Northeast water polynya: Polar sea cruise results

Motivated in part by model predictions that Arctic regions will be subject to disproportionate warming as the Earth's radiative balance shifts, the National Science Foundation recently established a new Global Change Research Program known as Arctic System Science (ARCSS). While ARCSS recognizes the Arctic system as a central element of global climate, it also acknowledges that there is insufficient data on physical, chemical, and biological processes in the Arctic to understand its role in climate change. In the same time frame, the Arctic Ocean Science Board created the International Arctic Polynya Program to focus on critical roles that polynyas may play in the dynamics of the Arctic environment. Although they comprise only a small part of the Arctic region, these open bodies of water in sea ice can account for a significant fraction of the midwinter energy exchange between atmosphere and ocean. Polynyas are also believed to be sites of dense-water formation and elevated biological activity. The concept of physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring at enhanced rates in an Arctic region small enough to be studied directly has focused attention on polynyas as potentially excellent models of the consequences of global change at high latitudes.