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Abstract Data from two moorings deployed at 166°W on the northern Chukchi shelf and slope from summer 2002 to fall 2004, as part of the Western Arctic Shelf‐Basin Interactions program, are analyzed to investigate the characteristics and variability of the flow in this region. The depth‐mean velocity at the outer‐shelf mooring is northeastward and bottom‐intensified, while that at the upper‐slope mooring is northwestward and surface‐intensified. This, together with results from a high resolution ocean and sea ice reanalysis, indicates that the outer‐shelf mooring sampled the seaward edge of the Chukchi Shelfbreak Jet, while the upper‐slope mooring sampled the shoreward edge of the Chukchi Slope Current. The coupled variability in velocity at both sites is related to the wind stress curl over the Chukchi Sea shelf, likely via Ekman dynamics and geostrophic set up, analogous to the dynamics of both currents closer to Barrow Canyon near 157°W. Hydrographic signals are analyzed to elucidate the origin of the water masses present at this location. It is argued that the annual appearance of Pacific‐origin warm water at the outer‐shelf (upper‐slope) mooring in late‐fall and winter originates from Herald (Barrow) Canyon some months earlier. Our results constitute the first robust evidence that the westward‐flowing Chukchi Slope Current persists this far west of Barrow Canyon.
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A numerical investigation on the energetics of a current along an ice-covered continental slope
Abstract. The Chukchi Slope Current is a westward-flowing currentalong the Chukchi slope, which carries Pacific-origin water from the Chukchishelf into the Canada Basin and helps set the regional hydrographicstructure and ecosystem. Using a set of experiments with an idealizedprimitive equation numerical model, we investigate the energetics of theslope current during the ice-covered period. Numerical calculations showthat the growth of surface eddies is suppressed by the ice friction, whileperturbations at mid-depths can grow into eddies, consistent with linearinstability analysis. However, because the ice stress is spatially variable,it is able to drive Ekman pumping to decrease the available potential energy(APE) and kinetic energy of both the mean flow and mesoscale eddies over avertical scale of 100 m, well outside the frictional Ekman layer. The rateat which the APE changes is determined by the vertical density flux, whichis negative as the ice-induced Ekman pumping advects lighter (denser) waterupward (downward). A scaling analysis shows that Ekman pumping will dominatethe release of APE for large-scale flows, but the effect of baroclinicinstability is also important when the horizontal scale of the mean flow isthe baroclinic deformation radius and the eddy velocity is comparable to themean flow velocity. Our numerical results highlight the importance of icefriction in the energetics of the slope current and eddies, and this may berelevant to other ice-covered regions.
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- PAR ID:
- 10437601
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ocean Science
- Volume:
- 19
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1812-0792
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 289 to 304
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-289-2023
