February 18-23, 2024
New Orleans, LA USA
https://www.agu.org/ocean-sciences-meetingThe Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) is the flagship conference for the ocean sciences and the larger ocean-connected community. The meeting welcomes a diverse community of scientists, students, journalists, policymakers, educators and organizations who are working toward a world where our global collaborations and partnerships can carry us into a sustainable future.
The Ocean Sciences Meeting is an Endorsed Decade Action program with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Documents: 19
Schmidgall, C., Gaube, P., Thompson, L., and Thomson, J. [22-Feb-24]. The Beaufort Gyre is salinity stratified, allowing warm, salty layers at depth to be capped by cold, fresh layers near the surface. Vertical gradients in salinity therefore set the stability of the water column, and the tendency for subsurface heat to be mixed upward towards the surface. In the spring and summer, cool and fresh meltwater input from sea ice enhances salinity stratification.
Smith, J.I., Kurapov, A.L., and Durski, S.M. [22-Feb-24]. Interannual variability in Bering Sea ice distribution and melt timing impact the physical and biogeochemical characteristics of the shelf throughout the summer season with important implications for several Alaskan fisheries. To understand the dynamic and thermodynamic processes that lead to this variability, coupled sea-ice ocean models have been developed at varying degrees of complexity. In this work, we explore the applicability of perhaps the most extensively developed sea ice model, the Los Alamos Consortium model for sea ice (CICE6).
Chen, Y., Menezes, V., Yu, L., Carrigg, J., Steele, M., and Zippel, S. [21-Feb-24]. In recent decades, the open-water period during which the Arctic is sea ice-free is lengthening, leading to notable changes in air-sea heat, momentum, and water fluxes and associated biogeochemical processes. In this study, we examine several reanalysis data sets (ERA5, MERRA2, and CFSv2) and observations from a recent field campaign (NASA SASSIE cruise in September 2022). We first describe the upper-ocean thermal and dynamical structures of the Beaufort Sea during the transitional period from summer sea ice retreat to autumn sea ice advance.
Durski, S.M., Kurapov, A.L., Smith, J.I., and Jung, J. [22-Feb-24]. Salinity distribution on the eastern Bering Sea shelf is determined by a variety of processes including freshwater inflow from major rivers, exchange with the Arctic Ocean through Bering Strait, shelf-basin exchange and freeze/melt processes associated with sea ice. The winter of 2018-19 was an extremely low-ice year while the following winter approached average sea ice coverage for the Bering Sea shelf.
Yu, L. [23-Feb-24]. Traditionally, tropical salinity minima (Smin) and subtropical salinity maxima (Smax) have been considered as separate entities due to their distinct characteristics and geographical separation. However, recent analysis of satellite sea surface salinity (SSS) observations reveals that the two salinity extrema are phase connected, with the tropical Smin leading the subtropical Smax by six months.
Liu, C. and Liang, X. [22-Feb-24]. The mixed layer salinity (MLS) budget and its variability is essential for understanding air-sea freshwater exchange and its implication for the global hydrological cycle. While extensive research on the seasonal and regional patterns of MLS exists, less attention has been given to the temporal sensitivity of the MLS budget on a global scale.
Pacini, A., Steele, M., and Schreck, M.-B. [22-Feb-24]. There are many challenges associated with obtaining high-fidelity sea ice concentration (SIC) information, and products that rely solely on passive microwave measurements often struggle to represent conditions at low concentration, especially within the Marginal Ice Zone and during periods of active melt. Here, we present a SIC product for the Alaskan Arctic generated by the National Weather Service Alaska Sea Ice Program (hereafter referred to as ASIP) that digitally synthesizes a variety of satellite SIC and in-situ observations from 2007-present.
Vazquez, J., Garcia-Reyes, M., and Gomez-Valdes, J. [19-Feb-24]. Coastal upwelling regions are one of the most dynamic areas of the world's oceans. The California and Baja California Coasts are impacted by both coastal upwelling and the California Current, leading to frontal activity that is captured by gradients in both Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Sea Surface Salinity (SSS). Satellite data are a great source of spatial data to study fronts. However, biases near coastal areas and coarse resolutions can impair its usefulness in upwelling areas.
Ruiz Xomchuk, V., Hackert, E.C., Akella, S., Ren, L., Nakada K., Molod, A., and Boutin, J. [22-Feb-24]. The ENSO phenomenon has a significant global socio-economic impact and has been the key focus for improving coupled ocean-atmosphere forecasts. Assimilation of satellite altimetry and subsurface temperature and salinity from (mostly) Argo help improve the initialization of the thermocline, while satellite SST aids in constraining surface heat-fluxes, leading to improved coupled system sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasts.
