dynamics of the changing near inertial internal wave field in the arctic ocean abstractthe dynamics of the wind generated near inertial internal wave field in the canada basin of the arctic ocean are investigated using the drifting ice tethered profiler dataset for the years 2005 to 2014 during a decade when sea ice extent and thickness decreased dramatically this time series with nearly 10 years of measurements and broad spatial coverage is used to quantify a seasonal cycle and interannual trend for internal waves in the arctic using estimates of the amplitude of near inertial waves derived from isopycnal displacements the internal wave field is found to be most energetic in summer when sea ice is at a minimum with a second maximum in early winter during the period of maximum wind speed amplitude distributions for the near inertial waves are quantifiably different during summer and winter due primarily to seasonal changes in sea ice properties that affect how the ice responds to the wind which can be expressed through the wind factor the ratio of sea ice drift speed to

turbulent mixing near the yermak plateau during the coordinated eastern arctic experiment during the ice camp component of the coordinated eastern arctic experiment cearex in march april 1989 1500 profiles of temperature conductivity and velocity shear microstructure were obtained near the yermak plateau the dominant signal in isopycnal displacements was the diurnal variability near the plateau consistent with the enhanced diurnal currents found in this region previously from the fram iii and fram iv ice camps the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy e reached maximum values of about 10 6 w kg 1 in two distinct regions the surface mixing layer and the pycnocline between 120 and 220 m there was a significant component of diurnal variability in e in each region in the surface layer e was proportional to the cube of the ice relative current speed at 30 m below the ice and it decayed approximately exponentially with increasing depth major mixing events in the pycnocline were correlated with large amplitude short duration isopycnal displacements the lowest dissipation rates were recorded over the deep nansen basin north of the plateau and in the subsurface core of a submesoscale baroclinic eddy in northern fram strait the time averaged vertical eddy diffusivity near the slope of the plateau was about 2 5 10 4 m2 s 1 in the pycnocline above the atlantic layer implying an upward heat flux of 25 w m 2 although only a small fraction of this heat reached the base of the mixed layer the results confirm that current interactions with steep topography are critical to the modification of atlantic water in the eastern arctic ocean

a new calibration point for the late miocene section of the geomagnetic polarity time scale 40ar 39ar dating of lava flows from akaroa volcano new zealand recent dating of geomagnetic field reversals over the past 2 ma by both the radiometric and astrochronologic techniques indicates that the k ar derived ages for these reversals are too young we report herein on 40ar 39ar incremental heating study of two geomagnetic field reversals trapped in lavas on akaroa volcano new zealand that demonstrate that the k ar derived ages for field reversals at 10 9 ma are too young by about 7 the new age for the termination of chron 5 a critical tie point on the geomagnetic polarity time scale for late miocene time is 9 67 0 11 ma

vertical mixing at intermediate depths in the arctic boundary current microstructure and hydrographic observations during september 2007 in the boundary current on the east siberian continental slope document upper ocean stratification and along stream water mass changes a thin warm surface layer overrides a shallow halocline characterized by a 40 m thick temperature minimum layer beginning at 30 m depth below the halocline well defined thermohaline diffusive staircases extended downwards to warm atlantic water intrusions found at 200 800 m depth observed turbulent eddy kinetic energy dissipations are extremely low epsilon 10 6 w m 3 such that double diffusive convection dominates the vertical mixing in the upper ocean the diffusive convection heat fluxes f dc h 1 w m 2 are an order of magnitude too small to account for the observed along stream cooling of the boundary current our results implicate circulation patterns and the influence of shelf waters in the evolution of the boundary current waters

dipolar reversal states of the geomagnetic field and core mantle dynamics palaeomagnetic records from lavas suggest that at least two specific inclined dipolar field configurations have dominated the reversal process for the past ten million years these long lived states provide a way to explain directional rebounds aborted reversals and the recording in sediments of what appear to be preferred longitudinal paths of the virtual geomagnetic pole the polar orientations correlate with near radial flux concentrations recognizable when today s field is stripped of its axial dipole and with lower mantle seismic anomalies suggesting a tie to deep earth dynamics

wind driven mixing at intermediate depths in an ice free arctic ocean recent seasonal arctic ocean sea ice retreat is a major indicator of polar climate change the arctic ocean is generally quiescent with the interior basins characterized by low levels of turbulent mixing at intermediate depths in contrast under conditions of reduced sea ice cover there is evidence of energetic internal waves that have been attributed to increased momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean new measurements made in the canada basin during the unusually ice free and stormy summer of 2012 show previously observed enhancement of internal wave energy associated with ice free conditions however there is no enhancement of mixing at intermediate depths away from significant topography this implies that contrary to expectations of increased wind induced mixing under declining arctic sea ice cover the stratification in the central canada basin continues to suppress turbulent mixing at intermediate depths and to effectively isolate the large atlantic and pacific heat reservoirs from the sea surface

tide mediated warming of arctic halocline by atlantic heat fluxes over rough topography atlantic water brings heat to the subsurface arctic ocean pan arctic microstructure measurements of energy dissipation suggest that vertical mixing is substantial over the continental slopes tidally induced and insensitive to sea ice cover

tectonic motion and deformation from satellite laser ranging to lageos satellite laser ranging slr to lageos acquired during the period 1978 1988 has been analyzed to yield estimates of tectonic motion for 22 laser tracking stations situated on seven major plates the analysis is based on the precise modeling of the orbit dynamics of lageos and includes the determination of other geodynamic and nonconservative force model parameters involved in the orbit determination problem at the centimeter level site velocities were recovered from station positions determined each calendar quarter using a network adjustment procedure which maintains the reference frame within the stable interior of tectonic plates the recovered motions indicate good agreement with existing estimates of stress fields particularly across northern europe the eastern pacific and in the basin and range province of north america a comparison of the intersite motions for stations centrally located on separate plates between slr and those implied by the nuvel 1 geologic motion model yield a strong positive correlation of 0 989 and a 3 7 scale difference which may be attributable to recent changes in relative velocities or geologic time scale uncertainties sites located at or within 250 km of convergent plate boundaries have additional components of motion indicating a need for further tectonic modeling beyond that provided by simple rigid plate motions for lines crossing the north atlantic the san andreas fault and within the basin and range province the geodesic rates determined by slr are in good agreement with those determined by very long baseline interferometry an alternative space geodetic technique

40ar 39ar dating of the brunhes matuyama geomagnetic field reversal magnetostratigraphic studies are widely used in conjunction with the geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts to date events in the range 0 to 5 million years ago a critical tie point on the gpts is the potassium argon age of the most recent brunhes matuyama geomagnetic field reversal astronomical values for the forcing frequencies observed in the oxygen isotope record in ocean drilling project site 677 suggest that the age of this last reversal is 780 ka thousand years ago whereas the potassium argon based estimate is 730 ka results from 4039 ar incremental heating studies on a series of lavas from maui that straddle the brunhes matuyama reversal give an age of 783 11 ka in agreement with the astronomically derived value the astronomically based technique appears to be a viable tool for dating young sedimentary sequences

a geomagnetic polarity time scale for the period 0 17 ma based on 40ar 39ar plateau ages for selected field reversals utilizing 40ar 39ar plateau ages for selected field reversals at 1 2 10 16 and 34 ma a geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts is constructed following the technique of cande and kent 1992 this differs markedly from previous gpts especially in middle late miocene time the ages for the chrons in post miocene time are in agreement with values derived by the astrochronological technique refinements in this gpts await acquisition of 40ar 39ar plateau ages for field reversals in the time frames 3 8 ma and 11 15 ma

greater role for atlantic inflows on sea ice loss in the eurasian basin of the arctic ocean arctic sea ice loss is a leading indicator of climate change and can be attributed in large part to atmospheric forcing here we show that recent ice reductions weakening of the halocline and shoaling of the intermediate depth atlantic water layer in the eastern eurasian basin have increased winter ventilation in the ocean interior making this region structurally similar to that of the western eurasian basin the associated enhanced release of oceanic heat has reduced winter sea ice formation at a rate now comparable to losses from atmospheric thermodynamic forcing thus explaining the recent reduction in sea ice cover in the eastern eurasian basin this encroaching atlantification of the eurasian basin represents an essential step toward a new arctic climate state with a substantially greater role for atlantic inflows

concordant sea floor spreading rates obtained from geochronology astrochronology and space geodesy reversals of the earth s magnetic field allied to sea floor spreading have left their imprint in the form of a magnetic tape recorder on the sea floor it is demonstrated that the geomagnetic polarity time scale for the past few million years derived utilizing a radiometric dates of magnetic field reversals trapped in subareal igneous rocks and b as derived from the milankovitch forcing frequencies and their imprint in the sedimentary environment are in good agreement further sea floor spreading rates calculated from these results are in substantial agreement with the rate of plate movement averaged over the last decade as obtained by space geodetic measurements since the principles underlying these dating techniques are entirely different it lends credence to the results obtained for sea floor spreading arguably the most fundamental process in plate tectonics

a new geomagnetic polarity time scale for the late cretaceous and cenozoic we have constructed a magnetic polarity time scale for the late cretaceous and cenozoic based on an analysis of marine magnetic profiles from the world s ocean basins this is the first time since heirtzler et al 1968 published their time scale that the relative widths of the magnetic polarity intervals for the entire late cretaceous and cenozoic have been systematically determined from magnetic profiles a composite geomagnetic polarity sequence was derived based primarily on data from the south atlantic anomaly spacings in the south atlantic were constrained by a combination of finite rotation poles and averages of stacked profiles fine scale information was derived from magnetic profiles on faster spreading ridges in the pacific and indian oceans and inserted into the south ariantic sequence based on the assumption that spreading rates in the south atlantic were smoothly varying but not necessarily constant a time scale was generated by using a spline function to fit a set of nine age calibration points

extension of the astronomically calibrated polarity time scale to the miocene pliocene boundary the early pleistocene to late pliocene astronomically calibrated time scale of shackleton et al 1 and hilgen 2 is extended to the miocene pliocene boundary this is done by correlating the detailed record of caco3 cycles in the trubi and the lower part of the overlying narbone formation rossello composite section sicily to the astronomical record using 1 inferred phase relations between these caco3 cycles and the corresponding orbital cycles of precession and eccentricity and 2 calibration points provided by the previously established astronomical calibration of sapropelitic layers which occur in the topmost part of the caco3 record 2 this correlation allows all small scale caco3 cycles in the rossello composite section to be coded after the correlative precession peak and to be dated astronomically with an accuracy of 1 ky in combination with the available high resolution magnetostratigraphy it further allows the construction of an astronomically calibrated geomagnetic polarity time scale for the major part of the gilbert and gauss chrons this new time scale gives ages for the reversal boundaries of the kaena 3 04 3 11 ma and mammoth 3 22 3 33 ma the gilbert gauss chron boundary 3 58 ma and the reversal boundaries of the cochiti 4 18 4 29 ma nunivak 4 48 4 62 ma sidufjall 4 80 4 89 ma and thvera 4 98 5 23 ma these ages are significantly older than the ages given by conventional time scales age discrepancies gradually increase with increasing age the age of 5 32 ma for the miocene pliocene boundary as defined by the base of the trubi on sicily is almost 0 5 m y 9 5 older than the presently accepted age of 4 86 ma 3 these considerable discrepancies with the conventional time scale can either be explained by an consistent error in the decay constants used in k ar radiometric dating or more likely by diffusional loss of radiogenic argon

arctic sea ice circulation and drift speed decadal trends and ocean currents 1 we examine the basinwide trends in sea ice circulation and drift speed and highlight the changes between 1982 and 2009 in connection to regional winds multiyear sea ice coverage ice export and the thinning of the ice cover the polarity of the arctic oscillation ao is used as a backdrop for summarizing the variance and shifts in decadal drift patterns the 28 year circulation fields show a net strengthening of the beaufort gyre and the transpolar drift especially during the last decade the imprint of the arctic dipole anomaly on the mean summer circulation is evident 2001 2009 and enhances summer ice area export at the fram strait between 2001 and 2009 the large spatially averaged trends in drift speeds winter 23 6 decade summer 17 7 decade are not explained by the much smaller trends in wind speeds winter 1 46 decade summer 3 42 decade notably positive trends in drift speed are found in regions with reduced multiyear sea ice coverage over 90 of the arctic ocean has positive trends in drift speed and negative trends in multiyear sea ice coverage the increased responsiveness of ice drift to geostrophic wind is consistent with a thinner and weaker seasonal ice cover and suggests large scale changes in the air ice ocean momentum balance the retrieved mean ocean current field from decadal scale average ice motion captures a steady drift from siberia to the fram strait an inflow north of the bering strait and a westward drift along coastal alaska this mean current is comparable to geostrophic currents from satellite derived dynamic topography

vertical heat transfer in the arctic ocean the role of double diffusive mixing 1 microstructure profiles collected in the central amundsen basin are analyzed in order to quantify the role of double diffusive mixing for vertical heat transfer from the atlantic layer in the profiles a persistent but laterally incoherent thermohaline staircase structure is identified in the 200 260 m depth range the staircase contains homogeneous layers with average height of 1 3 m and thin high gradient interfaces with average temperature and salinity jumps of about 0 065 c and 0 015 respectively when inferred from a commonly used diffusive convection parameterization the average vertical heat flux within the staircase is 0 6 w m 2 this is one order of magnitude larger than the molecular diffusion alone and of the same order as the overall heat loss from the atlantic layer in the deep basins of the arctic ocean the parameterization is evaluated using observed turbulent heat fluxes and is found to overestimate diffusive convective fluxes with up to an order of magnitude especially for weak thermal forcing small temperature jumps in staircase staircases coexist with thermohaline intrusions in the vertical temperature and salinity profiles lomonosov ridge is identified as a potential region for formation of intrusions it is found that salt fingering is the dominant process during intrusion growth whereas diffusive convection is the dominant process in maintaining the intrusions at steady state in the deep basins

spatial variability of the arctic ocean s double diffusive staircase the arctic ocean thermohaline stratification frequently exhibits a staircase structure overlying the atlantic water layer that can be attributed to the diffusive form of double diffusive convection the staircase consists of multiple layers of o 1 m in thickness separated by sharp interfaces across which temperature and salinity change abruptly through a detailed analysis of ice tethered profiler measurements from 2004 2013 the double diffusive staircase structure is characterized across the entire arctic ocean we demonstrate how the large scale arctic ocean circulation influences the small scale staircase properties these staircase properties layer thicknesses and temperature and salinity jumps across interfaces are examined in relation to a bulk vertical density ratio spanning the staircase stratification we show that the lomonosov ridge serves as an approximate boundary between regions of low density ratio approximately 3 to 4 on the eurasian side and higher density ratio approximately 6 to 7 on the canadian side we find that the eurasian basin staircase is characterized by fewer thinner layers than that in the canadian basin although the margins of all basins are characterized by relatively thin layers and the absence of a well defined staircase a double diffusive 4 3 flux law parametrization is used to estimate vertical heat fluxes in the canadian basin to be o 0 1 wm 2 it is shown that the 4 3 flux law may not be an appropriate representation of heat fluxes through the eurasian basin staircase here molecular heat fluxes are estimated to be between o 0 01 wm 2 and o 0 1 wm 2 however many uncertainties remain about the exact nature of these fluxes this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

ice tethered profiler observations of the double diffusive staircase in the canada basin thermocline vertical heat fluxes through the staircase are in the range 0 05 0 3 w m 2 only about one tenth of the estimated mean surface mixed layer heat flux to the sea ice it is thus concluded that the vertical transport of heat from the atlantic water in the central basin is unlikely to have a significant impact to the canada basin ocean surface heat budget icebreaker conductivity temperature depth data from the beaufort gyre freshwater experiment show that the staircase is absent at the basin periphery turbulent mixing that presumably disrupts the staircase might drive greater flux from the atlantic water at the basin boundaries and possibly dominate the regionally averaged heat flux

evidence for errors in the geomagnetic polarity time scale at 17 15 ma 40ar 39ar dating of basalts from the pacific northwest usa 40ar 39ar incremental heating studies have been carried out on whole rock basalt samples from the columbia river basalt crb and the steens basalt to obtain crystallization ages with a standard error 1 these high precision accurate ages are utilized with the known magnetostratigraphy of the crb to test the accuracy of the early to middle miocene section of the geomagnetic polarity time scales currently in use we conclude that these time scales underestimate the ages of various chrons within this time range by 0 9 m y

intermittent intense turbulent mixing under ice in the laptev sea continental shelf vertical mixing in the bottom boundary layer and pycnocline of the laptev sea is evaluated from a rapidly sampled 12 h time series of microstructure temperature conductivity and shear observations collected under 100 sea ice during october 2008 the bottom boundary turbulent kinetic energy dissipation was observed to be enhanced 10 4 w m 3 beyond background levels 10 6 w m 3 extending up to 10 m above the seabed when simulated tidal currents were directed on slope upward heat fluxes into the halocline class waters along the laptev sea seabed peaked at 4 8 w m 2 averaging out to 2 w m 2 over the 12 h sampling period in the laptev sea pycnocline an isolated 2 h episode of intense dissipation 10 3 w m 3 and vertical diffusivities was observed that was not due to a localized wind event observations from an acoustic doppler current meter moored in the central laptev sea near the m2 critical latitude are consistent with a previous model in which mixing episodes are driven by an enhancement of the pycnocline shear resulting from the alignment of the rotating pycnocline shear vector with the under ice stress vector upward cross pycnocline heat fluxes from the arctic halocline peaked at 54 w m 2 resulting in a 12 h average of 12 w m 2 these results highlight the intermittent nature of arctic shelf sea mixing processes and how these processes can impact the transformation of arctic ocean water masses the observations also clearly demonstrate that absence or presence of sea ice profoundly affects the availability of near inertial kinetic energy to drive vertical mixing on the arctic shelves

retreat of the cold halocline layer in the arctic ocean we present a comparison of arctic ocean hydrographic data sets from the 1990s with a focus on changes in the upper few hundred meters of the eurasian basin the most recent observations discussed here were collected during the spring 1995 scientific ice expedition scicex 95 the second in a series of scientific cruises to the arctic ocean aboard u s navy nuclear submarines although the 1990s have seen an abundance of synoptic cruises to the arctic this was the only one to take place in winter spring conditions other data considered here were collected during the first scicex cruise in summer 1993 scicex 93 and during an icebreaker cruise to the eurasian basin in summer 1991 oden 91 a new russian american winter climatology is also used as a reference these comparisons reveal that the eurasian basin cold halocline layer has retreated during the 1990s to cover significantly less area than in previous years specifically we find a retreat from the amundsen basin back into the makarov basin the latter is the only region with a true cold halocline layer during scicex 95 changes are also seen in other halocline types and in the atlantic water layer heat content and depth since the cold halocline layer insulates the surface layer and thus the overlying sea ice from the heat contained in the atlantic water layer this should have profound effects on the surface energy and mass balance of sea ice in this region using a simple mixing model we calculate maximum ice ocean heat fluxes of 1 3 w m 2 in the eurasian basin where during scicex 95 the surface layer lay in direct contact with the underlying atlantic water layer the overall cause of water mass changes in the 1990s might have been a shift in the atmospheric wind forcing and resulting sea ice motion during the late 1980s which we speculate influenced the location where fresh shelf waters flow into the deeper basins of the arctic ocean finally we discuss two different mechanisms that have been proposed for cold halocline water formation and we propose a compromise that best fits these data

arctic warming evolution and spreading of the 1990s warm event in the nordic seas and the arctic ocean 1 observations in the arctic ocean revealed changes in oceanic temperature salinity and ice cover of the 1990s as compared with earlier data with a numerical model we favorably reproduce the development and subsequent propagation of temperature anomalies in water of atlantic origin in the 1980s and 1990s these propagated into the arctic ocean via the barents sea and the fram strait two warm anomalies entered the arctic ocean through these passages while the first smaller anomaly only warmed up the western eurasian basin the second large anomaly spread far into the eastern eurasian basin and across the lomonossov ridge into the western arctic basins intensified boundary currents during the high nao state in the first half of the 1990s significantly influenced the amplitude and speed of propagation of the temperature anomalies inside the arctic ocean in contrast to the notion of a continuous warming process during the 1990s our model results suggest the warming of the atlantic layer in the arctic ocean occurred in the form of events the event with the largest anomalous heat input during the modeled period entered the arctic between 1989 and 1994 it is possible to trace back the additional heat input into the arctic to an increased volume inflow via the faroer scotland passage and reduced heat loss to the atmosphere in the early 1990s after a weaker warm inflow in the second half of the 1990s the most recent observations and the model results point to a recurring warm anomaly in the inflow from 1999 onward

mooring based observations of double diffusive staircases over the laptev sea slope abstracta yearlong time series from mooring based high resolution profiles of water temperature and salinity from the laptev sea slope 2003 04 2686 m depth 78 26 n 125 37 e shows six remarkably persistent staircase layers in the depth range of 140 350 m encompassing the upper atlantic water aw and lower halocline despite frequent displacement of isopycnal surfaces by internal waves and eddies and two strong aw warming pulses that passed through the mooring location in february and late august 2004 the layers preserved their properties using laboratory derived flux laws for diffusive convection the authors estimate the time averaged diapycnal heat fluxes across the four shallower layers overlying the aw core to be 8 w m 2 temporal variability of these fluxes is strong with standard deviations of 3 7 w m 2 these fluxes provide a means for effective transfer of aw heat upward over more than a 100 m depth range toward the upper halocline these findings suggest that double diffusion is an imp

brunhes matuyama magnetic reversal dated at 790 000 yr b p by marine astronomical correlations abstract the presence of the brunhes matuyama magnetic reversal in deep sea core sediments makes possible an alternative to the usual k ar radioistope method of dating the reversal as found in rocks the alternative method uses correlations of northern hemisphere summer insolation with oxygen isotope ratios from tropical cores the latitude dependent insolation variations are calculated from planetary mechanics and thus provide a highly accurate astronomical time scale the insolation variations strongly influence glacial ice volume fluctuations that dominate the oxygenisotope ratio changes recorded in core sediments the summer half year insolation variations are identified with corresponding isotope ratio changes in cores from the present through glacial stage 20 misleading effects of discontinuities or major nonuniformities of sediment deposition are avoided by an analysis of the uniformity of v28 238 and v28 239 the principal cores studied and by comparisons with other cores the top section stages 1 to 10 of v28 238 is uniformly deposited and for this section an isotope ratio time scale is chosen that agrees with the thorium uranium date for the high sea stand of the last interglacial extreme over this interval major glacial extremes strong isotope ratio minima coincide consistently with major insolation minima at times of low orbital eccentricity in addition interstadials are directly associated with precessional insolation peaks and the envelope of isotope ratio peaks resembles the envelope of precessionally dominated insolation peaks the assumption that the glacial extremes depended similarly on insolation minima during stages 10 to 20 permits minor age shifts of strong isotope ratio minima in the two cores relative to ages based on uniform overal deposition to match the ages of low eccentricity insolation minima the age shifts reflect residual nonuniformities of deposition the validity of this matching procedure is supported by a resulting consistent identification of principal isotope ratio peaks with high and low latitude coincident insolation maxima the brunhes matuyama reversal is found intinterglacial stage 19 and is dated on the astronomical time scale at 790 000 5000 yr b p

evolution of sedimentary mode since pleistocene in the central south yellow sea china based on seismic stratigraphy analysis abstract in order to investigate the distribution development and evolution of the strata in the south yellow sea basin sysb seismic and core data were analyzed fourteen 14 reflecting interfaces and 13 seismic units are identified and a stratigraphic framework since 1 81 ma b p is established the deposition rate has changed since 126 ka b p the stratigraphic model shows that the sysb responded to sea level changes during the same period 126 ka b p which suggests a model change of the development of regional strata between 1 81 ma b p and 126 ka b p the zhejiang minnan uplift zmu obstructed the intrusion of seawater into the sysb which is the main factor responsible for the development of regional strata while the sea level fluctuation and fluvial material input have dominated the formation of the strata since 126 ka b p

positive trend in the mean speed and deformation rate of arctic sea ice 1979 2007 using buoy data from the international arctic buoy program we found that the sea ice mean speed has substantially increased over the last 29 years 17 per decade for winter and 8 5 for summer a strong seasonal dependence of the mean speed is also revealed with a maximum in october and a minimum in april the sea ice mean strain rate also increased significantly over the period 51 per decade for winter and 52 for summer we check that these increases in both sea ice mean speed and deformation rate are unlikely to be consequences of a stronger atmospheric forcing instead they suggest that sea ice kinematics play a fundamental role in the albedo feedback loop and sea ice decline increasing deformation means stronger fracturing hence more lead opening and therefore a decreasing albedo this accelerates sea ice thinning in summer and delays refreezing in early winter therefore decreasing the mechanical strength of the cover and allowing even more fracturing larger drifting speed and deformation and possibly a faster export of sea ice through the fram strait the september minimum sea ice extent of 2007 might be a good illustration of this interplay between sea ice deformation and sea ice shrinking as we found that for both winter 2007 and summer 2007 exceptionally large deformation rates affected the arctic sea ice cover

arctic warming through the fram strait oceanic heat transport from 3 years of measurements we present estimates of volume and heat transport through fram strait for the period 1997 to 2000 from data of moored instruments full depth volume transports at 78 55 n were in the order of 10 sv both northwards and southwards with an annual mean net transport between 2 and 4 sv to the south the temperature of the northward flow of atlantic water had a strong seasonality with a minimum in winter nevertheless the northward heat transport was highest in winter caused by the winter maximum of northward volume transport during the three years of observation the heat transport in the west spitsbergen current increased from 28 to 46 tw as a result of both increased speed and temperature in contrast to the west spitsbergen current the volume and heat transport of east greenland current remained fairly constant an integration over a subsection of the east greenland current showed similar values of volume transport to that obtained by measurements in the 1980s foldvik et al 1988 the southward heat transport through modified atlantic water weakened slightly between 1997 and 1999 despite increased temperatures

testing the accuracy of the geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts at 2 5 ma utilizing40ar 39ar incremental heating data on whole rock basalts abstract recent40ar 39ar dating and astrochronologic calculations indicate that the k ar derived gpts underestimates the ages of geomagnetic field reversals in the interval 2 0 ma we report tests to check the accuracy of k ar data utilized to date the reunion event 2 1 ma and part of the early pliocene portion 4 6 ma of the gpts 40ar 39ar incremental heating studies on whole rock basalts from the island of reunion yield an age of2 14 0 03 ma for the reunion event somewhat older than the earlier k ar value of2 07 0 02 ma on the same set of lava flows study of a single specimen from the newer volcanics australia indicates that the earlier k ar date was accurate but the new40ar 39ar results yield a plateau age 4 56 ma with a standard error of 0 6 as compared to the k ar value 3 the improved precision and accuracy resulting from such40ar 39ar incremental heating studies will play a key role in calibrating more precisely the gpts for the interval 10 0 ma

observational validation of the diffusive convection flux laws in the amundsen basin arctic ocean the low levels of mechanically driven mixing in many regions of the arctic ocean make double diffusive convection virtually the only mechanism for moving heat up from the core of atlantic water towards the surface in an attempt to quantify double diffusive heat fluxes in the arctic ocean a temperature microstructure experiment was performed as a part of the north pole environmental observatory npeo 2013 field season from the drifting ice station barneo located in the amundsen basin near the lomonosov ridge 89 5 n 75 w a diffusive convective thermohaline staircase was present between 150 and 250 m in nearly all of the profiles typical vertical heat fluxes across the high gradient interfaces were consistently small o 10 1 w m 2 our experiment was designed to resolve the staircase and differed from earlier arctic studies that utilized inadequate instrumentation or sampling our measured fluxes from temperature microstructure agree well with the laboratory derived flux laws compared to previous studies which could find agreement only to within a factor of two to four correlations between measured and parameterized heat fluxes are slightly higher when using the more recent flanagan et al 2013 laboratory derivation than the more commonly used derivation presented in kelley 1990 nusselt versus rayleigh number scaling reveals the convective exponent to be closer to 0 29 as predicted by recent numerical simulations of single component convection rather than the canonical 1 3 assumed for double diffusion however the exponent appears to be sensitive to how convective layer height is defined

paleomagnetism and 40 ar 39 ar geochronology of the plio pleistocene boring volcanic field implications for the geomagnetic polarity time scale and paleosecular variation abstract paleomagnetic directions and 40ar 39ar ages have been determined for samples of lava flows from the same outcrops where possible for 84 eruptive units ranging in age from 3200 ka to 60 ka within the boring volcanic field bvf of the pacific northwest usa this study expands upon our previous results for the bvf and compares the combined results with the current geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts lava flows with transitional directions were found within the bvf at the matuyama brunhes and jaramillo matuyama polarity boundaries and replicate ages corresponding to these and other boundaries have been newly ascertained although the bvf data generally agree with gpts chronozone boundaries they indicate that onset of the gauss matuyama transition and olduvai subchron occurred significantly earlier than given in the current time scale calibration additional comparisons show that the bvf results are consistent with recent statistical models of geomagnetic paleosecular variation

internal waves and mixing in the marginal ice zone near the yermak plateau observations were made of oceanic currents hydrography and microstructure in the southern yermak plateau in summer 2007 the location is in the marginal ice zone at the arctic front northwest of svalbard where the west spitsbergen current wsc carries the warm atlantic water into the arctic ocean time series of approximately 1 day duration from five stations upper 520 m and of an 8 day duration from a mooring are analyzed to describe the characteristics of internal waves and turbulent mixing the spectral composition of the internal wave field over the southern yermak plateau is 0 1 0 3 times the midlatitude levels and compares with the most energetic levels in the central arctic dissipation rate and eddy diffusivity below the pycnocline increase from the noise level on the cold side of the front by one order of magnitude on the warm side where 100 m thick layers with average diffusivities of 5 3 10 25 m 2 s 21 lead to heat loss from the atlantic water of 2 4 w m 22 dissipation in the upper 150 m is well above the noise level at all stations but strong stratification at the cold side of the front prohibits mixing across the pycnocline close to the shelf at the core of the svalbard branch of the wsc diffusivity increases by another factor of 3 6 here nearbottom mixing removes 15 w m 22 of heat from the atlantic layer internal wave activity and mixing show variability related to topography and hydrography thus the path of the wsc will affect the cooling and freshening of the atlantic inflow when generalized to the arctic ocean diapycnal mixing away from abyssal plains can be significant for the heat budget around the yermak plateau it is of sufficient magnitude to influence heat anomaly pulses entering the arctic ocean however diapycnal mixing alone is unlikely to be significant for regional cooling of the wsc

pinning down the brunhes matuyama and upper jaramillo boundaries a reconciliation of orbital and isotopic time scales until recently the temporal calibration of the plio pleistocene portion of the geomagnetic reversal time scale grts was based exclusively on kar isotopic ages of volcanic rocks the so called chronogram technique estimates the age that minimizes discrepancies between a given age assignment for a reversal boundary and the population of dates of known polarity the most widely quoted date 0 73 ma for the brunhes matuyama boundary was derived in such a manner 1 radioactive decay is not the only source of temporal information in the geologic record however variations in several of the orbital parameters of the earth e g precession obliquity eccentricity can be calculated for the last several million years and the climatic response approximated a recent analysis of the so called astronomical technique on oxygen isotopic data from deep sea sediments suggested an age of 0 78 ma for the brunhes matuyama boundary 2 some 50 000 years older than the chronogram estimate we reconcile the two estimates for the age of the last reversal by first presenting new magnetostratigraphic data tied to high quality40ar39ar dates our date for the upper jaramillo boundary is0 992 0 039 ma considerably older than the estimate of 0 91 ma in the standard chronogram based time scale 3 furthermore an age of0 746 0 009 ma was obtained for sediments immediately overlying the brunhes matuyama boundary these data are consistent with the astronomical estimates of 0 78 ma and 0 99 ma for the brunhes matuyama and upper jaramillo boundaries respectively finally we present a new method for estimating the uncertainties of ages calculated using the chronogram technique that employs a simple bootstrap resampling scheme the 95 confidence region for the chronogram estimate of the brunhes matuyama boundary using an updated compilation of date polarity pairs spans from 0 73 to 0 78 ma we find therefore that the discrepancies between the isotopic data set and the astronomical calibration of the brunhes matuyama boundary disappear when appropriate uncertainties are applied for the most recent compilation of isotopic data

thermohaline staircases in the amundsen basin possible disruption by shear and mixing as part of the 2013 and 2014 north pole environmental observatories npeo in the amundsen basin of the arctic ocean two similar temperature microstructure experiments were performed with different results in 2013 vertical fluxes were through a thermohaline staircase and in 2014 the thermohaline staircase was largely absent here we investigate the reasons for this difference the 2013 data set was characterized by an extensive thermohaline staircase indicative of the diffusive convective type of double diffusion dc from 120 250 m depths the staircase was absent above 200 m in 2014 even though analysis of density ratio r still shows high susceptibility to ddc in the depth range of interest survey averaged r 3 8 in 2013 and r 3 6 in 2014 indicating that the temperature salinity structure in the pycnocline was not the cause of the lack of a staircase in 2014 we propose that exceptionally weak turbulent mixing even for the typically quiescent arctic ocean allowed formation of the staircase in 2013 average thermal diffusivity kt between 50 120 m is elevated in 2014 2 x 10 5 m2s 1 compared to 2013 1 x 10 6 m2s 1 however vertical atlantic water aw dc heat fluxes in 2013 are remarkably consistent with turbulent heat fluxes in 2014 similar data sets collected in 2007 and 2008 both resemble 2014 showing consistently higher mixing values compared to 2013 the suppression of turbulence during npeo 2013 resulted from increased near surface stratification possibly caused by a different large scale circulation pattern that year

formation and evolution of the surface mixed layer and halocline of the arctic ocean fresh water from summer ice melt and the total freshwater content of the arctic ocean water column above the thermocline are estimated from vertical profiles of temperature and salinity observed on the i b oden 1991 cruise the seasonal ice melt ranges from 0 5 m to slightly above 1 m and is moderately uniform over the observation area regions of lower melting are seen over the morris jesup plateau the freshwater content is calculated relative to the salinity just above the thermocline north of the barents sea the freshwater content increases toward the interior of the arctic ocean showing that fresh water is advected from other regions into the observation area regions of different freshwater content are separated by fronts over the nansen gakkel ridge over the lomonosov ridge and in the western eurasian basin between waters derived from the eurasian and canadian basins denser water homogenized north of the barents sea is recognized by a temperature minimum layer the absence of the temperature minimum near the nansen gakkel ridge indicates that heat is transferred from the atlantic layer over a longer time than the shortest route would allow this observation can be explained if the layer circulates together with the atlantic layer i e toward the east and returns above the nansen gakkel ridge and along the amundsen basin north of the laptev sea this water formed north of the barents sea becomes covered by low salinity shelf water the increased freshwater content limits the winter convection so it no longer reaches the thermocline and an intermediate halocline is formed the halocline in the eurasian basin consists of water originating from winter convection in the arctic ocean north of the barents sea which then circulates around the basin such a formation mechanism also explains the observed distribution of low no water the strong density increase limits vertical exchange and the vertical diffusion coefficient in the halocline is small 1 10 6 m2 s 1 the increased temperature of the halocline shows that the heat lost upward by the atlantic layer mainly by double diffusive convection is trapped below the mixed layer

plate motions crustal and lithospheric mobility and paleomagnetism prospective viewpoint the shift in viewpoint from a static to a mobilistic solid earth as brought about by paleomagnetism opened many new directions of research that continue to be exciting today and hold prospects for an exciting future here five topics of current research on earth s mobilistic surface are reviewed and their future directions discussed first dividing earth s solid surface into two domains 1 nearly rigid plate interiors and 2 plate boundaries some of them very wide leads to a review and discussion of the kinematics of wide plate boundaries many more adjustable parameters will be needed to describe the complex kinematics of plate boundaries which cover 15 of earth surface than the few dozen parameters needed to describe the kinematics of plate interiors which cover 85 of earth s surface second the question of the degree of rigidity of plate interiors is discussed the integral of the velocity gradient across plates interiors is at least a few hundredths or tenths of millimeters per year and in several well determined cases less than 2 or 3 mm yr future investigations will no doubt be aimed at narrowing these limits and to expanding the area of earth s surface over which limits are known third space geodetic data mainly from very long baseline inter ferometry satellite laser ranging and the global positioning system have demonstrated a remarkable similarity of velocities of stable plate interiors averaged over a few to a dozen years with plate velocities averaged over a few million years already however significant differences of a few millimeters per year are emerging and the tectonic and dynamic significance of these differences need to be evaluated fourth despite more than two decades of investigation the question of how fast hotspots move relative to one another is still a contentious issue one group of researchers maintains that maximum speeds are 3 mm yr whereas another maintains that speeds are 10 20 mm yr or more the differences cannot be reconciled until the uncertainties in plate reconstructions relative to hotspots are systematically and properly incorporated into analyses of hotspot motion fifth paleomagnetists have estimated true polar wander over the past 200 myr by equating it with the apparent polar wander of hotspots however the possible motion among hotspots and the neglect of the uncertainties in reconstructions relative to the hotspots have left these analyses unconvincing further progress requires the incorporation of these uncertainties a possible exception is the apparent polar wander of the hotspots over the past 10 20 myr or less which requires only small adjustments for plate motion and has presumably smaller uncertainties due to plate reconstructions the cause of this apparently significant geologically recent shift of the pole is poorly understood compared with the rate and direction of the secular shift of the pole observed this century from the international latitude service and for 1976 to 1994 from space geodetic data the paleomagnetically observed shift is unlikely to be due to the removal of northern hemisphere midlatitude ice sheets which is the commonly accepted explanation for the shift observed over the past century i speculate instead that the apparently rapid uplift of the tibetan plateau sometime during the past 10 20 myr is at least partly responsible for the geologically recent shift of the pole finally i conclude that the theory of plate tectonics has provided a framework that leads naturally to further quantification of the kinematics and deformation of earth s solid surface chiefly because of the key assumption of the rigidity of plate interiors which permits specific predictions to be made this revolution in quantification still has far to go and holds exciting prospects for future tectonic studies

eastern arctic ocean diapycnal heat fluxes through large double diffusive steps abstractthe diffusive layering dl form of double diffusive convection cools the atlantic water aw as it circulates around the arctic ocean large dl steps with heights of homogeneous layers of

one more step toward a warmer arctic this study was motivated by a strong warming signal seen in mooring based and oceanographic survey data collected in 2004 in the eurasian basin of the arctic ocean the source of this and earlier arctic ocean changes lies in interactions between polar and sub polar basins evidence suggests such changes are abrupt or pulse like taking the form of propagating anomalies that can be traced to higher latitudes for example an anomaly found in 2004 in the eastern eurasian basin took 1 5 years to propagate from the norwegian sea to the fram strait region and additional 4 5 5 years to reach the laptev sea slope while the causes of the observed changes will require further investigation our conclusions are consistent with prevailing ideas suggesting the arctic ocean is in transition towards a new warmer state

global tectonics and space geodesy much of the success of plate tectonics can be attributed to the near rigidity of tectonic plates and the availability of data that describe the rates and directions of motion across narrow plate boundaries m 1 to 60 kilometers wide nonetheless many plate boundaries in both continental and oceanic lithosphere are not narrow but are hundreds to thousands of kilometers wide wide plate boundary zones cover m 15 percent of earth s surface area space geodesy which includes very long baseline radio interferometry satellite laser ranging and the global positioning system is providing the accurate long distance measurements needed to estimate the present motion across and within wide plate boundary zones space geodetic data show that plate velocities averaged over years are remarkably similar to velocities averaged over millions of years

the five stable noble gases are sensitive unambiguous tracers of glacial meltwater the five inert noble gases he ne ar kr and xe exhibit a unique dissolved gas saturation pattern resulting from the formation and addition of glacial meltwater to seawater he and ne become oversaturated and ar kr and xe become undersaturated to varying percentages for example addition of 10 glacial meltwater to seawater results in a saturation anomaly of he 12 8 ne 8 9 ar 0 5 kr 2 2 and xe 3 3 this pattern in noble gas saturation reflects a unique meltwater signature that is distinct from the other major physical processes that modify the gas concentration and saturation namely seasonal changes in temperature at the ocean surface and bubble mediated gas exchange we use optimum multiparameter analysis to illustrate how all five noble gases can help distinguish glacial meltwater from wind driven bubble injection making them a potentially valuable suite of tracers for glacial melt and its concentration in the deep waters of the world ocean