Polar Ocean Observations: A Critical Gap in the Observing System and Its Effect on Environmental Predictions From Hours to a Season

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Smith, Gregory, Allard, Richard, Babin, Marcel, Bertino, Laurent, Chevallier, Matthieu, Corlett, Gary, Crout, Julia, Davidson, Fraser, Delille, Bruno, Gille, Sarah, Hebert, David, Hyder, Patrick, Intrieri, Janet, Lagunas, José, Larnicol, Gilles, Kaminski, Thomas, Kater, Belinda, Kauker, Frank, Marec, Claudie, Mazloff, Matthew, Metzger, E. Joseph, Mordy, Calvin, O’Carroll, Anne, Olsen, Steffen, Phelps, Michael, Posey, Pamela, Prandi, Pierre, Rehm, Eric, Reid, Phillip, Rigor, Ignatius, Sandven, Stein, Shupe, Matthew, Swart, Sebastiaan, Smedstad, Ole Martin, Solomon, Amy, Storto, Andrea, Thibaut, Pierre, Toole, John, Wood, Kevin, Xie, Jiping, Yang, Qinghua
• Other Authors: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center (NRL-SSC), Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS, Université Laval Québec (ULaval)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center Bergen (NERSC), Mercator Océan, Société Civile CNRS Ifremer IRD Météo-France SHOM, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Université de Liège, University of California, Equipe Apprentissage (DocApp - LITIS), Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Traitement de l'Information et des Systèmes (LITIS), Université Le Havre Normandie (ULH), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Université de Rouen Normandie (UNIROUEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Institut national des sciences appliquées Rouen Normandie (INSA Rouen Normandie), Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université Le Havre Normandie (ULH), Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA), University of Exeter, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES), University of Hamburg, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences Zwolle, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), University of Washington Seattle, Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR), Polar Science Center Seattle, Applied Physics Laboratory Seattle (APL-UW), University of Washington Seattle -University of Washington Seattle, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Oceanography Cape Town, University of Cape Town, Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), School of Atmospheric Sciences Zhuhai, Sun Yat-Sen University Guangzhou (SYSU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: polar observations; operational oceanography; ocean data assimilation; ocean modeling; forecasting; sea ice; air-sea-ice fluxes; YOPP; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Antarctic; Arctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; Sea ice; ice covered areas
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02415050; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00429

International audience There is a growing need for operational oceanographic predictions in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. In the former, this is driven by a declining ice cover accompanied by an increase in maritime traffic and exploitation of marine resources. Oceanographic predictions in the Antarctic are also important, both to support Antarctic operations and also to help elucidate processes governing sea ice and ice shelf stability. However, a significant gap exists in the ocean observing system in polar regions, compared to most areas of the global ocean, hindering the reliability of ocean and sea ice forecasts. This gap can also be seen from the spread in ocean and sea ice reanalyses for polar regions which provide an estimate of their uncertainty. The reduced reliability of polar predictions may affect the quality of various applications including search and rescue, coupling with numerical weather and seasonal predictions, historical reconstructions (reanalysis), aquaculture and environmental management including environmental emergency response. Here, we outline the status of existing near-real time ocean observational efforts in polar regions, discuss gaps, and explore perspectives for the future. Specific recommendations include a renewed call for open access to data, especially real-time data, as a critical capability for improved sea ice and weather forecasting and other environmental prediction needs. Dedicated efforts are also needed to make use of additional observations made as part of the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP; 2017–2019) to inform optimal observing system design. To provide a polar extension to the Argo network, it is recommended that a network of ice-borne sea ice and upper-ocean observing buoys be deployed and supported operationally in ice-covered areas together with autonomous profiling floats and gliders (potentially with ice detection capability) in seasonally ice covered seas. Finally, additional efforts to better measure and parameterize surface exchanges in ...