EGU22-11202
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11202
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Upper Arctic Ocean hydrography during the year-round MOSAiC expedition in the context of historical observations

Myriel Vredenborg1, Benjamin Rabe1, Sandra Tippenhauer1, Kirstin Schulz2, and the Team MOSAiC OCEAN*
Myriel Vredenborg et al.
  • 1Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Center for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany (myriel.vredenborg@awi.de)
  • 2University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA
  • *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract

The Arctic Ocean is characterized by complex processes coupling the atmosphere, cryosphere, ocean and land and undergoes remarkable environmental changes due to global warming. To better understand this system of unique physical, biogeochemical and ecosystem processes and their recent changes, the year-round ice drift experiment Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) was conducted from autumn 2019 to autumn 2020.

In this study we analyse temperature and salinity measurements of the upper Arctic Ocean taken during MOSAiC with different devices, i.e. on an ice-tethered profiler, a microstructure profiler and water sampler rosettes operated from the ship as well as through an ice hole on the ice floe. Combining all these measurements provides us an exceptional data resolution along the MOSAiC track. Moreover, we compare these observations with a comprehensive dataset of historical hydrographic data from the region.

Along the MOSAiC track we find signatures of a convective lower halocline (Fram Strait branch), as well as advective-convective lower halocline (Barents Sea branch). We see pronounced changes in the salinity and temperature of the lower halocline in comparison to the historical data, in particular, at the beginning of the drift. Furthermore, we show polar mixed-layer and upper halocline conditions in relation to seasonality and local surface conditions. We put the warm Atlantic Water temperature in the context of historical observations and investigate indications for the presence of Pacific Water.

Team MOSAiC OCEAN:

Jacob Allerholt, AWI; Marylou Athanase, LOCEAN-IPSL; Chris Basque, WHOI; Dorothea Bauch, GEOMAR; Till Baumann, UiB; Dake Chen, SIO; Silvia Cole, WHOI; SamCornish, U Oxford; Lisa Craw, U Tasmania; Andrew Davies, WHOI; Dmitry Divine, NPI/HAVOC; Francesca Doglioni, AWI; Falk Ebert, Herder-Gymnasium Berlin; Carina Engicht, AWI; Ying-Chih Fang, AWI; Ilker Fer, UIB; Mats Granskog, NPI/HAVOC; Rainer Graupner, AWI; Hailun He, SIO China; Yan He, FIO; Céline Heuzé, U Gotheburg; Mario Hoppmann, AWI; Markus Janout, AWI; David Kadko, FIU; Torsten Kanzow, AWI; Salar Karam, U Gothenburg; Yusuke Kawaguchi, Uni. Tokyo; Zoe Koenig, UIB; Bin Kong, FIO; Rick Krishfield, WHOI; David Kuhlmey, AWI; Ivan Kuznetsov, AWI; Musheng Lan, PRIC; Ruibo Lei, PRIC; Tao Li, OUC; Long Lin, SIO; Hailong Liu, SJTU; Na Liu, FIO; Xiaobing Ma, FIO; Rosalie MacKay, NTNU; Maria Mallet, AWI; Robbie Mallet, UCL; Wieslaw Maslowski, NPS; Christian Mertens, Uni Bremen; Volker Mohrholz, IOW; Matthias Monsees, AWI; Morven Muilwijk, UiB; Jeff O'Brien, WHOI; Algot Peterson, UIB; Pierre Priou, U Newfoundland; Benjamin Rabe, AWI; Julia Regnery, AWI; Jian Ren, SIO; Natalia Ribeiro Santos, U Tasmania; Janin Schaffer, AWI; Ingo Schuffenhauer, IOW; Kirstin Schulz, U Texas; William Shaw, NPS; Timothy Stanton, NPS; Mark Stephens, FIU; Jie Su, OUC; Natalia Sukhikh, Uni Bremen; Arild Sundfjord, NPI/HAVOC; Sandra Tippenhauer, AWI; John Toole, WHOI; Pedro Torre, NTNU; Jutta Vernaleken, AWI; Myriel Vredenborg, AWI; Hangzhou Wang, ZJU; Lei Wang, BMU; Yuntao Wang, SIO; Bai Youcheng, SIO; Jinping Zhao, OUC; Meng Zhou, SJTU; Jialiang Zhu, OUC.

How to cite: Vredenborg, M., Rabe, B., Tippenhauer, S., and Schulz, K. and the Team MOSAiC OCEAN: Upper Arctic Ocean hydrography during the year-round MOSAiC expedition in the context of historical observations, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11202, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11202, 2022.

Displays

Display link