Ice-Tethered Profilers (ITP), deployed in the Arctic Ocean between 2004 and 2013, have provided detailed temperature and salinity measurements of an assortment of halocline eddies. A total of 127 mesoscale eddies have been detected, 95% of which were anticyclones, the majority of which had anomalously cold cores. These cold-core anticyclonic eddies were observed in the Beaufort Gyre region (Canadian water eddies) and the vicinity of the Transpolar Drift Stream (Eurasian water eddies). An Arctic-wide calculation of the first baroclinic Rossby deformation radius R d has been made using ITP data coupled with climatology; R d 13 km in the Canadian water and 8 km in the Eurasian water. The observed eddies are found to have scales comparable to R d . Halocline eddies are in cyclogeostrophic balance and can be described by a Rankine vortex with maximum azimuthal speeds between 0.05 and 0.4 m/s. The relationship between radius and thickness for the eddies is consistent with adjustment to the ambient stratification. Eddies may be divided into four groups, each characterized by distinct core depths and core temperature and salinity properties, suggesting multiple source regions and enabling speculation of varying formation mechanisms.

The eddy field across the Arctic Ocean's Canada Basin is analyzed using Ice‐Tethered Profiler (ITP) and moored measurements of temperature, salinity, and velocity spanning 2005 to 2015. ITPs encountered 243 eddies, 98% of which were anticyclones, with approximately 70% of these having anomalously cold cores. The spatially and temporally varying eddy field is analyzed accounting for sampling biases in the unevenly distributed ITP data and caveats in detection methods. The highest concentration of eddies was found in the western and southern portions of the basin, close to topographic margins and boundaries of the Beaufort Gyre. The number of lower halocline eddies approximately doubled from 2005–2012 to 2013–2014. The increased eddy density suggests more active baroclinic instability of the Beaufort Gyre that releases available potential energy to balance the wind energy input; this may stabilize the Gyre spin‐up and associated freshwater increase.

Stirring along isopycnals is a significant factor in determining the distribution of tracers within the ocean. Salinity anomalies on density surfaces from Argo float profiles are used to investigate horizontal stirring and estimate eddy mixing lengths. Eddy mixing length and velocity fluctuations from the ECCO2 global state estimate are used to estimate horizontal diffusivity at a 300 km scale in the upper 2000 m with near‐global coverage. Diffusivity varies by over two orders of magnitude with latitude, longitude, and depth. In all basins, diffusivity is elevated in zonal bands corresponding to strong current regions, including western boundary current extension regions, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and equatorial current systems. The estimated mixing lengths and diffusivities provide an observationally based data set that can be used to test and constrain predictions and parameterizations of eddy stirring.

[1] The sampling characteristics of an underwater glider are addressed through comparison with contemporaneous measurements from a ship survey using a towed vehicle. The comparison uses the underwater glider Spray and the towed vehicle SeaSoar north of Hawaii along 158°W between 22.75°N and 34.5°N. A Spray dive from the surface to 1000 m and back took 5.6 h and covered 5.3 km, resulting in a horizontal speed of 0.26 m s −1 . SeaSoar undulated between the surface and 400 m, completing a cycle in 11 min while covering 2.6 km, for a speed of 3.9 m s −1 . Adjacent profiles of temperature and salinity are compared between the two platforms to prove that each is accurate. Spray and SeaSoar data are compared through sections, isopycnal spatial series, and wave number spectra. The relative slowness of the glider results in the projection of highfrequency oceanic variability, such as internal waves, onto spatial structure. The projection is caused by Doppler smearing because of finite speed and aliasing due to discrete sampling. The projected variability is apparent in properties measured on depth surfaces or in isopycnal depth. No projected variability is seen in observations of properties on constant density surfaces because internal waves are intrinsically filtered. Wave number spectra suggest that projected variability affects properties at constant depth at wavelengths shorter than 30 km. These results imply that isobaric quantities, like geostrophic shear, are valid at wavelengths longer than 30 km, while isopycnal quantities, like spice, may be analyzed for scales as small as a glider measures.

Ice-tethered profiler (ITP) measurements from the Arctic Ocean's Canada Basin indicate an ocean surface layer beneath sea ice with significant horizontal density structure on scales of hundreds of kilometers to the order 1 km submesoscale. The observed horizontal gradients in density are dynamically important in that they are associated with restratification of the surface ocean when dense water flows under light water. Such restratification is prevalent in wintertime and competes with convective mixing upon buoyancy forcing (e.g., ice growth and brine rejection) and shear-driven mixing when the ice moves relative to the ocean. Frontal structure and estimates of the balanced Richardson number point to the likelihood of dynamical restratification by isopycnal tilt and submesoscale baroclinic instability. Based on the evidence here, it is likely that submesoscale processes play an important role in setting surface-layer properties and lateral density variability in the Arctic Ocean.

