NPEO: The North Pole Environmental Observatory

NPEO: The North Pole Environmental Observatory

Logistics:

Andy Heiberg (U of WA)

Synoptic hydrographic surveys:Kelly Falkner & Bob Collier (OSU): HydrochemistryMike Steele (U of WA): Oceanography

Bottom mooring:

Knut Aagaard (U of WA): Oceanography

Dick Moritz (U of WA): Sea ice

Jamie Morison (U of WA) - Lead PILead PI and oceanography

Ice drifting buoys:Takashi Kikuchi (Jamstec): OceanographyMiles McPhee (MRI): OceanographyJim Overland (NOAA/PMEL): Meteo and sea ice

Project Mission & Status• Mission: Provide sustained observations and platform/science support for

others in a part of the central Arctic Ocean that shows clear climate change signals

• Data: – 65 hydro stations, 5 years of mooring data, 7 years of drifting buoy data– http://nsidc.org/arcss/, http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole

• Selected Publications:

Morison et al., Early results from NPEO, EOS Trans., (2002).Steele, M., J. Morison, W. Ermold, I. Rigor, M. Ortmeyer, and K. Shimada, "Pacific Halocline Water in the Arctic Ocean", J.

Geophys. Res., p. C020027, vol. 109, (2004), 10.1029/2003JC002009Inoue, J., T. Kikuchi, D. Perovich, and J.H. Morison, "A drop in mid-summer shortwave radiation induced by changes in the ice-

surface condition in the central Arctic", Geophys. Res. Lett., p. L13603, vol. 32(13), (2005). Kikuchi, T., J. Inoue, and J. Morison, "Temperature difference across the Lomonosov Ridge: Implications for the Atlantic Water

circulation in the Arctic Ocean", Geophys. Res. Lett., p. L20604, vol. 32, (2005), 10.1029/2005GL023982Morison, J. H., M. Steele, T. Kikuchi, K. K. Falkner, and W. Smethie, "The Relaxation of Central Arctic Ocean Hydrography to pre-

1990s Climatology", Geophys. Res. Lett., p. L17604, vol. 33(17), (2006), 10.1029/2006GL026826Inoue, J., and T. Kikuchi, "Outflows of Summertime Arctic Sea Ice Observed by Ice Drifting Buoys and their Linkage with

Atmospheric Circulations", J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan, p. 1, vol. 85,6, (2007)Alkire, M. B., K. K. Falkner, I. Rigor, M. Steele, and J. H. Morison, "The return of Pacific waters to the upper layers of the central

Arctic Ocean", Deep-Sea Res., p. 1509, vol. I 54, (2007)Overland, J. E.; M. Wang; S.A. Salo, "The Recent Arctic Warm Period", Tellus,, (2007)Bond, N. A., J. E. Overland, and S. A. Salo, "Influence of the Regional Atmospheric Circulation on Observed Shortwave Radiation

at the North Pole", J. Geophys. Res., (2008). Submitted,Polyakov, I. V., V. Alexeev, G. I. Belchansky, I. A. Dmitrenko, V. Ivanov, S. Kirillov, A. Korablev, M. Steele, L. A. Timokhov, and

I. Yashayaev, "Arctic Ocean Freshwater Changes Over the Past 100 Years and their Causes", J. Climate, p. 364, vol. 21, (2008). Aagaard, K., R. Andersen, J. Swift, and J. Johnson, "A Large Eddy in the Central Arctic Ocean", Geophys. Res. Lett., (2008).

Submitted

Coordination

Logistics:• International Arctic Buoy Program, NPEO deploys IABP buoys. • Snow sampling is done for projects by Koerner (pollen) and by

Grenfell and Warren (soot).• Annual Cycles of Nitrate and Phytoplankton Stocks Using Optics at

the NPEO, Christensen and Pegau install a multi-spectral light sensor and bio-sensor arrays on NPEO mooring.

• Deep Ocean Mixing by Iker Fir of Bjerknes Center in Bergen Norway makes microstructure measurements of deep mixing.

• Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project - Ice-Tethered Profiler buoy deployments

• Arctic Bottom Pressure, Jamie Morison, Ron Kwok, and John Wahr install the Arctic Bottom Pressure Recorders near Pole for comparison with GRACE.

• Ocean Flux Buoy - buoy at automated station• Switchyard Project - Lincoln Sea oceanographyScience:• In addition to science related to all of the above, Polyakov et al.

(2004, 2008) have used NPEO data to examine trends in Atlantic Water and freshwater properties.

Future DirectionsHydro Surveys:

• Additional sampling for biogeochemical cycling and primary productivity• Digital sampling for nutrients, other parameters

Mooring and drifting buoys:• Profiling sensors instead of fixed-depth sensors

More coordination with AON projects, in particular Switchyard & Beaufort Gyre

This Year (April, 2008)

• Deployment via Canada (Resolute) & Norway (Longyearbyen)• First use of Russian cargo planes,

hopefully will ease logistics clashes at Russian camp “Borneo”

IPY - Airborne Hydro Surveys

IPY - Airborne Hydro Surveys

Jamie Morison, Mike Steele, Andy Heiberg, Miles McPhee (U of WA)

Bob Collier (OSU) & Chris Guay (Cal State)

Andrey Proshutinsky (WHOI)

Expansion of NPEO springtime airborne surveys with more stations and surveys in Beaufort (starting now) to complement summer stations (e.g. BGOS).

Trans-Arctic section across 90W-90E in 2007 in spite of curtailed NPEO operations. Looks like conditions are trending back towards those of the 1990s!

Data in NPEO data stream.