Wilkinson
Jeremy P.
Wilkinson
Jeremy P.
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ArticleEvolution of a Canada Basin ice-ocean boundary layer and mixed layer across a developing thermodynamically forced marginal ice zone(John Wiley & Sons, 2016-08-22) Gallaher, Shawn G. ; Stanton, Timothy P. ; Shaw, William J. ; Cole, Sylvia T. ; Toole, John M. ; Wilkinson, Jeremy P. ; Maksym, Ted ; Hwang, ByongjunA comprehensive set of autonomous, ice-ocean measurements were collected across the Canada Basin to study the summer evolution of the ice-ocean boundary layer (IOBL) and ocean mixed layer (OML). Evaluation of local heat and freshwater balances and associated turbulent forcing reveals that melt ponds (MPs) strongly influence the summer IOBL-OML evolution. Areal expansion of MPs in mid-June start the upper ocean evolution resulting in significant increases to ocean absorbed radiative flux (19 W m−2 in this study). Buoyancy provided by MP drainage shoals and freshens the IOBL resulting in a 39 MJ m−2 increase in heat storage in just 19 days (52% of the summer total). Following MP drainage, a near-surface fresh layer deepens through shear-forced mixing to form the summer mixed layer (sML). In late summer, basal melt increases due to stronger turbulent mixing in the thin sML and the expansion of open water areas due in part to wind-forced divergence of the sea ice. Thermal heterogeneities in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) upper ocean led to large ocean-to-ice heat fluxes (100–200 W m−2) and enhanced basal ice melt (3–6 cm d−1), well away from the ice edge. Calculation of the upper ocean heat budget shows that local radiative heat input accounted for at least 89% of the observed latent heat losses and heat storage (partitioned 0.77/0.23). These results suggest that the extensive area of deteriorating sea ice observed away from the ice edge during the 2014 season, termed the “thermodynamically forced MIZ,” was driven primarily by local shortwave radiative forcing.
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ArticleDirect inference of first-year sea ice thickness using broadband acoustic backscattering(Acoustical Society of America, 2020-02-06) Bassett, Christopher ; Lavery, Andone C. ; Lyons, Anthony P. ; Wilkinson, Jeremy P. ; Maksym, TedAccurate measurements of sea ice thickness are critical to better understand climate change, to provide situational awareness in ice-covered waters, and to reduce risks for communities that rely on sea ice. Nonetheless, remotely measuring the thickness of sea ice is difficult. The only regularly employed technique that accurately measures the full ice thickness involves drilling a hole through the ice. Other presently used methods are either embedded in or through the ice (e.g., ice mass balance buoys) or calculate thickness from indirect measurements (e.g., ice freeboard from altimetry; ice draft using sonars; total snow and ice thickness using electromagnetic techniques). Acoustic techniques, however, may provide an alternative approach to measure the total ice thickness. Here laboratory-grown sea ice thicknesses, estimated by inverting the time delay between echoes from the water-ice and ice-air interfaces, are compared to those measured using ice cores. A time-domain model capturing the dominant scattering mechanisms is developed to explore the viability of broadband acoustic techniques for measuring sea ice thickness, to compare with experimental measurements, and to investigate optimal frequencies for in situ applications. This approach decouples ice thickness estimates from water column properties and does not preclude ice draft measurements using the same data.
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ArticleDetection and quantification of oil under sea ice : the view from below(Elsevier, 2014-08-21) Wilkinson, Jeremy P. ; Boyd, Tim ; Hagen, Bernard ; Maksym, Ted ; Pegau, Scott ; Roman, Christopher N. ; Singh, Hanumant ; Zabilansky, LeonardTraditional measures for detecting oil spills in the open-ocean are both difficult to apply and less effective in ice-covered seas. In view of the increasing levels of commercial activity in the Arctic, there is a growing gap between the potential need to respond to an oil spill in Arctic ice-covered waters and the capability to do so. In particular, there is no robust operational capability to remotely locate oil spilt under or encapsulated within sea ice. To date, most research approaches the problem from on or above the sea ice, and thus they suffer from the need to ‘see’ through the ice and overlying snow. Here we present results from a large-scale tank experiment which demonstrate the detection of oil beneath sea ice, and the quantification of the oil layer thickness is achievable through the combined use of an upward-looking camera and sonar deployed in the water column below a covering of sea ice. This approach using acoustic and visible measurements from below is simple and effective, and potentially transformative with respect to the operational response to oil spills in the Arctic marine environment. These results open up a new direction of research into oil detection in ice-covered seas, as well as describing a new and important role for underwater vehicles as platforms for oil-detecting sensors under Arctic sea ice.
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ArticleIce and ocean velocity in the Arctic marginal ice zone : ice roughness and momentum transfer(University of California Press, 2017-09-21) Cole, Sylvia T. ; Toole, John M. ; Lele, Ratnaksha ; Timmermans, Mary-Louise ; Gallaher, Shawn G. ; Stanton, Timothy P. ; Shaw, William J. ; Hwang, Byongjun ; Maksym, Ted ; Wilkinson, Jeremy P. ; Ortiz, Macarena ; Graber, Hans C. ; Rainville, Luc ; Petty, Alek A. ; Farrell, Sinéad L. ; Richter-Menge, Jackie A. ; Haas, ChristianThe 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.