Jarugula, S., Fournier, S., Reager, J.T., and Pasoclini-Campbell, M. [20-Feb-24]. Observing the global ocean sea surface salinity (SSS) from remote sensing satellites over the past decade to an accuracy of 0.2 pss has advanced our understanding of the salinity variability in response to the hydrological cycle, ocean circulation, land-sea exchanges, air-sea interaction. It remains a huge challenge to obtain accurate satellite SSS measurements close to the coast owing to land-contamination issues.
Ryan, S., Ummenhofer, C., and Ehrens, D. [22-Feb-24]. Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are extreme events in the ocean when temperatures are well above the long-term average. As global temperatures rise, MHWs are becoming more frequent, more intense, and can dramatically impact marine biodiversity, fisheries, and, ultimately, our coastal communities. The ocean off the Northeast U.S. coast has become a hotspot for such events in the recent decade due to accelerated ocean warming.
Gaube, P., Drushka, K., Burnett, J., and Schanze, J. [19-Feb-24]. Summer sea ice melt deposits fresh water at the ocean's surface, which sets the stratification that modulates sea ice growth in the autumn. As our planet warms and summer sea-ice extent dwindles, understanding the mechanisms controlling autumn ice advance becomes more urgent The 2022 NASA Salinity and Stratification at the Sea-Ice Edge (SASSIE) mission measured surface freshwater anomalies from summer ice melt using a fleet of autonomous surface platforms in conjunction with ship and aircraft surveys.
Misra, S., Ogut, M., Brown, S.T., Akins, A., Fournier, S., Fenty, I.G., Houndegnonto, O.J., Vandemark, D.C., and Shellito, S. [19-Feb-24]. Sea-surface salinity (SSS) in the high latitudes are one of the critical links that ties up ocean, atmospheric, and cryospheric interactions and their respective roles in ocean circulation and the global water cycle. Though, polar SSS is a critical parameter, it is one of the least understood or measured parameters currently.
Bingham, F., Fournier, S., Brodnitz, S., Hayashi, A., Kuusela, M., Westbrook, E., Ulfsax, K., González-Haro, C., and Gonzalez-Gambau, V. [22-Feb-24]. In order to study the validation process for sea surface salinity (SSS) we have generated a year (November 2011- October 2012) of simulated satellite and in situ "ground truth" data. This was done using the ECCO (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Oceans) 1/48° simulation, the highest resolution ocean model currently available.
Pérez Valentín, J., Gaube, P., Steele, M., Thomson, J., Pacini, A., and Zippel, S. [22-Feb-24]. As sea ice melts during the Arctic summer, the underlying ocean stratifies and a distinctive layer of fresh, cold water forms at the surface. By late summer, the input of solar radiation decreases, and then in early autumn the heat stored in the ocean mixed layer begins to be released into the atmosphere. This air-sea exchange is modulated by turbulent air-sea fluxes and mixing in the upper ocean.
Ryan, S., Ummenhofer, C., Gawarkiewicz, G., Taenzer, L., and Parfitt, R. [21-Feb-24]. The Northeast U.S. continental shelf is a highly productive and economically important region that has experienced robust changes in upper-ocean properties in recent decades. Warming rates exceed the global and North Atlantic rates and in particular several episodes of anomalously warm temperatures, so called marine heatwaves (MHWs), have had devastating impacts on regional fisheries over the past decade.
Melnichenko, O., Qu, T., and Hacker, P. [19-Feb-24]. The northern North Atlantic is an important region of deep water formation and an essential component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Salinity in the northern North Atlantic controls stratification and, therefore, deep water formation.
Bulusu, S. [20-Feb-24]. Internal Waves (IWs) are prominent features that undulate in the subsurface ocean in regions of well-defined density stratification. Their generation is influenced by bathymetry, atmospheric forcing, and internal tides which ultimately transport momentum and energy across long distances. IWs can propagate hundreds of kilometers, where most of their energy dissipates into turbulent mixing.
Hall, S. and Bayler, E. [21-Feb-24]. Salinity, a fundamental ocean state parameter, governs the Arctic Ocean's upper density structure, influencing physical dynamics, sea-ice cover, and convection processes. The paucity of in situ salinity measurements, however, limits comprehensive understanding of the Arctic Ocean state and processes.
