OPP-PRF: The Marginal Ocean Zone: Definition, Dynamics, and Implications for a Changing Arctic Ocean through Model-Observation Synthesis

OPP-PRF：边缘海洋区：定义、动态以及通过模型观测综合对北冰洋变化的影响

• 批准号: 2219147
• 负责人: Astrid Pacini
• 金额: $ 21.33万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2219147&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OPP; PRF; Marginal; Ocean; Zone

The Arctic Ocean is one of the most rapidly changing regions of the World Ocean. Specifically, the Seasonal Ice Zone, which is the area covered by sea ice in winter but not in summer, is growing. As this area grows, the physical processes that influence ocean motion and ocean properties like temperature, salinity, and stratification are changing. These changing physics influence net primary productivity, air-sea gas exchange, as well as processes up the trophic levels, including impacting native communities, local fisheries, and global shipping patterns. However, it is challenging to take measurements of the ocean in this region. This research will combine all available data to determine the important physical processes responsible for ocean motion and properties in the Seasonal Ice Zone. This will advance current understanding of ocean-dynamics in the vicinity of the ice edge, and thus will influence current understanding on a host of interdisciplinary topics related to Arctic Ocean and sea ice change.Significant work has been done to characterize a sub-region of the Seasonal Ice Zone known as the Marginal Ice Zone, which represents the region within the 15% ice concentration contour. This definition, however, is ice-centric. This project will approach the question from an ocean perspective. The researchers hypothesize the existence of the Marginal Ocean Zone, a region of the ocean which exhibits distinct dynamics from both the Marginal Ice Zone and the open ocean. This research will characterize the hydrographic conditions across spatio-temporal scales in this region of the Arctic Ocean. Specifically, the project will synthesize all available data to derive a universal definition for the Marginal Ocean Zone based on ocean properties like temperature, salinity, and stratification. This project will then quantify the seasonal evolution of properties within the Marginal Ocean Zone as well as the regional differences in these dynamics. Subsequently, the project will quantify the importance of synoptic scale processes and atmospheric forcing on the mixed layer dynamics, as well as on the heat and freshwater content of the Marginal Ocean Zone. Long-term changes within the Arctic Ocean are influencing circulation patterns, dynamics, and climatic-scale feedbacks. This work will diagnose, quantify, and explain long-term changes within the Marginal Ocean Zone.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

北极海是世界海洋最快变化的地区之一。具体而言，季节性冰区是冬季被海冰覆盖的区域，但在夏季不在增长。随着该区域的增长，影响海洋运动和海洋特性（如温度，盐度和分层）的物理过程正在发生变化。这些不断变化的物理会影响净初级生产力，空气气体交换以及对营养水平的处理，包括影响本地社区，当地渔业和全球运输模式。但是，对该地区的海洋进行测量是一项挑战。这项研究将结合所有可用数据，以确定负责海洋运动和季节性冰区特性的重要物理过程。这将提高对冰边缘附近海洋动力学的当前了解，从而影响当前对与北极海洋和海冰变化有关的许多跨学科主题的理解。季节性冰区被称为边缘冰区，该区域代表15％冰浓度轮廓内的区域。但是，这个定义以冰为中心。该项目将从海洋的角度解决这个问题。研究人员假设存在边际海洋地区的存在，这是海洋地区，它表现出来自边缘冰区和开阔海洋的独特动态。这项研究将表征北极海洋地区时空尺度之间的水文条件。具体而言，该项目将根据温度，盐度和分层等海洋特性，综合所有可用数据，以得出边缘海洋区域的通用定义。然后，该项目将量化边际海洋区域内特性的季节性演变以及这些动力学的区域差异。随后，该项目将量化概要尺度过程和大气强迫对混合层动力学以及边缘海洋区域的热量和淡水含量的重要性。北极海洋内的长期变化正在影响循环模式，动力学和气候规模的反馈。这项工作将诊断，量化和解释边际海洋区域内的长期变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。