A - C
Short Title: BIAC Project URL: http://www.uib.no/People/ngfso/BIAC/ Proposal URL: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=23 General: The aim of the proposed project is to study mechanisms, manifestations and impacts of bottom water formation on the bipolar Atlantic Ocean shelves. Key areas are the Barents Sea, and the southern Weddell Sea. The proposed activity is to i) Identify key regions where dense water is formed and contributes to bottom water formation and thermohaline circulation; ii) Study cooling and freezing processes in these areas by remote sensing, in situ measurements and modeling; iii) Estimate production rates of dense water; iv) Study cascading of dense water towards the deep ocean by direct measurements and modeling of the bottom plume characteristics like velocity and turbulent structures; v) Measure and calculate the mixing processes in these downward cascading waters and obtain production rates of bottom water; vi) Define physical and biogeochemical controls on ocean carbon biogeochemistry; vii) Investigate relationships between variability in deep-water formation, CO2 uptake rates and large scale natural or anthropogenic climate forcing. viii) Study the relationships between variability in the bipolar deep-water formation and the global ocean circulation using the ROMS model system; ix) Study the role of the variability of Antarctic ice sheet for triggering glacial cycles by combining paleo-climatological sampling and paleo modeling.
BIAC