This proposal is part of a systematic study of the Arctic environment and its role in global change which is promoted by NSF's Arctic System Science Program. It is a two year project to explore the roles of turbulent mixing processes in the Arctic Ocean. These considerations have previously been neglected in traditional mixed layer modeling applied to the arctic system for ocean-atmosphere-ice interactions. A hierarchy of models will be developed and applied to ascertain the importance of various processes that are specifically influential to the circulation of the Arctic Ocean.
