Browsing by study line "Geophysics of the Hydrosphere"
Now showing items 1-15 of 15
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(2023)Ilmakehän ja meren rajakerroksen aallokolla on keskeinen rooli liikemäärän ja energian vaihdossa ilmakehän ja meren välillä. Tämän kytketyn systeemin mallintaminen on perinteisesti toteutettu toisistaan erillisillä ilmakehä-, aallokko- ja merimalleilla, jotka käyttävät rajakerrosten prosessien kuvaamiseen vakioparametrisointeja. Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan ajassa ja paikassa muuttuvien aaltokentän parametrisointien huomioimisen vaikutuksia kolmiulotteisen hydrodynaamisen merimallin tuloksiin Itämeren alueella yksisuuntaisen WAM-NEMO-mallikytkennän avulla. Yksisuuntaisesti toteutetun aallokko-meri-mallikytkennän kuvaamien vuorovaikutusten ymmärtäminen luo pohjaa täysin kytketyn mallisysteemin muodostamiselle tulevaisuudessa. Tutkielma on toteutettu toimeksiantona Ilmatieteen laitoksella ja sen toteutuksessa on hyödynnetty CMEMS-palvelun BAL MFC -konsortion mallinnusosaamista. Aalto-meri-mallikytkentä toteutettiin käyttämällä WAM-aaltomallin tuloksia pakotteina NEMO-merimallin Nemo Nordic 2.0 -konfiguraatiossa. Mallisimulaatiot toteutettiin aikavälille 1.4.– 31.12.2021. Tarkasteltavia aaltoparametrejä olivat kolmiulotteinen Stokesin virtaus ja mereen kohdistuva, aallokosta riippuva leikkausjännitys. Lisäksi tutkielmassa tarkasteltiin kyseisten parametrien yhteisvaikutusta. Parametrien implementoinnin rajoitteista johtuen aallokko-meri-vuorovaikutuksia ei tarkasteltu eksplisiittisesti jääpeitteen alueella. Toteutettujen skenaariosimulaatioiden tuloksia verrattiin ilman aaltoparametrien vaikutusta toteutettuun kontrollisimulaatioon ja in situ -mittausdataan tulosten validoimiseksi. Tarkasteltujen skenaarioiden välisten erojen tarkastelemiseksi mallituloksista valikoitiin lähempää tarkastelua varten tilanteet, joissa aallokon vaikutukset pintakerroksen dynamiikkaan korostuivat. Aallokosta riippuvan leikkausjännityksen havaittiin vaikuttavan merkittävästi meren sekoittuneen pintakerroksen syvyyteen, kasvattavan keskimääräisiä pintavirtausten nopeuksia koko Itämeren alueella Tanskan salmia lukuunottamatta ja näiden tekijöiden kautta vaikuttavan oleellisesti Itämeren hydrografian kuvaamiseen merimallissa. Tanskan salmissa pienentyneiden virtausnopeuksien havaittiin olevan yhteydessä kasvaneen pinnan suolaisuuden ja pienentyneen halokliinin alapuolisen suolaisuuden kanssa, mikä osoittaa huomattavia muutoksia altaiden välisessä, koko Itämeren alueeseen vaikuttavassa vedenvaihdossa. Stokesin virtauksen vaikutukset meren dynamiikkaan havaittiin pienemmiksi. Tarkastelun perusteella voidaan todeta aallokon muokkaaman leikkausjännityksen vaikutukset tarkastellussa mallikonfiguraatiossa suuriksi, mutta havaintoihin verrattuna epärealistisiksi, mikä korostaa aaltoparametrien jatkotutkimuksen merkitystä niin meren pintakerroksen dynamiikan teoreettisen kuvaamisen kuin operatiivisten mallien näkökulmasta.
