Atmosphere and ocean measurements from an Automated Weather Station on landfast sea ice in Wolstenholme Fjord, Greenland, March - April 2017

The principal investigators of this project propose to design and develop an integrated underwater acoustic sensor network for ice-covered seas. The sensor and communication network will support 1) long-term, intelligent distributed Arctic observing systems, 2) assimilation of remote-sensing and in-situ under-ice measurements, and 3) regional and global climate modeling with real-time measurements. Such a network holds the promise to revolutionize under-ice ocean sampling in polar regions. An automated weather station (AWS) was placed Mar.-23, 2017 on the sea ice at 76° 37.463’ North and 69° 21.077’ West. It reported wind, air, and surface ocean temperature and conductivity at the center of the sea ice study area via an Iridium satellite link every 30 minutes. This operational capability mitigates the risks of working away from Thule Air Base where local topography other than sea ice dominates atmospheric flows. Nevertheless, scientific goals were met such as acquisition of a time series of atmospheric and ocean conditions (via a cabled sensor). The AWS also served as the terminus for the acoustic receive modem whose data cable connects to the AWS after April-15, 2017.