To be able to predict the physical conditions for the Arctic ecosystem in the ‚new Arctic‘, it is necessary to understand and parametrise the processes which determine the light and enery budget under the sea ice and snow under ‘first year ice’ conditions. For this we need a holistic approach that combines biology, optics, seaice and ocean physics, based on direct observations and remotely sensed information with numerical modelling. This is the overall goal of the joint project (with AWI, BAS and UCL) to which OASys contributes.
Ongoing Projects
One of the key questions within present-day climate research is: has Arctic Ocean freshwater export to the North Atlantic increased? Knowledge of the Arctic freshwater export and its drivers is essential since anomalies in freshwater have the capacity to modify the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation strength and therewith our present-day mild climate in western Europe. The proposed research will investigate modern variability and trends in the freshwater export from the Arctic through Fram Strait. A unique and fundamentally improved observationally-based baseline of total freshwater export including both oceanic freshwater and sea ice will be developed. This project will investigate the response of the Arctic Ocean freshwater export to the fast changes in the Arctic Ocean, sea ice and atmospheric circulation that have occurred in the last two decades. An integral approach is taken by combining high-resolution in-situ oceanographic and sea ice measurements, remote sensing products, atmospheric reanalysis, and output from a coupled sea ice-ocean model. New, high-quality data collected by innovative instrumentation installed on the moorings in this project will improve the earlier freshwater estimates and reduce errors significantly. The results of this research will deliver important new insights of the implications of Arctic climate change for the mid latitudes.
Key Environmental monitoring for Polar Latitudes and European Readiness EU H2020 funded project 2019-2020
Using Tracers, Atmospheric Indices and Model Output to explain changes in the Arctic Ocean Inflow and Outflow through Fram Strait.