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(2023)Tähän tutkielmaan on käytetty Ilmatieteen laitoksen digitaalista jääkartta-aineistoa. Jääkarttoja on tehty operatiivisiin tarkoituksiin jo 1800-luvun loppupuolelta asti, mutta käytössä ollut aineisto sisältää viimeisimmät vuodet 1980–2022, joiden jääkartat on saatu digitaaliseen muotoon. Aineistosta käsiteltiin merijään konsentraatiota ja siitä laskettavaa jäällistä alaa. Merijään vuosittainen laajuus vaihtelee paljon, mikä näkyy myös tulosten aikasarjoissa. Vuosittaiseen vaihteluun vaikuttavat muun muassa Pohjois-Atlantin heilahtelu (NAO) ja Arktinen heilahtelu (AO). Selkämeri ja Suomenlahti ovat fyysisiltä muodoiltaan, meriveden ominaisuuksiltaan ja sijainniltaan erilaisia, joten niiden merijäätkin eroavat jonkin verran toisistaan. Mitä pohjoisempana tai idempänä sijainti on, sitä ankarampia talvet ja jääolot ovat. Tämä vaikuttaa osittain siihen, että Selkämeren osa-alueiden välillä on eroja jääpeitteessä, samoin Suomenlahden osa-alueiden välillä. Kaikkia eroja ei kuitenkaan voida laittaa pelkästään maantieteellisen sijainnin piikkiin, vaan jääpeitteeseen ja sen sijaintiin vaikuttaa myös merijään dynamiikka. Merijää, meri ja ilmakehä ovat kaikki kytkeytyneet toisiinsa termodynaamisten ja dynaamisten prosessien kautta, ja niiden vaikutuksesta merijääpeite on jatkuvasti muutoksessa. Konsentraation ja jäällisen alan käsittelyn jälkeen nähtävissä oli, että merijään laajuuden trendi on kaikilla tarkastelluilla alueilla vähenevä. Nämä tulokset ovat linjassa myös muiden kirjallisuudessa esitettyjen tulosten kanssa, joiden mukaan talvet ovat leudompia ja ankaria talvia esiintyy harvemmin. Aineistosta erottui yksi erityisen kylmä talvi (1987), jolloin merijään jäällinen ala on ollut laajimmillaan tämän tarkastelujakson aikana. Ilmastonmuutoksella on jo ollut vaikutuksensa myös Itämeren merijäähän ja merijäätä pidetäänkin ilmastonmuutoksen herkkänä mittarina.
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(2021)The Arctic Ocean is known to be inhabited with energetic mesoscale eddies commonly detected in depths from 200 m to 1200 m. Due to their high energetics and ability to transfer momentum, heat, salt and biochemical properties for long distances from their origin, eddies may considerably affect the structure of a water column in the Arctic Ocean. This study investigated an anticyclonic eddy event detected at one of the mooring stations deployed under the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System project. The mooring located at the deep part of the continental slope of the Laptev Sea and conducted autonomous measurements during the years 2013–2015. The conductivity-temperature-depth, as well as current measurements from the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler in the upper ocean (24–82 m) and from the McLane Moored Profiler in the intermediate layer (88–760 m), were examined. Spectral analysis of the currents and calculation of the eddy available potential energy were performed. This study revealed a mesoscale eddy with the core centred deeper than 750 m drifted past the mooring for 2 months. Its horizontal length scale was ∼128 km. The water properties typical for the Fram Strait Branch of the Atlantic water carried by the subsurface boundary current were trapped in the eddy. This study suggests that the eddy was originated from the baroclinic instability of the front between the Fram Strait Branch and the Barents Sea Branch of the Atlantic water flow.
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(2022)Small arctic glaciers have in general been consistently neglected with respect to the collection of long time-series observations. Available data is often a product of multiple independent and separate studies, thus gaps in the data sets are common. Numerical modelling provides one solution to alleviate existing gaps in knowledge, while historical observations can be used to assess model accuracy. The Foxfonna ice cap and associated glacier were investigated with the aid of the numerical modelling software, Elmer/Ice. The goal was to reproduce core glaciological characteristics of the entire glacier system from a 3D simulation based on multiple digital elevation models (DEMs) between the years 1961-2021. The methods proved capable of providing additional information on the glaciological characteristics of a small glacier system, such as Foxfonna. Issues primarily arose from the steady state assumption and the difficulty of producing simulations for a dynamically varying glacier system.
