Ocean current observation and spectrum analysis in central Chukchi Sea during the summer of 2008

During the summer of 2008, the third CHINARE Arctic Expedition was carried out on board of Xuelong Icebreaker in the central Chukchi Sea. A submersible mooring system was deployed and recovered at Station CN-01 （71.40.024＇N, 167.58.910＇W） with 33 days of the current profile records, and continuous observation of temperature and salinity data were collected. This mooring station locates in the blank of similar observation area and it is the first time for our Chinese to finish this kind of long-term mooring work in this area. This mooring system finished integrated hydrological observations with long-term continuous record of the whole profile velocity for the first time. Based on time series analysis of temperature, salinity, velocity and flow direction, we get the following main results. （1） During the observation period, the mean surface current velocity is 70.2 cm/s eastward, and velocity reaches its maximum in average at 3 m level with magnitude 90.0 cm/s, direction 206.. （2） In 9-30 m layers, the semidiurnal period variation is the most obvious, the flow direction is quite stable, and the flow is synchronous and consistent vertically. （3） Besides the semidiurnal period variation, the main variation in the upper layer is in 11-d period, with variations in period 5.5, 5.5, and 3.7 d, which reflect the influences of sea surface wind change and maintenance. （4） Near the bottom the temperature change is correlated and synchronized with the conductivity.

Observed features of temperature, salinity and current in central Chukchi Sea during the summer of 2012

During the summer of 2012, the fifth CHINARE Arctic Expedition was carried out, and a submersible mooring system was deployed in M5 station located at （69°30.155＇N,169°00.654＇W） and recovered 50d later. A set of temperature, salinity and current profile records was acquired. The characteristics of these observations are analyzed in this paper. Some main results are achieved as below. （1） Temperature generally decreases while salinity generally increases with increasing depth. The average values of all records are 2.98℃ and 32.21 psu. （2） Salinity and temperature are well negatively correlated, and the correlation coefficient between them is -0.84. However, they did not always vary synchronously. Their co-variation featured different characters during different significant periods. （3） The average velocity for the whole water column is 141 mm/s with directional angle of 347.1°. The statistical distribution curve of velocity record number gets narrower with increasing depth. More than 85% of the recorded velocities are northward, and the mean magnitudes of dominated northward velocities are 100-150 mm/s. （4） Rotary spectrum analysis shows that motions with low frequency take a majority of energy in all layers. The most significant energy peaks for all layers are around 0.012 cph （about 3.5 d period）, while the tidal motion in mooring area is nonsignificant. （5） Velocities in all layers feature similar and synchronous temporal variations, except for the slight decrease in magnitude and leftward twist from top to bottom. The directions of velocity correspond well to those of Surface wind. The average northward volume transport per square meter is 0.1-0.2 m3/s under southerly wind, but about -0.2 m3/s during northerly wind burst.