An Innovative Observational Network for Critical Arctic Gateways: Understanding Exchanges through Davis Strait

Funds are provided in support of a study to understand exchanges across a major gateway linking the Arctic with the subpolar North Atlantic Davis Strait (Canadian Arctic Archipelago). The proposed study purports to quantify, with robust error estimates, Davis Strait watermass variability, volume, liquid freshwater, heat and ice fluxes at weekly to inter-annual timescales. These measurements will be used to advance understanding of the impacts of these exchanges on large scale characteristics of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

The proposed observation system, currently under development in Davis Strait, employs complementary techniques to resolve critical aspects of the exchange. The system includes:

(1) A sparse array of subsurface moorings, each instrumented with an upward looking sonar, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), conductivity-temperature (CT) sensors, and (deep) conventional current meters, will provide time series of upper ocean currents, ice velocity, and ice thickness,

(2) Shelf sites instrumented with ADCPs, CT sensors and an innovative, low-cost package for collecting CT time series in the ice-threatened near-surface region, and

(3) Acoustically navigated Seagliders to provide year-round, repeated, high-resolution hydrographic sections across the straits.

The Davis Strait network will be undertaken in collaboration with the Bedford Institution of Oceanography.