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(2024)There has been a major decreasing trend in the amount of sea ice in the Arctic since the 1990s. The Arctic amplification (AA) warms the Arctic climate as a result of the global warming, strengthened by the ice albedo feedback loop. The ice albedo feedback loop is caused by melting of snow and ice surfaces. Melting of snow and ice causes changes to the surface albedo, which is a measure of the amount of incident solar radiation that is reflected. Melting snow and ice surface types and revealed open water or terrain have significantly lower albedo than the original snow and ice surfaces. Therefore more radiation is absorbed, which has a warming effect. CLARA-A3 dataset is analyzed in this thesis. Surface albedo (SAL) and top of atmosphere (ToA) albedo values are compared. Data from June and July of the years 2012 and 2014 are analyzed. The objective is to check the consistency of these data records. The surface albedo values are also modelled with the Simplified Model for Atmospheric Correction (SMAC) to further validate the data. The relationship between SAL and ToA is also studied. This is achieved by analysing snow and ice optical properties, interaction of solar radiation with Earth’s atmosphere and the effect of illumination and viewing geometry. The results of data analysis indicate consistency between the observed values for SAL and ToA albedo differences within the observed period. The results are also in line with predictions made based on previous studies on the seasonal trends in the Arctic albedo. Furthermore results modelled with SMAC show dependency with the observed results and thereby validate the data. However data from June 2012 and July 2014 are unfortunately contaminated, which means that there are less usable data and therefore of reduced accuracy. Data analysis conducted for a larger SAL and ToA dataset would be needed to provide a basis for studying the decadal and seasonal trend of the Arctic SAL and ToA albedo difference. The whole melting season beginning in March and ending in September is important to study to better understand seasonal variability and trends as well as decadal trends in the Arctic.
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(2022)To evaluate whether CMIP6 models provide good simulation in Arctic sea-ice extent, thickness, and motion, selected 6 CMIP6 models are EC-Earth3, ACCESS-CM2, BCC-CSM2-MR, GFDL-ESM4, MPI-ESM1-2-HR, NORESM2-LM. For CMIP6 models and observations, seasonal cycle and the annual variation from 1979-2014 of sea-ice extent were studied, for sea-ice thickness and sea-ice motion, the Arctic is separated into three regions, geographical distribution, inter-annual variation from 1979-2014, seasonal cycle, and trend were studied. Then student t-test is used to evaluate whether the model output has a significant difference from observation, to select the best model(s). For sea-ice extent, EC-Earth3 is overestimating sea-ice extent, especially in winter, BCC-CSM2-MR model underestimates sea-ice extent, ACCESS-CM2, MPI-ESM1-2-HR, NorESM2-LM models perform the best. For sea-ice thickness, BCC-CSM2-MR underestimates sea-ice thickness, EC-Earth3, ACCESS-CM2, and NORESM2-LM models are overestimating sea-ice thickness. GFDL-ESM4 and MPI-ESM1-2-HR have the best performance at sea-ice thickness simulation. For sea-ice motion, the MPI-ESM1-2-HR model overestimates sea-ice drifting speed all year round, ACCESS-CM2 model tends to overestimate sea-ice drifting speed in summer for region1 and region2, in region3 ACCESS-CM2 model mostly overestimate sea-ice motion except winter months. NorESM2-LM model has the best performance overall, and ACCESS-CM2 has the second-best simulation for region1 and region2. EC-Earth3 also has a satisfactory simulation for sea-ice motion. Models and observation also agree on common results for sea-ice properties: Maximum sea-ice extent occurs in March, and minimum sea-ice extent occurs in September. There's a decreasing trend of sea-ice extent. The Central Arctic and Canadian Archipelago always have the thickest sea ice, followed by the East Siberian Sea, Laptev Sea, and Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea. East Greenland Sea, Barents Sea, Buffin Bay, and the Kara Sea always have the thinnest sea ice. There's a decreasing trend for sea-ice thickness according to models, sea-ice is thicker in the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea than in Laptev and East Siberian seas. Winter sea-ice thickness is higher than in summer, and sea-ice thickness has a more rapid decreasing rate in summer than in winter. Laptev and the East Siberian Sea have the most rapidly sea-ice thinning process. Sea-ice thickness has seasonal cycle that maximum usually occurs in May, and minimum sea-ice thickness happens in October. For sea-ice motion, there's an increasing trend of sea-ice motion, and summer sea-ice motion has faster sea-ice motion than winter, Chukchi Sea, and the Beaufort Sea has faster sea-ice motion than Laptev and the East Siberian Sea. Corresponding with the comparatively faster-thinning in the Laptev and the East Siberian Seas simulated by models, there's also a faster increasing rate in the Laptev and the East Siberian Sea.
