Ice‐tethered profilers sample the upper Arctic Ocean

Abstract

Studies conducted over the past decade indicate that the Arctic may be both a sensitive indicator of climate change and an active agent in climate variability. Although progress has been made in understanding the Arctic's coupled atmosphere‐ice‐ocean system, documentation of its evolution is hindered by a sparse data archive. This observational gap represents a critical shortcoming of the ‘global’ ocean observing system's ability to quantify the complex interrelated atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial changes now under way throughout the Arctic and that have demonstrated repercussions for society [ Symon et al ., 2005]. Motivated by the Argo float program, an international effort to maintain an ensemble of approximately 3000 autonomous profiling instruments throughout the temperate oceans (see http://w3.jcommops.org), a new instrument, the ‘Ice‐Tethered Profiler’ (ITP) was conceived to repeatedly sample the properties of the ice‐covered Arctic Ocean at high vertical resolution over time periods of up to three years.