Influences of the ocean surface mixed layer and thermohaline stratification on Arctic Sea ice in the central Canada Basin

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
• Main Authors: Toole, John M., Timmermans, Mary-Louise, Perovich, Donald K., Krishfield, Richard A., Proshutinsky, Andrey, Richter-Menge, Jackie A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2010
• Subjects: Mixed layer; Arctic; Canada; canada basin; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4287

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 115 (2010): C10018, doi:10.1029/2009JC005660. Variations in the Arctic central Canada Basin mixed layer properties are documented based on a subset of nearly 6500 temperature and salinity profiles acquired by Ice-Tethered Profilers during the period summer 2004 to summer 2009 and analyzed in conjunction with sea ice observations from ice mass balance buoys and atmosphere-ocean heat flux estimates. The July–August mean mixed layer depth based on the Ice-Tethered Profiler data averaged 16 m (an overestimate due to the Ice-Tethered Profiler sampling characteristics and present analysis procedures), while the average winter mixed layer depth was only 24 m, with individual observations rarely exceeding 40 m. Guidance interpreting the observations is provided by a 1-D ocean mixed layer model. The analysis focuses attention on the very strong density stratification at the base of the mixed layer in the Canada Basin that greatly impedes surface layer deepening and thus limits the flux of deep ocean heat to the surface that could influence sea ice growth/decay. The observations additionally suggest that efficient lateral mixed layer restratification processes are active in the Arctic, also impeding mixed layer deepening. Support for the ITP program and this study was provided by the U. S. National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Support for the IMB program came from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.