Dr. Morison’s main focus centers on the study of Arctic Ocean change. He has been the principal investigator for the NSF-supported North Pole Environmental Observatory since 2000. He is involved with using remote sensing, principally NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), to track changes in Arctic Ocean Circulation and freshwater distribution. He is also continuing a long-term interest in small-scale processes by studying interplay among Arctic change, internal waves and mixing.
Jamie Morison
Selected Projects
Comparison of GRACE with In Situ Ocean Bottom Pressure and Hydrography in the North Pole Region
We this project will compare in situ measurements of ocean bottom pressure and hydrography with GRACE estimates of time-varying ocean bottom pressure. Arctic Bottom Pressure Recorders have been deployed and extensive hydrographic measurements have been made under other projects. Comparisons with some of these measurements suggest that GRACE can provide sorely needed large-scale, continuous information on the changing Arctic Ocean circulation. Our North Pole in situ measurements are particularly useful for GRACE validation because the GRACE footprint passes over the North Pole more frequently than any other ocean location on earth, making comparisons there robust. GRACE appears to provide our…
read more »Sensitivity of Arctic Ocean Change to Background Mixing
This project is motivated by recent findings showing the sensitivity of Arctic Ocean circulation to background deep-ocean diapycnal mixing. Mixing in the stratified ocean is related to internal wave energy, which tends to be low under the Arctic Ocean ice cover. Consequently, as ice cover declines background mixing may increase and, among other changes, bring more Atlantic Water heat to the surface to melt ice, a potentially important positive climate feedback. To understand the influence of background mixing and to improve models of the changing Arctic Ocean, we are taking advantage of the latest analysis techniques to examine existing internal…
read more »
North Pole Environmental Observatory
The observatory is staffed by an international research team that establishes a camp at the North Pole each spring to take the pulse of the Arctic Ocean and learn how the world’s northernmost sea helps regulate global climate.
read more »
Selected Publications
Morison, J., R. Kwok, C. Peralta-Ferriz, M. Alkire, I. Rigor, R. Andersen, and M. Steele, Changing Arctic Ocean Freshwater Pathways Measured With ICESat and GRACE, Nature, 481, 66-70, DOI: 10.1038/nature10705, 2012
Sirevaag, A., M.G. McPhee, J.H. Morison, W.J. Shaw, and T.P. Stanton, ‘Wintertime mixed layer measurements at Maud Rise, Weddell Sea‘, J. Geophys. Res., 115, doi:10.1029/2008JC005141, 2010.
Kwok, R., S. Farrell, R. Forsberg, K. Giles, S. Laxon, D. McAdoo, J. Morison, L. Padman, C. Peralta-Ferriz, A. Proshutinsky, and M. Steele,’ Combining satellite altimetry, time-variable gravity, and bottom pressure observations to understand the Arctic Ocean: A transformative opportunity’, Proceedings of the OceanObs09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society Conference, Venice, Italy, 21-25 September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison D.E. and Stammer, D., Eds., 2, ESA Publication WPP-30, 2010.
Alkire M., K. Falkner, J. Morison, R. Collier, C. Guay, R. Desiderio, I. Rigor, M. McPhee, “Sensor-based profiles of the NO parameter in the central Arctic and southern Canada Basin: New insights regarding the cold halocline”, Deep-Sea Research I, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2010.07.011, 2010.
Peralta-Ferriz, C. and J. Morison, “Understanding the annual cycle of the Arctic Ocean bottom pressure”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L10603, doi:10.1029/2010GL042827, 2010.
Morison, J., J. Wahr, R. Kwok, and C. Peralta-Ferriz,’ Recent trends in Arctic Ocean mass distribution revealed by GRACE’, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L07602, doi:10.1029/2006GL029016, 2007.
Alkire, M. B., K. K. Falkner, I. Rigor, M. Steele, and J. H. Morison,’ The return of Pacific waters to the upper layers of the central Arctic Ocean’, Deep-Sea Res., Part I, 54, 1509-1529, 2007.
Morison, J., M. Steele, T. Kikuchi, K. Falkner, and W. Smethie,’ The relaxation of Central Arctic Ocean hydrography toward pre-1990s climatology‘, Geophys. Res. Lett.,33, L17604, doi: 10.1029/2006GL026826, 2006.