This NSF-supported project brings together hydrographic observations obtained from ship, aircraft and autonomous instruments, sea ice data from in situ buoys, satellites and manned vessels, and boundary-layer meteorology within a state estimation framework. Joint interpretation of these heterogeneous data enable us to develop more coherent physical and dynamically-consistent synthesis of sea ice and Arctic Ocean change over time.

In September 2019, the German Research icebreaker Polarstern set sail for a year-long expedition to explore the Arctic climate system while drifting with the sea ice. This international project is called MOSAiC for The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate. Researchers at UT continue to work on the unprecedented data set collected during this expedition, to enhance our understanding of the coupled Arctic system.

The NSF-AccelNet funded Greenland Ice Sheet Ocean Science Network (GRISO) is an international, multidisciplinary network of scientists interested in advancing collective understanding of problems related to Greenland ice sheet change, and its interaction with the ocean, the atmosphere, the marine ecosystems and local communities. At UT, we work together with scientists from Greenland to understand how physical transport processes in fjords shape the local ecosystem.