The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations
Sustained observations of environmental conditions in the North Pole region are critical to understanding the changing Arctic Ocean. The Transpolar Drift conduit of sea ice and freshened upper-ocean waters across the Arctic Ocean passes over the North Pole region on its way to the North Atlantic thr...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4601 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/67639/51538 |
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic4601 2024-09-15T17:49:46+00:00 The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations Morison, James Wilkinson, Jeremy Alkire, Matthew Nilsen, Frank Polyakov, Igor Smethie Jr., William Schlosser, Peter Vivier, Frédéric Lourenco, Antonio Provost, Christine Pelon, Jacques Ferriz, Cecilia Peralta Karcher, Michael Rabe, Benjamin Lee, Craig 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4601 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/67639/51538 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 71, issue 5 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2018 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4601 2024-08-06T04:00:27Z Sustained observations of environmental conditions in the North Pole region are critical to understanding the changing Arctic Ocean. The Transpolar Drift conduit of sea ice and freshened upper-ocean waters across the Arctic Ocean passes over the North Pole region on its way to the North Atlantic through Fram and Nares Straits. The exported ice and freshened water stratifies the sub-Arctic seas and limits the vertical convection that ventilates the world ocean. Key variables such as ice thickness, bottom pressure, and hydrography in the North Pole region are thus sensitive indicators of changes over the whole Arctic Basin and how these affect the global ocean. Drifting buoys installed in the North Pole region by Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. address what would otherwise be a dearth of ocean, ice, and atmosphere observations in the central Arctic. A suite of satellite remote sensing tools such as ICESat/ICESat-2 from the U.S., GRACE from the U.S. and Germany, and CryoSat2 from the European Union extend the conclusions from central Arctic Ocean in situ observations to other regions. Detecting and understanding climate change requires observations over decadal and longer scales. We propose an international program as the key to sustaining these observations in the North Pole region. Such an international program would help immeasurably by 1) facilitating financial sharing of the burden of long-term measurements among several nations, (2) reducing logistics costs through economies of scale, and 3) providing a buffer against national funding, logistics, and geopolitical difficulties. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Basin Arctic Ocean Central Arctic Climate change North Atlantic North Pole Sea ice Arctic Institute of North America ARCTIC 71 5 |
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Arctic Institute of North America |
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crarcticinstna |
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description |
Sustained observations of environmental conditions in the North Pole region are critical to understanding the changing Arctic Ocean. The Transpolar Drift conduit of sea ice and freshened upper-ocean waters across the Arctic Ocean passes over the North Pole region on its way to the North Atlantic through Fram and Nares Straits. The exported ice and freshened water stratifies the sub-Arctic seas and limits the vertical convection that ventilates the world ocean. Key variables such as ice thickness, bottom pressure, and hydrography in the North Pole region are thus sensitive indicators of changes over the whole Arctic Basin and how these affect the global ocean. Drifting buoys installed in the North Pole region by Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. address what would otherwise be a dearth of ocean, ice, and atmosphere observations in the central Arctic. A suite of satellite remote sensing tools such as ICESat/ICESat-2 from the U.S., GRACE from the U.S. and Germany, and CryoSat2 from the European Union extend the conclusions from central Arctic Ocean in situ observations to other regions. Detecting and understanding climate change requires observations over decadal and longer scales. We propose an international program as the key to sustaining these observations in the North Pole region. Such an international program would help immeasurably by 1) facilitating financial sharing of the burden of long-term measurements among several nations, (2) reducing logistics costs through economies of scale, and 3) providing a buffer against national funding, logistics, and geopolitical difficulties. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Morison, James Wilkinson, Jeremy Alkire, Matthew Nilsen, Frank Polyakov, Igor Smethie Jr., William Schlosser, Peter Vivier, Frédéric Lourenco, Antonio Provost, Christine Pelon, Jacques Ferriz, Cecilia Peralta Karcher, Michael Rabe, Benjamin Lee, Craig |
spellingShingle |
Morison, James Wilkinson, Jeremy Alkire, Matthew Nilsen, Frank Polyakov, Igor Smethie Jr., William Schlosser, Peter Vivier, Frédéric Lourenco, Antonio Provost, Christine Pelon, Jacques Ferriz, Cecilia Peralta Karcher, Michael Rabe, Benjamin Lee, Craig The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations |
author_facet |
Morison, James Wilkinson, Jeremy Alkire, Matthew Nilsen, Frank Polyakov, Igor Smethie Jr., William Schlosser, Peter Vivier, Frédéric Lourenco, Antonio Provost, Christine Pelon, Jacques Ferriz, Cecilia Peralta Karcher, Michael Rabe, Benjamin Lee, Craig |
author_sort |
Morison, James |
title |
The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations |
title_short |
The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations |
title_full |
The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations |
title_fullStr |
The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
The North Pole Region as an Indicator of the Changing Arctic Ocean: The Need for Sustaining Observations |
title_sort |
north pole region as an indicator of the changing arctic ocean: the need for sustaining observations |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4601 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/67639/51538 |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Basin Arctic Ocean Central Arctic Climate change North Atlantic North Pole Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Basin Arctic Ocean Central Arctic Climate change North Atlantic North Pole Sea ice |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 71, issue 5 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4601 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
71 |
container_issue |
5 |
_version_ |
1810291521299152896 |