Observational program tracks Arctic Ocean transition to a warmer state

• Published in: Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union
• Main Authors: Polyakov, Igor V., Timokhov, Leonid A., Dmitrenko, Igor A., Ivanov, Vladimir V., Simmons, Harper L., Beszczynska-Möller, Agnieszka, Dickson, Robert, Fahrbach, Eberhard, Fortier, Louis, Gascard, Jean-Claude, Hölemann, Jens, Holliday, Naomi Penny, Hansen, Edmond, Mauritzen, Cecilie, Piechura, Jan, Pickart, Robert S., Schauer, Ursula, Steele, Michael, Walczowski, Waldemar
• Other Authors: International Arctic Research Center (IARC), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet), Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft (CEFAS), Université Laval Québec (ULaval), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC), University of Southampton, Norwegian Polar Institute, Norwegian Meteorological Institute Oslo (MET), Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IO-PAN), Polska Akademia Nauk = Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Applied Physics Laboratory Seattle (APL-UW), University of Washington Seattle
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: 9315); Oceanography: General: Arctic and Antarctic oceanography (9310; Global Change: Regional climate change; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Antarctic; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Damocles; Norway; Antarc*; Climate change; International Polar Year; IPY; North Atlantic; Study of Environmental Arctic Change; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00770686; https://hal.science/hal-00770686/document; https://hal.science/hal-00770686/file/EoS%20Transactions%20-%202007%20-%20Polyakov%20-%20Observational%20program%20tracks%20Arctic%20Ocean%20transition%20to%20a%20warmer%20state.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2007EO400002

International audience Over the past several decades, the Arctic Ocean has undergone substantial change. Enhanced transport of warmer air from lower latitudes has led to increased Arctic surface air temperature. Concurrent reductions in Arctic ice extent and thickness have been documented. The first evidence of warming in the intermediate Atlantic Water (AW, water depth between 150 and 900 meters) of the Arctic Ocean was found in 1990. Another anomaly, found in 2004, suggests that the Arctic Ocean is in transition toward a new, warmer state.Detection of this anomalous state became possible due to the concerted efforts of the international team of scientists who jointly established and maintain the large-scale Mooring-Based Arctic Ocean ObservationalSystem (MAOOS). The program provides a quantitative assessment of circulation, water mass transformations, biogeochemical fluxes, key mechanisms of variability in the Arctic Ocean, and links to lower-latitudeprocesses. MAOOS also provides a unique opportunity for coordinated long-term measurements over a vast polar/subpolar region, and the program promises to become a key contributor to the International Polar Year(IPY). MAOOS is linked with North Atlantic and Arctic observations provided by the international Arctic/Subarctic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF), Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH), Developing Arctic Modeling andObserving Capabilities for Long-Term Environmental Studies (DAMOCLES), and Integrated Arctic Ocean Observing System (iAOOS-Norway) programs. The program's primary monitoring tool is a series of moorings placed around the Arctic Ocean. The mooring locations are chosen to capture major near-slope transports, measure shelf-basin interaction processes, and document interactions between different water masses. Mooring-based observations are complemented by repeat quasi-synoptic oceanographic surveys, which provide the spatial coverage to enhance data interpretation.