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

The Pacific Gateway to the Arctic – Quantifying and Understanding Bering Strait Oceanic Fluxes R. Woodgate 1 , T. Weingartner 2 , T. Whitledge 2 , Ron Lindsay 1 , I. Lavrenov 3 1 Applied Physics Lab-U. Washington, Seattle, WA 2 U. Alaska, Fairbanks, AK

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

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  1. 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

  2. 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 D~0.7 m S,IV: poorWinds (60% of the flow variance) S,IV: good Ecologically significant: Mean, S, IV: poor Nutrients, C, seds & biota to western Arctic ecosystems

  3. We have missed: • Stratification (a problem for most Arctic shelves) • Coastal currents • Nutrients (nitrate) • Comprehensive cross-strait coverage (problematic due to past political & $$ constraints) • This IPY project addresses these issues

  4. Bering Strait Influences: • Stratification of the Arctic Ocean • Biological Production of the Chukchi Sea and western Arctic Ocean • Regional ice conditions (Chukchi Shelf and possibly Chukchi Cap) • The Global Hydrologic Cycle • The MOC and North Atlantic Boundary currents (possibly) • And responds to: • Upstream forcing over the Bering Sea shelf and basin • & Gulf of Alaska (salt, freshwater, nutrients) • 7. Steric variations between the Arctic and Pacific.

  5. 80 km 2007-2009 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)

  6. 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 possible Satellite altimetry & QuikSCAT: open water season Data disposition (after quality control): Project Website: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/BeringStrait.html JOSS

  7. Logistics Mooring Servicing & CTD Cruises: Russian Naval Hydrographic vessel: Sever (possibly Khromov or other in 2008) 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.

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