Publication Date:
2024-08-13
Description:
The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC, 2019–2020), a year-long
drift with the Arctic sea ice, has provided the scientific community with an unprecedented, multidisciplinary
dataset from the Eurasian Arctic Ocean, covering high atmosphere to deep ocean across all seasons. However,
the heterogeneity of data and the superposition of spatial and temporal variability, intrinsic to a drift
campaign, complicate the interpretation of observations. In this study, we have compiled a qualitycontrolled
physical hydrographic dataset with best spatio-temporal coverage and derived core parameters,
including the mixed layer depth, heat fluxes over key layers, and friction velocity.We provide a comprehensive
and accessible overview of the ocean conditions encountered along the MOSAiC drift, discuss their
interdisciplinary implications, and compare common ocean climatologies to these new data. Our results
indicate that, for the most part, ocean variability was dominated by regional rather than seasonal signals,
carrying potentially strong implications for ocean biogeochemistry, ecology, sea ice, and even atmospheric
conditions. Near-surface ocean properties were strongly influenced by the relative position of sampling,
within or outside the river-water influenced Transpolar Drift, and seasonal warming and meltwater input.
Ventilation down to the AtlanticWater layer in the Nansen Basin allowed for a stronger connectivity between
subsurface heat and the sea ice and surface ocean via elevated upward heat fluxes. The Yermak Plateau and
Fram Strait regions were characterized by heterogeneous water mass distributions, energetic ocean currents,
and stronger lateral gradients in surface water properties in frontal regions. Together with the presented
results and core parameters, we offer context for interdisciplinary research, fostering an improved
understanding of the complex, coupled Arctic System.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
Format:
application/pdf