Nathalie Sennéchael

Winter ocean-ice interactions under thin sea ice observed by IAOOS platforms during N-ICE2015: Salty surface mixed layer and active basal melt

IAOOS (Ice Atmosphere Arctic Ocean Observing System) platforms, measuring physical parameters at the atmosphere-snow-ice-ocean interface deployed as part of the N-ICE2015 campaign, provide new insights on winter conditions North of Svalbard. The three regions crossed during the drifts, the Nansen Basin, the Sofia Deep and the Svalbard northern continental slope featured distinct hydrographic properties and ice-ocean exchanges. In the Nansen Basin the quiescent warm layer was capped by a stepped halocline (60 and 110 m) and a deep thermocline (110 m). Ice was forming and the winter mixed layer salinity was larger by ∼0.1 g/kg than previously observed. Over the Svalbard continental slope, the Atlantic Water (AW) was very shallow (20 m from the surface) and extended offshore from the 500 m isobath by a distance of about 70 km, sank along the slope (40 m from the surface) and probably shed eddies into the Sofia Deep. In the Sofia Deep, relatively warm waters of Atlantic origin extended from 90 m downward. Resulting from different pathways, these waters had a wide range of hydrographic characteristics. Sea-ice melt was widespread over the Svalbard continental slope and ocean-to-ice heat fluxes reached values of 400 Wm−2 (mean of ∼150 Wm−2 over the continental slope). Sea-ice melt events were associated with near 12-hour fluctuations in the mixed-layer temperature and salinity corresponding to the periodicity of tides and near-inertial waves potentially generated by winter storms, large barotropic tides over steep topography and/or geostrophic adjustments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Atlantic Waters inflow north of Svalbard: Insights from IAOOS observations and Mercator Ocean global operational system during N‐ICE2015

As part of the N-ICE2015 campaign, IAOOS (Ice Atmosphere Ocean Observing System) platforms gathered intensive winter data at the entrance of Atlantic Water (AW) inflow to the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard. These data are used to examine the performance of the 1/12° resolution Mercator Ocean global operational ice/ocean model in the marginal ice zone north of Svalbard. Modeled sea-ice extent, ocean heat fluxes, mixed layer depths, and AW mass characteristics are in good agreement with observations. Model outputs are then used to put the observations in a larger spatial and temporal context. Model outputs show that AW pathways over and around the Yermak Plateau differ in winter from summer. In winter, the large AW volume transport of the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) (∼4 Sv) proceeds to the North East through 3 branches: the Svalbard Branch (∼0.5 Sv) along the northern shelf break of Svalbard, the Yermak Branch (∼1.1 Sv) along the western slope of the Yermak Plateau and the Yermak Pass Branch (∼2.0 Sv) through a pass in the Yermak Plateau at 80.8°N. In summer, the AW transport in the WSC is smaller (∼2 Sv) and there is no transport through the Yermak Pass. Although only eddy-permitting in the area, the model suggests an important mesoscale activity throughout the AW flow. The large differences in ice extent between winters 2015 and 2016 follow very distinct atmospheric and oceanic conditions in the preceding summer and autumn seasons. Convection-induced upward heat fluxes maintained the area free of ice in winter 2016. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Volume transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Production and validation of a 20 year long time series obtained from in situ and satellite observations

A 20 year long volume transport time series of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current across the Drake Passage is estimated from the combination of information from in situ current meter data (2006–2009) and satellite altimetry data (1992–2012). A new method for transport estimates had to be designed. It accounts for the dependence of the vertical velocity structure on surface velocity and latitude. Yet unpublished velocity profile time series from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers are used to provide accurate vertical structure estimates in the upper 350 m. The mean cross-track surface geostrophic velocities are estimated using an iterative error/correction scheme to the mean velocities deduced from two recent mean dynamic topographies. The internal consistency and the robustness of the method are carefully assessed. Comparisons with independent data demonstrate the accuracy of the method. The full-depth volume transport has a mean of 141 Sv (standard error of the mean 2.7 Sv), a standard deviation (std) of 13 Sv, and a range of 110 Sv. Yearly means vary from 133.6 Sv in 2011 to 150 Sv in 1993 and standard deviations from 8.8 Sv in 2009 to 17.9 Sv in 1995. The canonical ISOS values (mean 133.8 Sv, std 11.2 Sv) obtained from a year-long record in 1979 are very similar to those found here for year 2011 (133.6 Sv and 12 Sv). Full-depth transports and transports over 3000 m barely differ as in that particular region of Drake Passage the deep recirculations in two semiclosed basins have a close to zero net transport.