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(2021)Gulf of Bothnia was simulated with NEMO sea model and LIM3 sea ice model. The results were used to count ice area, ice thickness, ice season length and the dates for freezing ang thawing. Results contained years from 1975 to 2059 but only years from 2006 were mostly used. Before 2006 the model was forced with a statistical history run. It was compared to thickness observations and the ice model was considered reliable enough. Atmospheric forcings became from three earth system models and two emission scenarios. With smaller emissions results about ice conditions and its trends vary between model runs with different focings a lot more than with higher emissions. In many case a propability distribution was used on results unlike on earlier similar researches which have mostly used only medians of ice parameters. Propability distribution for ice area was made using cumulative Gumbel probability distribution which enabled counting time periods longer than the time series. It also increased the reliability of extreme results. According to the results the northen part of the Bay of Bothnia freezes in every winter at 2050s. Ice thickness is 80cm at the most and median is 50cm. In almost every result southern part of the Bothnian Sea has over 50% chance for ice to occur and the median of thickness is more than 10cm. Length of the ice season close to 2050s can exeed 150 days often at the northen Bay of Bothnia but elsewhere it is closer to 100 days and varies a lot. The counted propability distributions for ice area let us suspect that a part of the Bay of Bothnia would remain unfreezed at least once every 30 years or more propably every 20 years in years from 2006 to 2059. In contradiction, not much can be said about large areas, because results vary a lot about wheter the whole Gulf of Bothnia can be expected to freeze close to 2050s.
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(2021)Auringon säteilyn voimakkuus vaihtelee vuodenaikojen mukaan Suomessa. Tämän seurauksena järvien kerrostuneisuudessa tapahtuu muutoksia. Värriön luonnonpuistossa järvien tutkimus on ollut vähäistä, ja lämpötilaseurantaa ei aikaisemmin alueen järvissä ole tehty ympärivuotisesti. Aineiston avulla selvitettiin Kuutsjärven ja Tippakurulammen lämpötilan muutoksia, eroavaisuuksia, päivittäisiä muutoksia sekä lumen vaikutusta kevään lämpenemiseen tarkastelujakson aikana. Tutkimusaineisto on kerätty Värriön luonnonpuiston Kuutsjärvestä ( 67° 44'N ja 29° 36'E) sekä Tippakurulammesta (67° 46'N ja 29° 37'E) vuosina 2009–2012. Molemmissa järvissä oli yksi termistoriketju järven syvimmässä kohdassa. Termistoreita ketjussa oli viisi kappaletta. Tulosten tarkastelussa apuna käytettiin Ilmatieteen laitoksen sää- ja lumihavaintoja. Auringon säteilyn voimakkuus on merkittävin Kuutsjärven ja Tippakurulammen lämpötiloihin vaikuttava tekijä. Päivittäisissä muutoksissa ei ole eroavaisuuksia järvien välillä. Tippakurulampi lämpenee tummempana ja matalampana järvenä pohjaa myöten kesän aikana. Kesän aikana sedimenttiin varastoitunut lämpö purkautuu talvella veteen. Kevään täyskierto on molemmissa järvissä lyhyt ja tapahtuu toukokuun loppupuolella. Syksyn täyskierto on Tippakurulammessa Kuutsjärveä pidempi, ja Tippakurulampi jäähtyy sekoittuneessa tilassa. Eroavaisuudet järvien välillä johtuvat koko- ja värieroista.
