Dispatch 6: Moorings, Moorings, and Moorings : Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project

We spent the last three days doing mooring recoveries and deployments. After the deployment of the first Beaufort Gyre Freshwater Experiment mooring on August 14th, the WHOI program was interrupted to begin work with the Joint Western Arctic Climate Study (JWACS) field project. The major goal in this cooperative Arctic study between Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) and Institute of Ocean Sciences, Canada (IOS) is an investigation of climate change in the Canada Basin and marginal seas.

The dynamics of Pacific water is one of the themes of the JAMSTEC research. Every second, approximately one million cubic meters of this water flow to the Chukchi Sea from the Bering Sea. Pacific water brings fresh water, heat, and nutrients to the Chukchi Sea and Canada Basin.

Using moorings and hydrographic surveys, the JAMSTEC scientists led by Koji Shimada are investigating pathways of the Pacific water in the Canada Basin. Vertical arrays of current meters and water temperature and salinity recorders were deployed in the key regions of the Northern Chukchi Sea in order to measure propagation of the Pacific waters and their transformation in time and space.

The photographs show the JAMSTEC mooring deployment operations.

Dispatch 6: Moorings, Moorings, and Moorings

Andrey Proshutinsky

August 15-17, 2003