Sea Ice Retreat - using AUVs to measure the turbulent polar oceans
Sea ice retreat in the Arctic Ocean will have far-reaching consequences in terms of the physical oceanography of the area and the resulting impacts in many fields, from nutrient cycling on plankton blooms to heat transport on weather and climate models. One of the ways that sea ice effects the ocean when it is present in high concentrations is by isolating the water column from the effects of the wind, resulting in weaker mixing in the Arctic Ocean than elsewhere. This is expected to change however as the Arctic moves to a more seasonally ice-free state.
The project makes use of three technologies: an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with turbulence measuring instruments; a freefall turbulence profiler, lowered off of a ship; and an archive of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler data from the past two decades across a range of locations in the Arctic Ocean. The use of this combination of technologies in this area is novel and aims to produce a new perspective on the implications of sea ice retreat on the physical oceanography of the Arctic.
The project is linked to the Arctic PRIZE project.
Supervisors
Professor Finlo Cottier, SAMS
Professor Mark Inall, SAMS
Professor Michael Meredith, British Antarctic Survey
Dr Alexander Brearley, British Antarctic Survey
Professor Martin Ludvigsen, Centre for Autonomous Marine Observations and Systems, Trondheim
Funder
University
University of the Highlands and Islands
Higher Education
Since Oct 2018 PhD student at SAMS UHI
2017 BSc (Hons) Marine Science with Arctic Studies. SAMS UHI
Fieldwork experience
2016: Week cruise on RV Lance in Svalbard
Teaching experience
Tutorial and lab work assistant for BSc (Hons) Marine Science H1 Fundamentals of Marine Physics
Public engagement experience
2016 Winter Festival science event at the Ocean Explorer Centre - developed and led activity 'What's up with the Arctic'
2017 Oban High School visit
2018 Oban as a University Town - developed and led school engagement workshop on Arctic science