OCTAS - Ocean Circulation and Transport between the North Atlantic and theArctic Sea

Kjersti Sørlie Rimer

It is likely that the anticipate global warming will affect the polar climate
early and significantly. A possible weakening or collapse of the northward
heat transport between Europe and Greenland by the mean ocean circulation could lead to a cooler climate in Northern Europe bucking the global trend.

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A central quantity for studying and understanding the ocean circulation is the mean dynamic topography (MDT), which is the difference between the mean sea surface (MSS) and the geoid. The MDT provides the absolute reference surface for the ocean circulation and is, in particular, expected to improve the determination of the mean ocean circulation. This, in turn, will advance the understanding of the role of the ocean mass and heat transport in climate change. The focus area of the project is the Fram Strait.

The project is divided in several workpackages. You can read more about them on the OCTAS -website. (http://www.octas.statkart.no)

A PhD student at IMT will focus on workpackage 5; Integrated techniques. Mean sea surface heights (MSSH) and gravity anomalies from in-situ and satellite measurements are combined to determind the MDT, the geoid and their asossiated error fields.

Project period: 2003-2007

Contact: Bjørn Ragnvald Pettersen (bjorn.pettersen@umb.no)
PhD student: Dagny I. Lysaker (dagny.lysaker@umb.no)

Oppdatert: 24.03.07
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