NSF Org:	OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
Recipient:	UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Initial Amendment Date:	July 17, 2009
Latest Amendment Date:	July 17, 2009
Award Number:	0909432
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	William J. Wiseman, Jr. OPP  Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO  Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date:	August 1, 2009
End Date:	July 31, 2012 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$259,559.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$259,559.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2009 = $259,559.00
ARRA Amount:	$259,559.00
History of Investigator:	Harper Simmons (Principal Investigator) harpers@uw.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus 2145 N TANANA LOOP FAIRBANKS AK  US  99775-0001 (907)474-7301
Sponsor Congressional District:	00
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus 2145 N TANANA LOOP FAIRBANKS AK  US  99775-0001
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	00
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	FDLEQSJ8FF63
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	ANS-Arctic Natural Sciences
Primary Program Source:	01R00910DB RRA RECOVERY ACT
Program Reference Code(s):	1079, 6890, 9150, 0000, OTHR
Program Element Code(s):	528000
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.078

ABSTRACT

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

The PI proposes to leverage the ongoing ICORTAS (Ice-Covered Ocean Response to Atmospheric Storms) field observations by augmenting the existing scientific goals to include a modeling component that will capitalize on a model?s ability to resolve temporal and spatial fields, aiding in interpretation of the data. Specific new goals will be a focus on shoaling and dissipation of near-inertial wave groups as they are absorbed or scatter at the continental shelf break. The PI will use the fact that the study area, the Beaufort Sea shelf and slope, is seasonally ice-free to explore the impact that a changing ice cover may have on internal wave energy levels, both through changes in the efficiency of generation, and changes in under-ice dissipation. Simulations will be tightly linked to the field data, using measured upper ocean sea-ice drift and deformation, currents and remote sensing products.

In particular, the study will address the following new questions:
1) How much of the observed downward energy flux out of the ice-covered ocean reaches the continental slopes?
2) Does the measured incoming energy flux accumulate at the shelf-break, which is critical to almost all internal waves in the Arctic?
3) Is this energy accumulation sufficient to account for the implied mixing rates required to ventilate the abyssal Beaufort Sea?
4) What are the relative efficiencies and damping rates of near-inertial waves subject to bottom, under-ice, open water, and critical slope reflections?

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