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The Arctic Ocean is one of the smallest and shallowest oceans
in the world, as well as one of the most dynamic. Its partial
ice cover grows and shrinks seasonally, causing changes in the
ocean's temperature and salt content, and impacting the world's
climate.
 Ocean
buoys help researchers keep track of these changes. The International
Arctic Buoy Program, which involves eight countries, provides
real-time data to inform climate-change models, forecast weather
and sea ice conditions, and gauge changes in the Arctic climate.
The buoys also help fill in the holes left by satellites, some
of which do not include the poles in their readings because of
their tilt and orbit, explained Ignatius Rigor, a research scientist
at the University of Washington and coordinator of the IABP. "There's
a million uses of this buoy data, a lot of which we haven't thought
of yet," he said.
Since it began in 1979, the IABP has recorded major changes in
the Arctic, such as unusually fast-paced glacier melting, altered
rain and snow patterns, and changes in wildlife migration, according
to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The IABP has deployed more than 700 buoys over its life span,
and about 25 to 40 are operating at any one time. Because of the
harsh Arctic climate, the buoys need to be replaced every year
or two. The IABP's participants, including Germany, Russia, China,
Norway, Canada, Japan, the United States and France, share the
costs.
The Autonomous
Ocean Flux Buoy Program, based at the Naval Postgraduate School
in Monterey, Calif., meanwhile, is looking specifically at how
heat is transferred through the ice cap. The Arctic ice sheets
act as an insulator to the ocean and are most effective when the
water is still, keeping the ice sheets in one place and allowing
them to thicken. When wind stirs the ocean, heat is transferred
to the water, and the buoys measure this transfer rate.
The North Pole Environmental Observatory, developed under the
National Science Foundation, which also helps fund the NewsHour's
Science Unit, sends scientists to the northernmost point of the
globe to collect data from the buoys. The program was expanded
for the International Polar Year (2007-2009) to do even more sampling
of buoys.
-- By Larisa Epatko, Online
NewsHour
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