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(2019)Mixing processes under a seasonal ice cover in boreal lakes have received little attention from the physical limnological community. Even though the water is calm under the ice cover, many different phenomena are still able to cause mixing in the water column, which in turn affects the gas fluxes as well as physical and chemical properties of the water. Lakes in the boreal zone are very numerous. Understanding their behaviour helps us predict the effects of climate change in the boreal zone. In my thesis I present the various mechanisms that reign under the ice cover, and attempt to see these mechanisms in action in lake Kuivajärvi. Emphasis was placed on internal waves and the various components of the energy balance that can induce mixing. Data was collected with thermistor chains and a measurement raft between 24.1. – 3.5.2017. Two types of internal waves were observed during the ice-on season of 2016 – 2017. Short period barotropic seiches were observed during the whole ice-on season and transient long period baroclinic seiches were observed on two occasions. Other mixing processes seen in the lake were sediment heating in the dead of winter, penetrative convection caused by short wave radiation in the spring and diurnal stratification and mixing during spring caused by the daily heating and nightly cooling. Some mixing under the ice cover was found to depend on the meteorological conditions prevailing over the lake during the previous summer and just before the ice-on in late autumn, while others were more predictable. Long period internal waves and sediment heating are set in motion by meteorological conditions, while the spring mixing and overturn are more stable, due them being more a function of the orbital mechanics of our planet than the prevailing weather. Varying surface conditions of the lake ice cover make the measurement of especially the surface temperature complicated. Snow and ice are under a continuous metamorphosis due to the weather. This makes surface emissivity difficult to estimate, causing significant errors in the measurement of the outgoing longwave radiation. This in turn causes problems in defining the surface temperature from it. Also, the precipitation heat flux is difficult to estimate due to the lack of knowledge on the surface temperature.
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(2023)Thawing of permafrost is widely observed, and its rate is expected to be accelerated due to the global warming caused by anthropogenic climate change. Although permafrost thawing has been acknowledged in IPCC Assessment reports, uncertainties related to model-based estimates of its extent and magnitude in the future exist due to the challenges for the models to account for heterogeneous changes in permafrost under the changing climate. Various one-dimensional finite element conductive heat transfer model codes have been successfully used for simulating permafrost, while models created with the COMSOL multiphysics tool have seen little use. In this work, COMSOL version 5.6 was chosen for modelling the heat transfer in permafrost. COMSOLs' ability to accurately simulate thermal evolution in porous medium experiencing freezing was demonstrated using the Interfrost test case T1, which is a benchmark modelling problem adapted to use by the Intercomparison project for TH (Thermo-Hydro) coupled heat and water transfers in permafrost regions. Benchmark results agreed with Lunardini's analytical solution, although compared to the previous studies, the results had more deviation from the analytical solution. Discontinuous permafrost in North-Western Siberia is thawing. Based on the temperature measurements available from three boreholes located in the area (Nadym), and an observed increasing mean annual air temperature trend of 0.5\textdegree C per decade, the rate of thawing could be increasing. A one-dimensional heat transfer model for one of the boreholes was created and benchmarked against soil temperature measurements to form a basis for future estimates of the permafrost evolution. The temperature time series produced by the model agreed moderately with the measurements, but the need for further model improvements was identified. Adjustments proposed in this work and parameter changes indicated by the sensitivity analysis form a basis for further model development. Additionally, the results of the conducted sensitivity analysis showed the importance of using accurate soil properties in modelling works.
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(2020)Ocean reanalysis products (ORAs) can provide information on the state of the ocean. Although the different data sources, model configurations, forcing choices and assimilation methods cause the ORAs to deviate from each other, the ensemble approach has been previously found to produce realistic mean states. This raises the question if ORAs could be used for studying temporal and spatial changes in the Arctic Ocean, where measurements are generally sparse. Such study has not been previously published. In this thesis, the changes in the hydrography of the Arctic Ocean are examined over the previous decades based on selected ORAs. Eleven ORAs, TOPAZ4, C-GLORS025v5, ECDA3, GECCO2, GLORYS2v4, GloSea5-GO5, MOVE-G2i, ORAP5, SODA3.3.1, UR025.4 and ORAS5, were chosen for this study due to their overlap over 1993–2010 and the multimodel ensemble (MMM) was formulated based on the products, excluding ECDA3. The data were divided into depth layers and layer-average salinities and temperatures were used to calculate basin-average anomaly time series and trends to study the observed temporal changes. Per-grid trends were also produced to study both spatial and temporal changes in more detail. To assess their reliability, trends from the MMM and individual ORAs were compared to an observational product, EN4.2.0.g10 and the variability in the products and the MMM was assessed using statistical measures. The Eurasian Basin was found to be warming across all layers (up to 0.3 ◦ C decade −1 ) accompanied by salinification, except for localised cooling in the top 100 meters in the western basin, near the Fram Strait (-0.2 ◦ C decade −1 ). This indicates additional heat uptake by the surface 0–100 meters and also increasing heat and salinity content of the AW inflow, while the transport of sea ice out of the AO has increased. The Amerasian Basin, on the other hand, showed a strong freshening trend culminating at the Beaufort Gyre. This is most likely due to the anticyclonic wind forcing and increasing freshwater inflow to the Beaufort Sea. The Amerasian Basin also showed a warming trend in the 300–700 m layers but a cooling trend in the 100–300 m layer north of the Chukchi Sea. The ensemble approach worked well in dampening the extremities of singular ORAs, but some trends observed in the literature were missed due to disagreements between ORAs, especially in the Fram Strait and Beaufort Sea, which suggest that further improvements in both models and measurements are needed in those areas. Furthermore, improvements in deep ocean observations, how models handle the deeper ocean and assimilation methods are needed in order to study trends in the deeper depths in the AO. All in all, as the improvements come, the ORA MMM shows great potential for studies in the AO.
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(2021)Freshwater ecosystems are an important part of the carbon cycle. Boreal lakes are mostly supersaturated with CO2 and act as sources for atmospheric CO2. Dissolved CO2 exhibits considerable temporal variation in boreal lakes. Estimates for CO2 emissions from lakes are often based on surface water pCO2 and modelled gas transfer velocities (k). The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of a water column stratification parameter as proxy for surface water pCO2 in lake Kuivajärvi. Brunt-Väisälä frequency (N) was chosen as the measure of water column stratification due to simple calculation process and encouraging earlier results. The relationship between N and pCO2 was evaluated during 8 consecutive May–October periods between 2013 and 2020. Optimal depth interval for N calculation was obtained by analysing temperature data from 16 different measurement depths. The relationship between N and surface pCO2 was studied by regression analysis and effects of other environmental conditions were also considered. Best results for the full study period were obtained via linear fit and N calculation depth interval spanning from 0.5 m to 12 m. However, considering only June–October periods resulted in improved correlation and the relationship between the variables more closely resembling exponential decay. There was also strong inter-annual variation in the relationship. The proxy often underestimated pCO2 values during the spring peak, but provided better estimates in summer and autumn. Boundary layer method (BLM) was used with the proxy to estimate CO2 flux, and the result was compared to fluxes from both BLM with measured pCO2 and eddy covariance (EC) technique. Both BLM fluxes compared poorly with the EC flux, which was attributed to the parametrisation of k.
