North Pole Environmental Observatory 2006-2008 Upward Looking Sonar Sea-Ice Draft Data NSF Grants OPP-9910305, OPP-0352754, and ARC-0856330 to the University of Washington. APL/UW Mark 2 Upward Looking Sonar (ULS) Sea-Ice Draft Data on the NPEO 2006-2008 Mooring. Version 1.0 This archive contains the sea-ice draft data from one APL/UW ULS moored at a fixed level for two years near the North Pole. Other instruments were installed on the mooring, including Aanderaa Recording Current Meters, Sea-Bird Temperature-Conductivity Recorders, and an RDI Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). Data from these other instruments are collected in separate archives. NPEO 2006-2008 Bottom-Anchored Mooring Position = 89° 20.810' N, 77° 07.208' E Corrected ocean depth = 4315 m Year/day-of-year/time at depth = 2006/114/0900 UTC Year/day-of-year/time end data = 2007/189/0100 UTC Year/day-of-year/time mooring release = 2008/102/0100 UTC NOTE: The ULS was programmed for the nominal 1-year data acquisition. The ULS memory was filled on 08 July, 2008 and no data were acquired after that date. Nominal_depth Instrument (s/n) Filename ------------- ------------------------- ------------------------------ 83 m APL/UW ULS Mark 2 (s/n 60) Mooring_NP2006_ULS60_5min.txt 83 m APL/UW ULS Mark 2 (s/n 60) Mooring_NP2006_ULS60_10sec.txt Each instrument is represented by 2 ASCII files, with observations sampled at 5-minute intervals and at 10-second intervals, respectively. The 5-minute sampling is continuous, the 10-second sampling occurs during two 25-minute intervals each day. Each file contains header information followed by the data in space-delimited columns. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Synopsis: As part of the North Pole Environmental Observatory (NSF Grants OPP-9910305, OPP-0352754, and ARC-0856330 ), an oceanographic mooring is anchored to the ocean floor beneath the drifting ice near the North Pole. Vertically distributed instruments measure ocean properties at fixed depths, recording internally. The data are retrieved at intervals of one or two years, when the mooring is recovered, and a new mooring deployed. The first NPEO mooring was deployed in April 2001. This archive contains the sea-ice draft and ULS depth data from the APL/UW Mark 2 ULS on the 2006-2008 mooring. For further information, please contact Dr. Richard E. Moritz dickm@apl.washington.edu (206) 543-8023 Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington 1013 NE 40th, Seattle, WA 98105-6698 USA FAX (206) 616-3142 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meta data ========= 1) Platform: Bottom-anchored oceanographic mooring near the North Pole. 2) Project title: North Pole Environmental Observatory 3) Data collection dates: April 2006 to July, 2007 4) PI: Richard E. Moritz (dickm@apl.washington.edu) 5) Data collection method: Moored APL/UW Mark 2 Upward Looking Sonar sampling continuously at 5-minute intervals, and sampling at 10-second intervals for two 25-minute period each day (00:00:00-00:25:00 GMT and 12:00:00-12:25:00 GMT). The ULS measures the in-situ water pressure and the range to the sea-ice bottom or open ocean surface directly above the ULS. Depth is computed hydrostatically from the pressure measurement. Sea-ice draft is computed as the difference between depth and range. The draft of sea-ice directly above the ULS changes over time as the sea-ice moves horizontally on the surface of the ocean. 6) Data calibration method: Calibration of the pressure gauge (for estimating depth) was performed by ParosScientific Inc., Redmond WA. In general, pre-deployment calibrations were accepted. Calibration of the beam pattern and sensitivity of the acoustic transducer and lens system were performed at APL/UW using a standard hydrophone/transmitter (Model E37, serial number 003). ULS depth is calculated from the hydrostatic equation: depth = (Puls - Ps)/(rhow * g) where Puls = Pressure measured by the Paroscientific gauge (S/N 45441) Ps = Sea Level Air Pressure interpolated to the NPEO mooring position and the ULS observation time, from the NCEP analyses available at 0000 and 1200 GMT rhow = Average density of the water column above the ULS. g = Gravitational acceleration at the ULS position, approximately 9.8 m/s The density rhow is calculated as a function of temperature, salinity and pressure at fixed depths above the ULS, using the equation of state of seawater given in Appendix A3.1 of Gill, A.E., 1982, Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics (Academic Press). The temperature and salinity are interpolated to the mooring position and observation time from the latest version of the monthly Polar Hydrographic Climatology (PHC) of Ermold and Steele, available at the website: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/Climatology.html. The densities are then averaged vertically to produce the average density rhow. The ULS measures the range to the bottom of the sea-ice (or to the water-air interface) by measuring the time tau for a pulse of sound to propagate up to the target and back to the ULS. The range is calculated from the equation: range = 0.5 * cbar * tau - 0.156 (meters) where cbar = Average sound speed of the water column above the ULS 0.156 = 0.5 * (cbar - clens) * tau_lens clens = Sound speed of the fluid in the lens of the ULS tau_lens = Round-trip travel time for sound to propagate between the ULS tranducer and the surface of the acoustic lens. The sound speed cbar is calculated as a function of temperature, salinity and pressure at fixed depths above the ULS, using the sound speed formula presented by Urick, 1983, Principles of Underwater Sound (McGraw Hill, New York). The temperature and salinity data for computing sound speed are the same values from PHC that are used to compute the average water density rhow. Sea-ice Draft is calculated from the formula: draft = depth - range - 0.42 m where 0.42 m = Vertical distance from the pressure gauge port to the ULS tranducer, when the ULS is oriented vertically. Potentially important sources of error in the ice draft computed as described above include the following: * Systematic and random errors in density rhow * Systematic and random errors in sound speed cbar * Random errors