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Sea State and Boundary Layer Physics of the Emerging Arctic Ocean

"Sea State and Boundary Layer Physics of the Emerging Arctic Ocean" is an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Departmental Research Initiative, or DRI. The objectives of this five-year DRI (FY13-FY17) include:

  1. Developing a sea state climatology, identify factors affecting the spatial and temporal variability of sea state, and improve forecasting of waves on the open ocean and in the marginal ice zone;
  2. Developing a climatology of and improve theory of wave attenuation/scattering in the sea ice cover;
  3. Using wave scattering theory directly in integrated Arctic system models, and indirectly to define an ice rheology for use in Arctic system models; and
  4. Understanding the physics of heat and mass transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere, and the seasonal variability of fluxes during summer ice retreat and autumn ice advance.

The main field experiment occurred during October and early November of 2015 in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas aboard the UNOLS research vessel Sikuliaq. With the successful completion of the field program in 2015, the DRI, including the science plan [pdf], is available on the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory project website. The titles of Sea State DRI awards are listed below.

  • An Arctic Ice/Ocean Coupled Model with Wave Interactions
  • Wave-Ice Interaction in the Marginal Ice Zone: Toward a Wave-Ocean-Ice Coupled Modeling System
  • An Integrative Wave Model in the Marginal Ice Zone Based on a Rheological Parameterization
  • Proving and Improving Wave Models in the Arctic Ocean and its MIZ
  • Wave Climate and Wave Mixing in the Marginal Ice Zones of Arctic Seas: Observations and Modeling
  • Storm Flux: Heat and Momentum Transfer in the Arctic Air-Sea-Ice System
  • Quantifying the Role of Atmospheric Forcing in Ice Edge Retreat and Advance Including Wind-Wave Coupling
  • Wave-Ice and Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction During the Chukchi Sea Ice Edge Advance
  • Radar Remote Sensing of Ice and Sea State and Boundary Layer Physics in the Marginal Ice Zone
  • Wave Processes in Arctic Seas Observed from TerraSAR-X