RRS James Clark Ross Cruise 44, 23 Jul-31 Aug 1999. Circulation And Thermohaline Structure - Mixing, Ice And Ocean Weather: CATS-MIAOW

• Main Authors: Bacon, S., Yelland, M.J.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Southampton Oceanography Centre 2000
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Norway; Svalbard; Denmark Strait; Fram Strait; Iceland
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/100289/; https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/100289/1/SOCCR033.pdf

This report describes RRS James Clark Ross Cruise 44, called CATS-MIAOW (Circulation And Thermohaline Structure - Mixing, Ice And Ocean Weather). It was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council as part of its Arctic Ice and Climate Variability (ARCICE) Thematic Research Programme. The cruise supported projects in hydrography, meteorology and geophysics. The cruise divided into two parts, one hydrographic and one meteorological. The hydrographic work comprised sections under ERS-2 satellite overpasses: two long sections with CTD and lowered ADCP, from Norway to Greenland and from Svalbard to Iceland; and a shorter section across northern Denmark Strait, which was repeated. There was also a near-zonal section in Fram Strait. Bottle samples were taken throughout for salinity, dissolved oxygen and SF6. The meteorological work took place in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) during a 10 day period in the middle of the cruise. While in the MIZ atmospheric profiles were obtained using GPS radiosondes and a tethered balloon system. The AUTOFLUX ship mounted surface fluxes system was also used to measure the surface fluxes of heat, momentum and moisture in addition to the usual mean meteorological variables. A suite of short-wave and long-wave sensors were also employed to measure both up- and down-welling radiation. The AUTOFLUX system operated throughout the cruise, providing surface flux and mean meteorological data in support of the hydrographic work.