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ArticleLaboratory measurements of high-frequency, acoustic broadband backscattering from sea ice and crude oil(Acoustical Society of America, 2014-12-18) Bassett, Christopher ; Lavery, Andone C. ; Maksym, Ted ; Wilkinson, Jeremy P.Recent decreases in summer sea ice cover are spurring interest in hydrocarbon extraction and shipping in Arctic waters, increasing the risk of an oil spill in ice covered waters. With advances in unmanned vehicle operation, there is an interest in identifying techniques for remote, underwater detection of oil spills from below. High-frequency (200–565 kHz), broadband acoustic scattering data demonstrate that oil can be detected and quantified under laboratory grown sea ice and may be of use in natural settings. A simple scattering model based on the reflection coefficients from the interfaces agrees well with the data.
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ArticleWinter-to-summer transition of Arctic sea ice breakup and floe size distribution in the Beaufort Sea(University of California Press, 2017-07-26) Hwang, Byongjun ; Wilkinson, Jeremy P. ; Maksym, Ted ; Graber, Hans C. ; Schweiger, Axel ; Horvat, Christopher ; Perovich, Donald K. ; Arntsen, Alexandra ; Stanton, Timothy P. ; Ren, Jinchang ; Wadhams, PeterBreakup of the near-continuous winter sea ice into discrete summer ice floes is an important transition that dictates the evolution and fate of the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Arctic Ocean. During the winter of 2014, more than 50 autonomous drifting buoys were deployed in four separate clusters on the sea ice in the Beaufort Sea, as part of the Office of Naval Research MIZ program. These systems measured the ocean-ice-atmosphere properties at their location whilst the sea ice parameters in the surrounding area of these buoy clusters were continuously monitored by satellite TerraSAR-X Synthetic Aperture Radar. This approach provided a unique Lagrangian view of the winter-to-summer transition of sea ice breakup and floe size distribution at each cluster between March and August. The results show the critical timings of a) temporary breakup of winter sea ice coinciding with strong wind events and b) spring breakup (during surface melt, melt ponding and drainage) leading to distinctive summer ice floes. Importantly our results suggest that summer sea ice floe distribution is potentially affected by the state of winter sea ice, including the composition and fracturing (caused by deformation events) of winter sea ice, and that substantial mid-summer breakup of sea ice floes is likely linked to the timing of thermodynamic melt of sea ice in the area. As the rate of deformation and thermodynamic melt of sea ice has been increasing in the MIZ in the Beaufort Sea, our results suggest that these elevated factors would promote faster and more enhanced breakup of sea ice, leading to a higher melt rate of sea ice and thus a more rapid advance of the summer MIZ.
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ArticleAcoustic sensing of ocean mixed layer depth and temperature from uplooking ADCPs(American Meteorological Society, 2023-01-01) Brenner, Samuel ; Thomson, Jim ; Rainville, Luc ; Torres, Daniel ; Doble, Martin ; Wilkinson, Jeremy ; Lee, CraigProperties of the surface mixed layer (ML) are critical for understanding and predicting atmosphere–sea ice–ocean interactions in the changing Arctic Ocean. Mooring measurements are typically unable to resolve the ML in the Arctic due to the need for instruments to remain below the surface to avoid contact with sea ice and icebergs. Here, we use measurements from a series of three moorings installed for one year in the Beaufort Sea to demonstrate that upward-looking acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) installed on subsurface floats can be used to estimate ML properties. A method is developed for combining measured peaks in acoustic backscatter and inertial shear from the ADCPs to estimate the ML depth. Additionally, we use an inverse sound speed model to infer the summer ML temperature based on offsets in ADCP altimeter distance during open-water periods. The ADCP estimates of ML depth and ML temperature compare favorably with measurements made from mooring temperature sensors, satellite SST, and from an autonomous Seaglider. These methods could be applied to other extant mooring records to recover additional information about ML property changes and variability.
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ArticleRobust wavebuoys for the marginal ice zone : experiences from a large persistent array in the Beaufort Sea(University of California Press, 2017-08-21) Doble, Martin J. ; Wilkinson, Jeremy P. ; Valcic, Lovro ; Robst, Jeremy ; Tait, Andrew ; Preston, Mark ; Bidlot, Jean-Raymond ; Hwang, Byongjun ; Maksym, Ted ; Wadhams, PeterAn array of novel directional wavebuoys was designed and deployed into the Beaufort Sea ice cover in March 2014, as part of the Office of Naval Research Marginal Ice Zone experiment. The buoys were designed to drift with the ice throughout the year and monitor the expected breakup and retreat of the ice cover, forced by waves travelling into the ice from open water. Buoys were deployed from fast-and-light air-supported ice camps, based out of Sachs Harbour on Canada’s Banks Island, and drifted westwards with the sea ice over the course of spring, summer and autumn, as the ice melted, broke up and finally re-froze. The buoys transmitted heave, roll and pitch timeseries at 1 Hz sample frequency over the course of up to eight months, surviving both convergent ice dynamics and significant waves-in-ice events. Twelve of the 19 buoys survived until their batteries were finally exhausted during freeze-up in late October/November. Ice impact was found to have contaminated a significant proportion of the Kalman-filter-derived heave records, and these bad records were removed with reference to raw x/y/z accelerations. The quality of magnetometer-derived buoy headings at the very high magnetic field inclinations close to the magnetic pole was found to be generally acceptable, except in the case of four buoys which had probably suffered rough handling during transport to the ice. In general, these new buoys performed as expected, though vigilance as to the veracity of the output is required.