Stanton, Timothy P.

Observations from the repeated, multi-year-duration deployments of the AOFBs will lead to improved understanding of basic physical processes that are affecting the thermodynamic balance of the Arctic Ocean ice cover. It is this balance, considered throughout the basin, that will determine if the Arctic transitions to a state of greatly reduced or no perennial ice cover. The proposed collaborative ice floe observatories will generate canonical data sets, previously only attainable from manned ice stations. These observations will be serve as invaluable audit points for the testing and evaluation of regional and global models by providing a suite of data comparable to the most intensive manned camps, but with greater temporal and spatial coverage. The successful, long-term execution of the ice-based observatory effort has the potential to provide a transformative understanding of the loss of Arctic perennial ice cover and of the state stability of the Arctic system. This project has impacts on Naval coupled ocean/ice models of the rapidly changing ice-covered Arctic ocean.
Oceanography
National Science Foundation
NSF
2016