Session 07 - Short Summary

The upper mixed layer in the Arctic Ocean is an important conduit between the atmosphere, sea ice and the interior ocean. Bordered underneath by a strong seasonal and permanent halocline, its heat content, salinity and depth are highly seasonal, feeding back with ice growth, melt, and seasonal advection of fresh river water onto the shelves and on into the central basins. Summer sea ice and snow melt can lead to formation of a freshwater layer below the sea ice, which reduces mixing and friction between sea ice and the ocean. For upper ocean processes, horizontal variability and associated (sub)mesoscale dynamics are as important as lateral gradients in the sea ice and snow cover. These change strongly with the seasons and region: from open water, the marginal ice zone, summer sea ice with melt ponds, to a nearly consolidated ice surface covered in snow. We welcome modelling and observational contributions by studies focusing on the upper ocean, the atmosphere-/ice-ocean interface, the halocline, the under-ice freshwater layer, from a physical, biological or chemical perspective.