This proposal is part of an integrated scientific program to study the properties of the Arctic ocean, atmosphere, and sea-ice on a transect between Murmansk, USSR and Nome, Alaska. It will measure variations in temperature and salinity through Conductivity/Temperature/Depth (CTD) survey, and otherwise investigate density structure and the water column dynamics, using Expendable Current Profiler (XCP) measurements. This proposal will obtain fundamental information that has never before been available as well as provide indispensable collaborative information for a larger biological component of the science program. Two Polar Ocean Profiling buoys will be deployed during the ships transit that will make an existing network of autonomous buoys complete and that will eventually allow calculation of the Arctic Ocean water mass volume and its seasonal and interannual variations.
