The
fourth North Pole Environmental Observatory
field operations are tentatively planned for April 15 through
May 10, 2003, with the first team of scientists and support
personnel scheduled to arrive on-site at Borneo
on April 21. Boreno
is a privately operated French/Russian ice station established
each spring since 1994 in the North Pole region. Negotiations
are underway to use camp Borneo
again this year through the National
Science Foundation's logistics coordinator Veco
Polar Resources. Logistics and camp support will be provided
by Andy Heiberg and Dean Stewart, University of Washington.
During an intense three-week period of field operations we plan
to accomplish the following:
Mooring recovery and
installation
Objectives:
Recover mooring deployed in 2002; deploy new mooring.
Knut Aagaard, University of Washington, PI
The second NPEO mooring installed at 89.5°North and 53.5°East
in April 2002 will be recovered and brought home to Seattle, where
the data will be retrieved and analyzed. This mooring includes
an upward-looking sonar to measure ice draft, precision temperature/conductivity
recorder, an acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure water
and ice velocity; and current meters to measure water velocity,
temperature, and conductivity. Each instrument has an internal
data logger. Three divers will be on-site to assist with the recovery,
guiding the 2500m of instrumented line up through a hole cut in
the ice.
A third mooring outfitted with a similar array of instrumentation
will be deployed. Mooring field team members include Jim Johnson,
Mike Ohmart, Eric Boget, and Jim Osse, all of the University of
Washington.
Automated drifting stations
Objectives: Deploy the JAMSTEC, PMEL and NPGS
drifters and buoys in the North Pole vicinity, and deploy two
buoys for the International
Arctic Buoy Program. Happily, the 2002 buoy array remains
in the Arctic Basin and continues to report data.
Jim Overland, NOAA/PMEL, PI
PMEL/NOAA's 2003 deployment will include a meteorological station
to measure wind speed and direction, air temperature and air pressure;
radiometers to measure solar and sky radiation; two mass balance
buoys, and a Web Cam to track the North Pole snow cover, weather
conditions and the status of PMEL's North Pole instrumentation.
Information about the first Web Cam deployed at the North Pole
in 2002 is available at the NOAA
North Pole Web Cam Page.
The Mass Balance Buoys (also called ice-temperature buoys, PMEL/CRREL
buoys or drifting buoys) include a chain of thermistors that measure
temperatures from the air down through the snow cover, through
the sea ice, and into the sea water below the ice. The chain is
several meters long, and has temperature sensors every 5-10 cm.
One of the buoys also includes an acoustic pinger that measures
the depth of the snow on top of the sea ice. These buoys transmit
data through the NOAA Argos satellite. Drift track and data are
available on the NOAA
North Pole Weather Data Page and from the NPEO website.
Takatoshi Takizawa, Japan Marine Science and Technology Center,
PI
The JAMSTEC JCAD-4, deployed in 2002, has been transmitting
depth, temperature, salinity, wind direction, and wind speed data
via satellite. The data are automatically updated hourly to the
NPEO website. A new JCAD buoy will be deployed.
Tim Stanton, Naval Postgraduate School, PI
The
Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoy is used in conjunction with
the PMEL and JAMSTEC buoys to provide a means of studying changes
in the Central Arctic Basin environment over long periods. The
Autonomous Ocean Flux Buoy includes an instrument cluster with
an acoustic Doppler current profiler, precision temperature and
conductivity sensors, and velocity, tilt and heading sensors set
4.5 m below the ice. A low power acoustic travel time current
sensor, a stable conductivity cell and a very high-resolution
thermistor measure velocities, salinity and temperature. Correlating
fluctuations of vertical velocity with horizontal velocity, temperature,
and salinity fluctuations can be used to estimate the vertical
transport of momentum, heat and salt through the ocean mixed layer.
Automated drifting station team members include: Sigrid
Salo, NOAA/PMEL; Tim Stanton, Naval Postgraduate School; and Takashi
Kikuchi, Japanese Marine Science and Technology Center.
Aerial Hydrographic Surveys
Objectives: To
determine the position of major water mass boundaries and the
distribution of water types across key sections of the Arctic
Ocean.
Jamie Morison and Michael Steele, University of Washington,
Kelly Falkner, Oregon State University, PIs
The NPEO Hydrochemical Survey will be carried out by Twin
Otter aircraft between Alert and the North Pole. We plan to revisit
the seven locations that were surveyed in NPEO 2000. Each station
will consist of an expendable CTD (XCTD) launch followed by a
deep CTD cast (maximum 1000 m) accompanied by four Niskin bottles.
The CTD carries a dissolved oxygen sensor and the bottles will
be sampled for salinity, dissolved oxygen, oxygen isotopes of
seawater, nutrients and barium. Previous CTD profiles are available
on the NPEO
Aerial CTDs Page . The chemical data may be found at Kelly
Falkners website under Research Projects.
The
Freshwater Switchyard Project ( Michael Steele, University
of Washington,PI) will carry out a 120-km north-south oriented
CTD section centered on 84N, 65W using a helicopter. Up to nine
stations are planned, each consisting of a 500 m CTD cast, an
expendable current meter launch and collection of a surface water
sample. The water samples will be used to measure concentrations
of such chemical tracers as disolved oxygen, oxygen-isotopes,
barium, and nutrients. This survey is funded by NSF grant
OPP-0230427, Circulation in the Freshwater Switchyard of the
Arctic Ocean.
Hydrographic survey
team members include: Kelly Falkner, Oregon State University,
and Jamie Morison, Michael Steele and Roger Andersen, University
of Washington.