HR: 0800h
AN: C21A-0961    [Abstracts]
TI: Recent Progress Towards Establishing an Arctic Ocean Observing System - A NOAA Contribution to the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH)
AU: * Rigor, I G
EM: ignatius@apl.washington.edu
AF: Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105 United States
AU: Richter-Menge, J
EM: jacqueline.a.richter-menge@erdc.usace.army.mil
AF: ERDC Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: Calder, J
EM: John.Calder@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Arctic Research Office, 1315 East West Highway, Room 11362, Silver Spring, MD 20910 United States
AB: SEARCH is a coordinated, interagency program focused on understanding the full scope of changes taking place in the Arctic and to determine if the changes indicate the start of a major climate shift in this region. NOAA has initiated its contribution to the SEARCH program with seed activities that address high priority issues relating to the atmosphere and the cryosphere. One element of the NOAA SEARCH program is an Arctic Ocean Observing System. This presentation describes the recent progress made in establishing components of this observing system, specifically the deployment of drifting ice mass balance mass (IMB) and ocean buoys and a seafloor mooring equipped with ice profiling sonar (IPS). We present examples of data collected from the drifting buoys, show the location of equipment deployed in 2003, the planned deployments for 2004, and describe other historic observations of changes in the thickness of the sea ice cover. Combined, these data are being used to monitor changes in the thickness of the Arctic sea ice cover and in near surface ocean characteristics.
DE: 9315 Arctic region
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (3309)
DE: 4540 Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting