I-COOL

Found these website about icebergs in the Arctic Ocean.

http://polynya.gsfc.nasa.gov/seaice_amsr_south_iceberg_tracker_animgif1.html

This website used the AMSR-E automated iceberg tracker takes in the AMSR-E Sea Ice product and identifies and tracks iceberg targets. It determines their location, area, orientation and rotation.

The group used satellite passive microwave radiometry to study the long-term variability of the polar sea ice cover and its relationship to climate change, air-sea-ice interactions at polar latitudes, and development and validation of sea ice algorithms

http://polynya.gsfc.nasa.gov/seaice_amsr.html - this gives some animations of past sea ice concentrations in the arctic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBfzFt_kgNU – tracking of the world’s biggest iceberg

The National Snow and Ice Center also has some tracks, plots, and predictions about iceberg movement in the North Atlantic. All of the data is unrestricted and can be accessed by anyone.

http://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g00874_iceberg_drift_tracks/index.html

This is the link for the International Ice Patrol under the United States Coast Guard

http://www.uscg-iip.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132&Itemid=67

-          This will take you to some ice chart archives

Information about the sea ice and icebergs in the Arctice region

Chris, Andrei, Amanda

For this particular deployment, several surface currents will become major factors.

The first major current system is the East Greenland Current (illustrated above and highlighted with white bordered arrows). The EGC is the only major south flowing current in the Greenland Sea, hugging the eastern coast of Greenland very tightly. Attempts to document the speed of the East Greenland Current have suggested speeds ranging from 4 to 14 cm/s, with increasing speeds documented further south. The EGC is also noted for abundant eddies throughout the current.

The North Atlantic Drift (illustrated above and highlighted with white bordered arrows) is a slow moving body of water thought to be an extension of the North Atlantic Current. Current movement in the NADC is often described as "sluggish" or "lethargic," leading some to categorize the North Atlantic Drift as a swath or region enclosed by the Irminger Current and the North Atlantic Current, as opposed to an actual stream-like current.

The North Atlantic Current (illustrated above and highlighted with white bordered arrows) encompasses the bulk of the Gulf Stream continuation between its branch point.

The Irminger Current (illustrated above and highlighted with white arrows) branches from the North Atlantic Current and moves north towards Iceland and Greenland. The speed of this current varies. Some measurements have documented speeds as high as 225 cm/s while others have only documented maximum speeds of 15 cm/s.

The Portugal Current system (illustrated above) is actually comprised of three main currents. The Portugal Current is a broad, slow, generally southward flowing current. The Portugal Coastal Countercurrent is a southward flow which is seen along the coast during downwelling season. The Portugal Coastal Current is a poleward current that dominates during upwelling.

-Shannon, Jess, Kat

Images from CIMAS - (http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu)

Hey Everyone!

Here is a table of the general battery life circumstances if the water was constantly between 0 and 12.5 C. One could view these temperatures as a bad case scenario, but not a worst case scenario. These are actual values, which makes this trip very plausible.

 - Dan, Mike and Tracy

Let’s take a look at the sea surface currents on April 12, 2011. It looks like there is warmer surface seas temperature off the bottom and top coast of the Mid-Atlantic. The red and yellow arrows are pointing currents west off to the sea causing warmer water, which means there may be a rapid rise in sea levels. Towards the middle of the shore indicates colder temperature zones.

                                                                              -Dinah Thomas