Anatomy of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current volume transports through Drake Passage

The 20 year (October 1992 to August 2013) observation-based volume transport time series of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) through Drake Passage (DP) across the Jason altimeter track #104 is analyzed to better understand the ACC transport variability and its potential causes. The time series of three transport components (total (TT), barotropic (BT), and baroclinic (BC)) referenced to 3000 m present energetic intraseasonal fluctuations, with a salient spectral peak at 50 and 36 days, with the largest (least) variance being associated with the BT (BC) component. Low-frequency variations are much less energetic with a significant variance limited to the annual and biannual timescales and show a nonstationary intermittent link with the Southern Annular Mode and the Nino 3.4 index for interannual timescales. The region around 57°S in the Yaghan Basin appears to be a strategic point for a practical monitoring of the ACC transport , as the whole-track TT is significantly correlated with the local TT (r=5 0.53) and BT (r=5 0.69) around 57°S. These local BT (and TT) variations are associated with a well-defined tripole pattern in altimetric sea level anomaly (SLA). There is evidence that the tripole pattern associated with BT is locally generated when the BC-associated mesoscale SLAs, which have propagated eastward from an upstream area of DP, cross the Shackleton Fracture Zone to penetrate into the Yaghan Basin. Barotropic basin modes excited within the Yaghan Basin are discussed as a plausible mechanism for the observed energy-containing intra-seasonal spectral peaks found in the transport variability.

The Yermak Pass Branch: A Major Pathway for the Atlantic Water North of Svalbard?

An upward-looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler deployed from July 2007 to September 2008 in the Yermak Pass, north of Svalbard, gathered velocity data from 570 m up to 90 m at a location covered by sea-ice 10 months out of 12. Barotropic diurnal and semi-diurnal tides are the dominant signals in the velocity (more than 70% of the velocity variance). In winter, baroclinic eddies at periods between 5 and 15 days and pulses of one-to-two month periodicity are observed in the Atlantic Water layer and are associated with a shoaling of the pycnocline. Mercator-Ocean global operational model with daily and 1/12 degree spatial resolution is shown to have skills in representing low frequency velocity variations (>1 month) in the West Spitsbergen Current and in the Yermak Pass. Model outputs suggest that the Yermak Pass Branch has had a robust winter pattern over the last 10 years, carrying on average 31% of the Atlantic Water volume transport of the West Spitsbergen Current (36% in autumn/winter). However those figures have to be considered with caution as the model neither simulates tides nor fully resolves eddies and ignores residual mean currents that could be significant.

IAOOS microlidar-on-buoy development and first atmospheric observations obtained during 2014 and 2015 arctic drifts

The in situ tests of first ever autonomous aerosol and cloud backscatter LIDAR (light detection and ranging) systems implemented on buoys for Arctic observations has been achieved in 2015 within the French EQUIPEX IAOOS project. The environmental and operational constraints were met by adopting a concept of a fibered microjoule lidar system using a laser diode. Two systems have been developed with and without polarization analysis capability. A specific optical design was used for polarization discrimination. These systems were integrated in buoys and tested in the Arctic in 2014 and 2015 at latitudes higher than 80°N. Data were transmitted through an Iridium space link. Measurements have been obtained 90% of the time from the non-polarized system in 2014 over 8 months as the first fully equipped buoy drifted from the Barneo Russian camp close to the North Pole toward Svalbard. A polarized system was then tested over a short period in winter 2015 north of Svalbard during the Norwegian campaign N-ICE. In April and May 2014, the unattended lidar measurements showed a large occurrence of aerosols and haze. The average attenuated scattering ratio for non-cloudy profiles during this period was about 2.2. Aerosols could reach an altitude of 5km on average, whereas over the rest of the period low level clouds (below 1000 m) were prevailing with an average attenuated scattering ratio of about 103. The main features of the developed lidar instruments and first results are presented here.

Fronts of the Malvinas Current System: Surface and Subsurface Expressions Revealed by Satellite Altimetry, Argo Floats, and Mercator Operational Model Outputs

We examine the surface and subsurface signature of ocean fronts closely associated with theMalvinas Current dynamics. We first evaluate the performances of the Mercator Ocean eddy permitting (1/128spatial resolution) global operational system in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean over the last 10 years (2007–2016) using satellite, Argo float and in situ data collected near 418S. Observations versus model comparisons show that the model correctly reproduces the general circulation and the complex hydrographic features ofthe study area including the vicinity of the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence. The model outputs accurately match the observations except in June 2015. The causes for the June 2015 mismatch are analyzed. We then used themodel and satellite altimetry to identify isolines of absolute dynamic topography (ADT) and potential densityat different depths associated with the mean front location and establish their correspondence with specificwater mass boundaries. Frontal displacements as depicted in satellite ADT, model ADT, and model potential density at 450 m are in general agreement. The ADT and potential density at 450 m provide nonidentical and complementary information on eddies shed by the Polar Front (PF): while ADT depicts the surface circulation with PF eddies entrained into the energetic circulation over the deep Argentine Basin, potential density at450 m is more effective at monitoring PF eddies feeding the Malvinas Current.