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(2022)Sea-ice dynamics is becoming increasingly essential for the modelling warming climate as the extent and thickness of the ice cover are decreasing along with increasing drift speeds and mechanical weakening. The description of the sea-ice dynamics involves an enormous variety of spatial and temporal scales from meters to the scale of the Arctic Basin and from seconds to years in the geophysical approaches. The complex coupled spatio-temporal scaling laws prohibit the commonly utilized procedures for scale linkage of ice mechanics. Currently, deformation scaling presents one of the principal open questions in sea ice dynamics for which the thesis aims to provide observational analysis. The high-resolution ship-radar imagery gathered during the MOSAiC expedition from October 2019 to September 2020 for which deformation component rates were calculated to generate a seasonal deformation time series. Current research of deformation scaling commonly relies on satellite imagery and drift buoys for which the spatial and temporal resolutions often tend to be considerably lower than for the ship-radar data. The formerly observed dominant deformation mode of shear and the strong spatial correlation of divergence and shear in the Arctic sea ice were confirmed with no signs of seasonal variation. The temporally averaged deformation variations were found to coincide with satellite derived deformation events rather poorly. A strong length scale dependence of deformation was confirmed in the ship-radar data. The spatial scaling law exponents were found to show unexpectedly high values with the behaviour of both spatial and temporal scaling law exponents disobeying the previously observed large-scale characteristics. The seasonal variation of both scaling law exponents were found to exhibit the commonly observed trends following the progression of total deformation rate. The obtained results showed unexpected values and behaviour for the deformation scaling law exponents, which was suggested to be due to the technical faults in the ship-radar data. The faults were often spatially local and lasted merely for a single time step leading to a possible increase in the localization and intermittency of the deformation rates. Additionally, the new ice conditions of the Arctic Ocean and drift route along the Transpolar Drift were suggested as a possible physical source of the unexpected results. Further studies with different methodologies were suggested for the verification and possible the dismissal of the unexpected results.
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(2023)Zooplankton are an important link in marine pelagic food webs as they transfer energy from primary producers to higher trophic levels such as planktivorous fish. They migrate vertically in the water column, ascending to feed near the surface at night and descending to hide from visual predators for the day (diel vertical migration, DVM). Zooplankton are detected with Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs). These devices were developed for measuring water currents using acoustic pulses, a technique which requires particles such as zooplankton in the water column to scatter the sound. As a by-product of the velocity measurements, it provides information of these scatterers as echo intensity. This method has been used in researching zooplankton DVM, however, not in the northern Baltic Sea prior to this study. In this thesis, the data processing steps required to analyze echo intensity were examined for the specific environment of the Finnish Archipelago Sea. A one-year-long time-series was processed and averaged seasonally to investigate different patterns in zooplankton DVM. Vertical velocity data were used in estimating migration speed, and available reference measurements were combined to the data to examine the environmental factors affecting zooplankton DVM. Synchronized DVM was observed especially in autumn, however, indications of other migration patterns such as unsynchronized and reverse migration were detected during summer and winter, respectively. The primary cue behind zooplankton DVM was light, but additional contributing factors such as phytoplankton and currents were identified and discussed. The maximum migration speeds detected were approximately 10 cm/s downwards and 4 cm/s upwards. ADCP data are a good indicator of zooplankton migration in the northern Baltic Sea and in the future, it could prove beneficial in zooplankton monitoring and biomass estimates.
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(2023)Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), a water mass that sinks to form the deepest limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC), is a key control on the ventilation of the Southern Ocean as well as global exchanges of heat, freshwater, and carbon. Sources of this water mass include latent heat polynyas found in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, which expose the Southern Ocean to the colder atmosphere and are important sources of high salinity shelf water (HSSW). This water mass is the precursor to Dense Shelf Water (DSW) which can be exported from the continental shelf to form Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). In this study, Lagrangian particle tracking of water masses within Prydz Bay was used to investigate the roles of seasonality, bathymetry, and the presence of other water masses on the mechanisms of water mass transformation (WMT), a series of key processes in the MOC. Online particles were released weekly within the Prydz Bay polynya region in a 10 km resolution simulation of the Whole Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM10) and their forward trajectories were tracked for one year. Results highlight the export of Prydz Bay water along the westward Antarctic Slope Current (ASC). Cluster analysis of the results shows a winter signal for bottom water forming particles. When advected beneath the ice shelf, polynya water can mix with fresh meltwater, becoming less dense and forming ice shelf water (ISW). After this polynya-originating water departs the ice shelf again, its increased buoyancy can make future AABW formation less likely. This study confirms that the presence of modified circumpolar deep water (mCDW) can play a controlling factor in rates of DSW export as bottom water. Results show export of DSW from the Prydz Channel and Cape Darnley, mixing either along or across isopycnals depending on the influence of other water masses and cross-slope flow. Interactions with the ASC and major topographic features including the Enderby Land projection and several underwater canyons appear to influence the export of water to the deep ocean. WAOM10 finds realistic ratios of AABW formation as compared with observational data and shows greater low-density water formation than other models.
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