The ice-ocean system is investigated on inertial to monthly time scales using winter 2009-10 observations from the first ice-tethered profiler (ITP) equipped with a velocity sensor (ITP-V). Fluctuations in surface winds, ice velocity, and ocean velocity at 7-m depth were correlated. Observed ocean velocity was primarily directed to the right of the ice velocity and spiraled clockwise while decaying with depth through the mixed layer. Inertial and tidal motions of the ice and in the underlying ocean were observed throughout the record. Just below the ice-ocean interface, direct estimates of the turbulent vertical heat, salt, and momentum fluxes and the turbulent dissipation rate were obtained. Periods of elevated internal wave activity were associated with changes to the turbulent heat and salt fluxes as well as stratification primarily within the mixed layer. Turbulent heat and salt fluxes were correlated particularly when the mixed layer was closest to the freezing temperature. Momentum flux is adequately related to velocity shear using a constant ice-ocean drag coefficient, mixing length based on the planetary and geometric scales, or Rossby similarity theory. Ekman viscosity described velocity shear over the mixed layer. The ice-ocean drag coefficient was elevated for certain directions of the ice-ocean shear, implying an ice topography that was characterized by linear ridges. Mixing length was best estimated using the wavenumber of the beginning of the inertial subrange or a variable drag coefficient. Analyses of this and future ITP-V datasets will advance understanding of ice-ocean interactions and their parameterizations in numerical models.

Cole, ST, et al 2017 Ice and ocean velocity in the Arctic marginal ice zone: Ice roughness and momentum transfer. Elem Sci Anth, 5: 55, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.241 IntroductionThe canonical view of subinertial ocean currents immediately beneath sea ice consists of a logarithmic boundary layer, within which the stress is independent of depth, and an Ekman layer, where the influence of the Earth's rotation becomes important (Figure 1; McPhee, 2008). Together these layers are termed the ice-ocean boundary layer (IOBL), and encompass the upper tens of meters of the Arctic Ocean. The logarithmic boundary layer is typically a few meters thick at most, but within it currents vary logarithmically with depth. The Ekman layer under sea ice has currents that decay and rotate with depth. The specific details RESEARCH ARTICLEIce and ocean velocity in the Arctic marginal ice zone: Ice roughness and momentum transfer The interplay between sea ice concentration, sea ice roughness, ocean stratification, and momentum transfer to the ice and ocean is subject to seasonal and decadal variations that are crucial to understanding the present and future air-ice-ocean system in the Arctic. In this study, continuous observations in the Canada Basin from March through December 2014 were used to investigate spatial differences and temporal changes in under-ice roughness and momentum transfer as the ice cover evolved seasonally. Observations of wind, ice, and ocean properties from four clusters of drifting instrument systems were complemented by direct drill-hole measurements and instrumented overhead flights by NASA operation IceBridge in March, as well as satellite remote sensing imagery about the instrument clusters. Spatially, directly estimated ice-ocean drag coefficients varied by a factor of three with rougher ice associated with smaller multi-year ice floe sizes embedded within the first-year-ice/multi-year-ice conglomerate.Temporal differences in the ice-ocean drag coefficient of 20-30% were observed prior to the mixed layer shoaling in summer and were associated with ice concentrations falling below 100%. The ice-ocean drag coefficient parameterization was found to be invalid in September with low ice concentrations and small ice floe sizes. Maximum momentum transfer to the ice occurred for moderate ice concentrations, and transfer to the ocean for the lowest ice concentrations and shallowest stratification. Wind work and ocean work on the ice were the dominant terms in the kinetic energy budget of the ice throughout the melt season, consistent with free drift conditions. Overall, ice topography, ice concentration, and the shallow summer mixed layer all influenced mixed layer currents and the transfer of momentum within the air-ice-ocean system. The observed changes in momentum transfer show that care must be taken to determine appropriate parameterizations of momentum transfer, and imply that the future Arctic system could become increasingly seasonal.

Using Ekman pumping rates mediated by sea ice in the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre (BG), the magnitude of lateral eddy diffusivities required to balance downward pumping is inferred. In this limit-that of vanishing residual-mean circulation-eddy-induced upwelling exactly balances downward pumping. The implied eddy diffusivity varies spatially and decays with depth, with values of 50-400 m 2 /s. Eddy diffusivity estimated using mixing length theory applied to BG mooring data exhibits a similar decay with depth and range of values from 100 m 2 /s to more than 600 m 2 /s. We conclude that eddy diffusivities in the BG are likely large enough to balance downward Ekman pumping, arresting the deepening of the gyre and suggesting that eddies play a zero-order role in buoyancy and freshwater budgets of the BG.