HR: 14:30h
AN: OS33C-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Role of oceanic heat flux in the central Arctic Ocean
AU: * Kikuchi, T
EM: takashik@jamstec.go.jp
AF: JAMSTEC, 2-15, Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, 237-0061 Japan
AU: Morison, J H
EM: morison@apl.washington.edu
AF: Polar Science Center, APL/UW, 1013 NE 40th St, Seattle, WA 98105 United States
AU: McPhee, M G
EM: mmcphee@starband.net
AF: McPhee Research Co., 450 Clover Springs Road, Naches, WA 98937 United States
AB: Recent oceanographic conditions in the eastern Arctic Ocean show remarkable surface salinization and Atlantic water warming compared with conditions prior to 1990s (e.g., Morison et al., 2002). Such a condition might cause an increase in upward oceanic heat flux, but this has not previously been investigated experimentally. Using the ice-drifting buoy data at the North Pole Environmental Observatory, we examine oceanic heat flux under the multiyear ice in the central Arctic Ocean. Upper ocean current and hydrographic data obtained from JAMSTEC Compact Arctic Drifter (J-CAD) buoys are used to estimate oceanic heat flux through seasonal pycnocline (25-50m) and the cold halocline (80-120m). We find that summer ice-melt water completely prevents oceanic heat flux through seasonal pycnocline. This supports the previous result (McPhee et al., 2003) that nearly all of the heat flux to the ice is derived from insolation during summer. In winter, upward heat flux at 25-50m depth is estimated as 2-3 [W/m2] over the basin. On the other hand, upward heat flux through the cold halocline is estimated at 2-4 [W/m2] all through the year. This suggests that heat from the Atlantic water, which passes through the cold halocline, would reach the multiyear ice only in winter.
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (3309)
DE: 4283 Water masses
DE: 4568 Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting