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modeling,  and  a  monitoring  component.  Cooperation  with  the  US  (NSF  and  NOAA), 

Norway, and the Netherlands is underway. The monitoring component examines the MOC at 

25 26 N. This is where the MOC is strongest, and has the operational advantage of a strong 

monitoring  program  in  the  Florida  Straights  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  which  together  with  the 

Ekman  flow  (estimated  from  wind  fields)  and  interior  geostrophic  flow  (measured  in  the 

program) makes up the MOC. An array of 22 moorings was deployed across the Atlantic in 

February/March 2004, the key instrument being a profiling CTD, which along with currents, 

will give estimates of the interior geostrophic flow every 2 days. 

The expected results of the experiment will be estimates of the Gulf Stream transport 

variability,  the  deep  western  boundary  current,  and  recirculating  gyre  waters,  including  a 

partition waters of North and South Atlantic origin. The funding is secure for 4 years, and the 

vision is that this will be a pilot project, to prove the concept, on the way to becoming part of 

the sustained observing system. 

5.  

HIGH LATITUDES   STATUS, ISSUES, OPPORTUNITIES 

The chair introduced this session, noting that the Next Steps recommendations do not 

fully cover the requirements in high latitudes. 

5.1 Arctic Ocean 

This presentation by Cecilie Mauritzen can be downloaded from the meeting website. 

An extended report can be found in Annex IV. 

The dynamics of the Arctic Ocean form an important leg in the MOC, with inflow of 

Atlantic water into the basin and outflow of colder and fresher water. The dynamics of this 

region  are  fairly  complex,  with  important  roles  for  boundary  currents  and  topographic 

steering,  overflow  mixing  and  large  water  mass  transformations,  fresh  water  input,  and  sea 

ice.  The  Arctic s  larger  role  in  climate  variability  and  change  is  indicated  in  coupled 

variability  of  the  ice,  ocean,  and  atmosphere,  but  causal  relationships  and  the 

upstream/downstream  separation  of  events  has  been  difficult  based  on  the  current 

observations and data. 

Several  research  programs  to  address  these  uncertainties  are  underway  or  planned, 

including the Arctic Subarctic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF) experiment and SEARCH, originally a 

US based and now international initiative. The new CliC/CLIVAR Arctic Climate Panel (of 

which Mauritzen is chair) will work on requirements for an Arctic observing system of both 

cryosphere and ocean. 

Simultaneous measures in the atmosphere, ice, and ocean domains are crucial. Some 

of the major challenges in this region are in observing technology for under ice observations, 

in  increasing  deep  ocean  observations,  in  ground truthing  satellite  products,  particularly  for 

sea ice, and in the provision of high quality climate analyses and reanalyses for research. 

The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007/9, coordinated through ICSU and the WMO, 

is  likely  to  be  a  unique  opportunity  to  build  the base  of  an  Arctic  Ocean  observing  system, 

though the technology for it has to be ready now.  

Discussion  on  the  presentation  focused  on  the  many  open  science  questions  and  the 

general lack of data in the region, partly due to technical challenges. The chair stated his view