Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean
Although there is enough heat contained in inflowing warm Atlantic Ocean water to melt all Arctic sea ice within a few years, a cold halocline limits upward heat transport from the Atlantic water. The amount of heat that penetrates the halocline to reach the sea ice is not well known, but vertical h...
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ftchalmersuniv:oai:research.chalmers.se:253170 2023-05-15T14:36:28+02:00 Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean Stranne, Christian Mayer, Larry Weber, Thomas C. Ruddick, Barry R. Jakobsson, Martin Jerram, Kevin Weidner, Elizabeth Nilsson, Johan Gårdfeldt, Katarina 2017 text https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15486-3 https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/253170 unknown http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15486-3 https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/253170 Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Physical oceanography Imaging techniques 2017 ftchalmersuniv https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15486-3 2022-12-11T07:05:58Z Although there is enough heat contained in inflowing warm Atlantic Ocean water to melt all Arctic sea ice within a few years, a cold halocline limits upward heat transport from the Atlantic water. The amount of heat that penetrates the halocline to reach the sea ice is not well known, but vertical heat transport through the halocline layer can significantly increase in the presence of double diffusive convection. Such convection can occur when salinity and temperature gradients share the same sign, often resulting in the formation of thermohaline staircases. Staircase structures in the Arctic Ocean have been previously identified and the associated double diffusive convection has been suggested to influence the Arctic Ocean in general and the fate of the Arctic sea ice cover in particular. A central challenge to understanding the role of double diffusive convection in vertical heat transport is one of observation. Here, we use broadband echo sounders to characterize Arctic thermohaline staircases at their full vertical and horizontal resolution over large spatial areas (100 s of kms). In doing so, we offer new insight into the mechanism of thermohaline staircase evolution and scale, and hence fluxes, with implications for understanding ocean mixing processes and ocean-sea ice interactions. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Chalmers University of Technology: Chalmers research Arctic Arctic Ocean Scientific Reports 7 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Chalmers University of Technology: Chalmers research |
op_collection_id |
ftchalmersuniv |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Physical oceanography Imaging techniques |
spellingShingle |
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Physical oceanography Imaging techniques Stranne, Christian Mayer, Larry Weber, Thomas C. Ruddick, Barry R. Jakobsson, Martin Jerram, Kevin Weidner, Elizabeth Nilsson, Johan Gårdfeldt, Katarina Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean |
topic_facet |
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Physical oceanography Imaging techniques |
description |
Although there is enough heat contained in inflowing warm Atlantic Ocean water to melt all Arctic sea ice within a few years, a cold halocline limits upward heat transport from the Atlantic water. The amount of heat that penetrates the halocline to reach the sea ice is not well known, but vertical heat transport through the halocline layer can significantly increase in the presence of double diffusive convection. Such convection can occur when salinity and temperature gradients share the same sign, often resulting in the formation of thermohaline staircases. Staircase structures in the Arctic Ocean have been previously identified and the associated double diffusive convection has been suggested to influence the Arctic Ocean in general and the fate of the Arctic sea ice cover in particular. A central challenge to understanding the role of double diffusive convection in vertical heat transport is one of observation. Here, we use broadband echo sounders to characterize Arctic thermohaline staircases at their full vertical and horizontal resolution over large spatial areas (100 s of kms). In doing so, we offer new insight into the mechanism of thermohaline staircase evolution and scale, and hence fluxes, with implications for understanding ocean mixing processes and ocean-sea ice interactions. |
author |
Stranne, Christian Mayer, Larry Weber, Thomas C. Ruddick, Barry R. Jakobsson, Martin Jerram, Kevin Weidner, Elizabeth Nilsson, Johan Gårdfeldt, Katarina |
author_facet |
Stranne, Christian Mayer, Larry Weber, Thomas C. Ruddick, Barry R. Jakobsson, Martin Jerram, Kevin Weidner, Elizabeth Nilsson, Johan Gårdfeldt, Katarina |
author_sort |
Stranne, Christian |
title |
Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean |
title_short |
Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean |
title_full |
Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acoustic Mapping of Thermohaline Staircases in the Arctic Ocean |
title_sort |
acoustic mapping of thermohaline staircases in the arctic ocean |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15486-3 https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/253170 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15486-3 https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/253170 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15486-3 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766309076417904640 |