship:

NSF, NOAA, Russian Federation of Science

Arctic Ocean Network Meeting

Boulder, CO, March, 2007

Science Issues Confidence Level

Mass Flux: ~0.8 +/- 0.2 Sv M, S: reasonable, IV: modest

Freshwater Flux: M, S: low, IV: poor 2500 ± 300 km3/yr (2005) (33% of the Arctic FW influx)

Heat Flux: M, S: low, IV: poor 2-5 x1020 J/yr (large regional melting potential)

Dynamics: Mean: reasonable Pacific-Arctic sea level ~0.7 m S, IV: poor Winds (60% of the flow variance) S, IV: good

Ecologically significant: Mean, S, IV: poor Nutrients, C, seds & biota to western Arctic ecosystems

We have missed:

1. Stratification (a problem for most Arctic shelves)

2. Coastal currents

3. Nutrients (nitrate)

4. Comprehensive cross-strait coverage (problematic due to past political & $$ constraints)

This IPY project addresses these issues

Bering Strait Influences:

1. Stratification of the Arctic Ocean

2. Biological Production of the Chukchi Sea and western Arctic Ocean

3. Regional ice conditions (Chukchi Shelf and possibly Chukchi Cap)

4. The Global Hydrologic Cycle

5. The MOC and North Atlantic Boundary currents (possibly)

And responds to:

6. Upstream forcing over the Bering Sea shelf and basin & Gulf of Alaska (salt, freshwater, nutrients)

7. Steric variations between the Arctic and Pacific.

Measurements: Seven, year-round moorings (serviced annually) to capture:

1.) Major water masses and coastal currents

2) Stratification (ISCAT) and ADCPs

3) Nitrate and Fluorescence (ISUS nitrate analyzers on 3 moorings)

4) Cross-strait pressure fluctuations

5) Complete cross-strait coverage

6) CTD, nutrients on annual mooring services cruises,

7) Remote sensing (SST, altimetry, and QuikSCAT)

80 km

2007-2009

Data Management Plan

Data types (available annually):Hourly: currents, temperature, salinity, nitrate, fluorescence, ice thickness (via ADCP), bottom pressure

Hydrography: CTD and nutrients (annually)

Satellite SST: when possibleSatellite altimetry & QuikSCAT: open water season

Data disposition (after quality control):

Project Website: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/BeringStrait.htmlJOSS

Mooring Servicing & CTD Cruises:

Russian Naval Hydrographic vessel: Sever (possibly Khromov or other in 2008)

Logistics

Synergies

NOAA: Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (2008)

Possible collaborations between N. Pacific ARGO program and Arctic Ocean measurements to examine Pacific-Arctic thermosteric variations.