in sea-level air pressure Ps * Errors in the estimated local value of earth's gravitational acceleration g * Timing variations in the sonar hardware/software system * Target identification errors for first-return echos from targets not directly above the ULS, or from targets intervening between the ULS and the intended target (ice bottom or sea surface). * Non-hydrostatic (short) waves during open water intervals Extensive analysis, as reported in Moritz (2011) yields a net systematic error of approximately +0.1 meters, a standard deviation of random errors of approximately 0.05 meters during the summer, and an annual variation of systematic error on the order of 0.10 meters for the APL-UW Mark 2 ULS operating normally, e.g. for ULS 2305 at NPEO 2008-2010. NOTE: ULS 60 2006-2008 experienced serious operating problems that affect data quality (see below). These data have been adjusted to remove most of the mean and annual variation of systematic error, using a time-dependent "offset-correction" estimated from un-adjusted ice drafts acquired during intervals when the ADCP (see item 8 below) indicates open water is present nearby above the ULS. Ice drafts outside the interval 0m to 20m were flagged as bad/missing data (data flag -999). The ULS is programmed to look for ice drafts in a window that opens approximately 20 meters below sea level. 7) Instrumentation used: APL/UW Mark 2 Upward Looking Sonar, consisting of: * Paroscientific Digiquartz pressure gauge (serial number 45441) * APL/UW sonar transceiver: frequency 300 kHz, pulse length 1 millisecond. * APL/UW Acoustic lens: -3dB beamwidth 2 degrees. * As an integrated assembly, this ULS has serial number 60. 8) Quality control procedures: Occurrences of open water in the ULS time series were checked for consistency with the ADCP ice velocity data. The ADCP data show very distinct differences when retrieving velocity from an ice surface versus an open water surface. 9) Data format Space delimited ASCII, formats from header: YEAR MO DAY HR MIN SEC TIME(days) DEPTH(m) DRAFT(m) ---- -- --- -- --- --- ---------- -------- -------- 2006 5 4 11 55 0 124.49650 83.040 -999.000 2006 5 4 12 0 0 124.50000 83.040 -999.000 2006 5 4 12 5 0 124.50350 83.040 1.230 2006 5 4 12 10 0 124.50690 83.040 -999.000 2006 5 4 12 15 0 124.51040 83.040 2.727 2006 5 4 12 20 0 124.51390 83.041 -999.000 NOTES ----- A. Columns 1 through 6 are in GMT, as measured by the ULS clock. The ULS clock typically drifts by +/- approximately 10 minutes in one year. No correction has been made to the times and dates contained in this dataset, for the initial ULS clock setting or for the clock drift. B. TIME is given in decimal days. TIME = 1.0 days at 00:00:00 GMT, 1 January, 2006. TIME = 366.0 days at 24:00:00 GMT, 31 December, 2006. C. DEPTH is the depth below local sea level of the pressure gauge port on the ULS. When the ULS is oriented vertically, this pressure port is 42 centimeters below the sonar transducer on the ULS. D. DRAFT is the vertical distance between the bottom of the sea-ice and local sea level, directly above the ULS. E. The values -999.999 and -999.000 for DEPTH and DRAFT respectively, indicate missing or bad data. 10) Data collection problems: NPEO ULS 60 2006-2008 experienced two serious operational problems: (i) Due to a broken electrical connection, this ULS acquired no useable pressure data at depth. The depth data in this data file are estimates based on the pressure measurements of a Seabird SBE-16 CTD, serial number 4, positioned approximately 5 meters below the ULS on the mooring line. The conversions of pressure to depth, which depend on estimates of sea=level air pressure and the density of the water column, were made in the same way for the SBE-16 data as for normal ULS pressure data. ULS Depth was estimated as SBE-16 depth minus a constant 5.05 meters. (ii) The acoustic transducer circuit of ULS60 2006 drifted from pre-deployment calibrations, causing a reduction of ULS transmit and receive sensitivity. As a result, the signal received at the ULS was often lower than the threshold for detection of surface targets, i.e. the bottom of the ice and open water. When the signal is below the detection threshold, no sonar range is recorded and the missing data indicator -999.000 is entered for DRAFT in the dataset. 11) Other related data sets: Data from the Recording Current Meters, Sea-Bird Temperature-Conductivity Recorders, and the Acoustic Doppler Current Meter on this same mooring are provided together with this archive. Other parts of the Observatory are represented by data sets from drifting buoys and aircraft CTD and chemistry surveys. These data and general information about the North Pole Environmental Observatory are available at at the NPEO website: (http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/Mooring.html). NPEO data are archived permanently at the The Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS) http://aoncadis.ucar.edu/home.htm 12) Conditions for use or citation: In reports and publications that use these data, please acknowledge their source: R. E. Moritz, North Pole Environmental Observatory, NSF Grants OPP-9910305, OPP-0352754, and ARC-0856330. Reference: Moritz, R.E., "Variability of sea-ice draft near the North Pole on time scales of 1 week to years", in prep., to be submitted to J. Geophys. Res (Oceans) in 2011. 13) Data qualifications or warnings: Estimated accuracy: Depth .01% of the depth value. Sea-ice draft, error standard deviation of 5 cm for level and gently undulating ice. Ice drafts for rough ice are biased high because the range is determined by the first return, which comes from the ice nearest the sonar, and within the beam footprint. This ice is sometimes not directly above the ULS as required for unbiased sampling. This dataset has not been adjusted to account for this rough ice bias. The bias associated with first-return ranging is common to many ULS sea-ice draft datasets acquired from moorings and from submarines. 14) Grant numbers: NSF Grants OPP-9910305, OPP-0352754, and ARC-0856330 15) Sample repository location: The Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS)http://aoncadis.ucar.edu/home.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------