Emerging Dynamics of the Marginal Ice Zone
The goal of this five-year departmental research initiative, or DRI, (FY12-FY16) is to improve the knowledge and understanding of the physics of the retreating summer ice edge and Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The approach will be to integrate data from in situ sensing platforms, remotely-sensed observations and integrated process models to develop a comprehensive, quantitative picture of open-ocean, ice edge and MIZ processes, interactions and feedbacks as the ice retreats.
The team of DRI investigators has been chosen; project titles are listed below. Proposals for additional research on the marginal ice zone are likely to be given a lower program priority than other topics.
- MIZMAS: Modeling the Evolution of Ice Thickness and Floe Size Distributions in the MIZ of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas
- Acoustic Communications and Navigation for Mobile Under-Ice Sensors
- Evolution of the MIZ: Adaptive Sampling with Autonomous Gliders
- Autonomous Observations of the Upper Ocean Stratification and Velocity Fields about the Seasonally-Retreating MIZ
- Autonomous Profiling Float Measurements of the Ocean Stratification Field within the Seasonally-retreating MIZ
- The Role of Atmospheric, Ice and Oceanic Interactions in the MIZ
- Coupling of Waves, Turbulence and Thermodynamics across the MIZ
- Wave Interactions and the MIZ
- Waves and Fetch in the MIZ