| MMS ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM: ONGOING STUDIES | ||||||
| MMS OCS Region: | Alaska (Other) | |||||
| Title | Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea | |||||
| Total Cost | $642,565 | Period of Performance | FY 1998-2003 | |||
| Conducting Organization: |
University of Alaska Fairbanks Coastal Marine Inst-Fairbanks, AK (Contact: Tom Weingartner) |
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| MMS Contact | ||||||
| Understanding the physical oceanography of the Beaufort Sea is a necessary precursor to establishing accurate and reliable oil spill trajectory models. Results from such models are an important part of EIS analysis of proposed lease sales and choosing among alternatives. Oil-spill issues involving or resolvable by the trajectory model constitute half the public comments submitted on NEPA documents for decision-making on proposed offshore oil and gas lease sales on the Alaska OCS. | ||||||
| Description | ||||||
| Background Current, temperature, and salinity time series are largely unavailable for the Arctic Ocean, including in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Forcing and time and space scales are hypothesized rather than identified and confirmed. There are high inter-annual differences in flow and coastal salinity, but insufficient data to decipher whether these differences are due to long term trends or just inherent variability. Although there is salinity, temperature, and other data available for the Arctic Ocean, there is only one full year of cross-shelf mooring data along the Alaskan Beaufort coast. Data from elsewhere in the Arctic Ocean indicate that the oceanographic state of the Arctic Ocean may have changed since the earlier study. This study will provide a second year of data. |
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| Objectives 1. Estimate the mean transport over the outer continental shelf and slope and the cross-shelf and vertical scales of the mean flow field. 2. Estimate the magnitudes of transport variability and the dominant temporal and spatial scales associated with this variability. 3. Estimate the relation between variations in temperature and salinity and variations in the flow field at time scales between the synoptic to the seasonal. Evaluate whether changes in the baroclinic flow are consistent with changes in the cross-shelf density structure. 4. Estimate the cross-shelf fluxes of heat, salt, and momentum. Evaluate whether these are related to instabilities (eddy generation mechanisms) of the littoral flow. 5. Estimate the relationship between observed flow and density variations and the surface wind field. 6. Compare the results obtained from the proposed field program with those collected in 1987/88 in prior MMS research, to evaluate whether recent large changes in the Arctic Ocean are also reflected in the Beaufort Sea. 7. Combine this data set with other measurements recently acquired from around the Arctic Ocean to provide an updated synthesis that relates the Beaufort Sea to the large-scale circulation of the Arctic Ocean. |
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| Methods Moored instruments were deployed along the outer shelf and slope of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Five of the moorings were recovered after one year, in 1999. The sixth mooring could not be recovered in 1999, and will be recovered in 2000. The mooring data will be supplemented by hydrographic profiles collected during the mooring deployment and recovery cruises on a cross-shelf transect along the 147° W meridian. |
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| Current Status Field work is complete. The draft final report has been reviewed and comments provided to the principal investigator. A request for a no-cost extension to complete the Task Order is under consideration by MMS |
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| Final Report Due | 8-31-2006 | |||||
| Publications: |
Weingartner, T. J. 2000. "Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea." Annual Report No. 6, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. OCS Study MMS 2000-046. University of Alaska, Coastal Marine Institute and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, Fairbanks, AK. Weingartner, T. J. 2001. Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. In Alaska OCS Region Eighth Information Transfer Meeting Proceedings MBC Applied Environmental Sciences Anchorage: USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region. Weingartner, T. J. 1998. "Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea [Abstract]." Annual Report No. 5, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. OCS Study MMS 98-0062. University of Alaska, Coastal Marine Institute and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, Fairbanks, AK. Weingartner, T. J., and K. Aagaard. 2000. "Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea." Annual Report No. 7, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. OCS Study MMS 2000-070. University of Alaska, Coastal Marine Institute and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, Fairbanks, AK. Weingartner, T. J., and K. Aagaard. 2002. "Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea." Annual Report No. 8, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. OCS Study MMS 2002-001. University of Alaska, Coastal Marine Institute and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, Fairbanks, AK. Weingartner, T. J., and K. Aagaard. 2003. "Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea." Annual Report No. 9 , University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. OCS Study MMS 2003-003. University of Alaska, Coastal Marine Institute and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, Fairbanks, AK. Weingartner, T. J., K. Aagaard, T. Takazawa, and E. C. Carmack. 2004. "Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross-Shelf Transport in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea." Annual Report No. 10, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. OCS Study MMS 2004-002. University of Alaska, Coastal Marine Institute and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, Fairbanks, AK. |
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| Affiliated WWW Sites | ||||||
| Revised date |
March 3, 2006 |
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| ESPIS |
ESPIS - All completed
ESP Studies: |
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