Arctic sea ice has undergone a dramatic decline in recent years, with a well documented retreat of thesummer ice cover, a general thinning, and a transition to a younger ice pack, more vulnerable to melt.These changes are profoundly affecting the physical, biological, and chemical properties of the ocean –ice – atmosphere system. The Arctic Ocean is an austere and hostile environment that is remote anddifficult to access. These conditions make any observation difficult, but pose particular difficulties forautonomous sensors. Most long-term Arctic atmospheric observations, and in particular most chemicalconcentration data, have been collected at terrestrial bases around the periphery of the Arctic Ocean,mostly leaving Arctic Ocean locations without any observations. We thus built 11 atmospheric chemistryO-Buoys, with the latest in power management, instrumentation, and instrumentation control to develop arobust, unattended (that is, not serviced), self-contained, weather-tight, self-powered, ice-tethered buoy, toproduce unprecedented data. Together with 4 existing O-Buoys (2 previously funded by NSF and 2 byCanada IPY), they were deployed in the Beaufort Gyre (13), the East Siberian Sea (3), and at or near theNorth Pole (2) for a total of 18 deployments (including three recovery/re-deployments). They were builtto operate for up to 2 years; the average deployment length was 1 year, two O-Buoys sampled for over 2years, while some deployments were intentionally shorter to enable recovery and redeployment. Ourfocus was on the measurement of three important gases, bromine monoxide (BrO), ozone (O3) and carbondioxide (CO2) as well as weather data. O3 and CO2 are two of the most important greenhouse gases in ourplanet, yet with very few observations in the very cold Arctic Ocean region. Increased atmospheric CO2causes ocean acidification that has already been detected in the Arctic Ocean. BrO causes extraordinaryozone decreases and mercury deposition that occurs during polar springtime, with attendant significantimplications for human and ecosystem health in the Arctic region. This atmospheric chemistry O-Buoyhas enhanced the capability of the Arctic Observing Network to quantify seasonal and interannualvariability in a fast changing and highly regionally variable ice field.We deployed an Arctic Ocean network of O-Buoys to observe atmospheric O3, BrO, and CO2 overthe full annual cycle, producing high quality data at climatically important, but logistically dangerous,locations. Daily data transmissions were by satellite communication from the O-Buoys to a home ftp sitewhere raw data were archived and displayed for immediate observation. Throughout the project, datafrom the O-Buoys were initially quality-controlled by automated processing, with preliminary dataavailable on a regular basis. At the end of each deployment, data were re-processed and submitted to theNSF Arctic Data Center. In addition, position and meteorological data were submitted to the WorldMeteorological Organization’s Global Telecommunication System in near-real time for weatherprediction and model validation. The data collected by this network of O-Buoys, coordinated andclustered with other buoys in automated drifting stations, is allowing the scientific community to firstobserve and, next, better understand how changes in Arctic sea ice extent, thickness and surface affectsatmospheric chemical composition and processes.We shared the technology development, buoy assembly deployment opportunities and/or data qualitycontrol process with undergraduate and graduate students as well as with one Postdoctoral Fellow. Twodoctoral, 4 masters and one bachelor degrees were awarded through this project. Two additional doctoralgraduate students began with this project and will continue with data analysis. Technical and engineeringstaff developed and/or adapted skills on instrumentation deployed in extremely cold conditions as well asin control and analysis software. We shared developments and results with the broader scientificcommunity via many presentations at scientific meetings or by invitation (37 presentations over 6 years).We also shared with the broader community by implementing an “Adopt a Buoy” program in local K-8schools; by comparing Arctic and Maine weather data with students and teachers from Maine’s ruralisland elementary schools and communities; by participating in career days; by giving talks whenever andwherever we were invited to in our 5 states (ME, NH, IN, AK, CA); and by interacting with policymakers on the relevance of Arctic processes to the rest of our planet. Finally, interviews with colleaguesand native Arctic people as well as a film on ice and climate were contributed to Arctic Stories(http://www.arcticstories.net). Our data and photographs taken by the O-Buoy cameras were followed bymany websites, such as the forum for Arctic Sea Ice, blogs, radio programs, and newsletters in the US andoverseas. Most importantly, this exceptional 8-year data set enabled discovery about the unique spatial and temporal characteristics of atmospheric chemistry above the sea ice, as described in multiplepublications.

Last Modified: 02/21/2018
Modified by: Robert Everly