About the project
We essentially lack a basic dynamic 'textbook' theory for how the circulation in the Arctic Ocean is maintained and steered. And complex numerical climate models also have a hard time reproducing the observed hydrography and circulation in the Arctic. This project aims to improve the situation by taking a closer look at the impact of mesoscale eddies (oceanic 'weather') on the large-scale circulation. And to properly understand this impact we are absolutely required to study how bottom topography impacts is eddy field.
More than a hundred years ago Nansen and Helland-Hansen reported on how ocean currents in the Arctic are effectively steered by continental slopes and underwater ridge systems. This observation has led to the development of relatively unique theoretical descriptions of the large-scale flow in the Arctic. The theories are nonetheless incomplete in that they completely neglect the role of ocean eddy transport. As it turns out, eddies are almost as constrained by bottom topography as the large-scale flow is. So understanding this topographic impact is absolutely key.
Objectives
The objectives of the TopArctic project are two-fold:
1) to better understand topographic effects on instability and mesoscale eddy transport in the Arctic Ocean
2) to incorporate eddy-mean flow interactions into our lowest-order theoretical models of the large-scale ocean circulation in this region.
Financing
The project is funded from the Research Council of Norway (NFR) in the FRINATEK-programme, with NRF project number 314826.
The project period is from August 2021 to December 2024.
Cooperation
Topographic control in the Arctic Ocean is a project which requires a combination of modeling and theoretical experience. The project will be done in collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute, Oxford University, University of Washington, Stockholm University, Alfred Wegner Institute and NORCE.