Pacific water eddies: Summer placement at WHOI
Ryan Scott
British Antarctic Survey
Picture Caption: Arctic sunrise at the Chukchi Shelf break, framed by the USCGC Healy’s aft A-frame.
Report:
I would like to start by thanking the Challenger Society for contributing towards my travel expenses to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), where I completed a 3-month summer project from June to August 2018. It’s safe to say that my time at WHOI absolutely flew by, a consequence of hard work, lots of fun and great people!
My project involved working with Dr Bob Pickart to improve our understanding of the dynamics of Pacific water eddies in the western Arctic Ocean. This involved analysing a high-resolution XCTD (expendable conductivity-temperature depth) and ADCP (Acoustic Doppler current profiler) survey that completely bracketed a cold-core, Pacific-origin, anti-cyclonic eddy on the Chukchi Sea Shelf, western Arctic Ocean. Using these data, we are able to shed some light on the origin and fate of these Pacific-origin eddies, which are ubiquitous in the Arctic Ocean (a paper is in prep. – Challenger will for sure be acknowledged!). These eddies are thought to freshen the upper part of the water column, a process that is critical for maintaining stratification in the Western Arctic, shielding sea ice from the underlying warm salty Atlantic water.
As my WHOI project involved studying the Chukchi Sea, I was lucky enough to be asked whether I would like to spend my third month aboard the USCGC Healy in the Chukchi Sea – being a physical oceanographer, I jumped at the opportunity! The cruise was a great experience; not only did I gain valuable experience at sea, there was great synergy between my project and the physical oceanography aspect of the cruise, and we even saw a polar bear!
Overall, suspending my PhD and working at WHOI was a fantastic experience and I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity. I was able to broaden my oceanographic knowledge (by studying the other pole!), get valuable cruise experience and have a taste of living abroad. It wasn’t something that I envisaged beforehand, but my time at WHOI was made even more enjoyable by the people that I met along the way – the PhD students and postdocs that worked in my department, and the 30+ Summer Student Fellows that I had the pleasure of living with. I’ll be sure to keep in touch with them, who knows, maybe they’ll even be future collaborators!
Picture Caption: A pre-cruise BBQ send-off - a great way to end living for 2 months with these guys!
Profile:
Ryan Scott is a PhD student going into his 3rdyear of a PhD the British Antarctic Survey. His project is funded through NEXUSS and is partnered with the University of Southampton. His project involves using turbulence data collected by underwater gliders to investigate mixing and heat fluxes in the west Antarctic.
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The Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) and OceanWise are delighted to invite you to attend our popular free online training workshop: ‘Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset’ on the 19th – 23rd of May 2025.
Workshop on the contribution of UK Arctic Ocean science to the International Polar Year 32/33
12:00 11th June – 16:00 12th June 2025: NOC Southampton (In-person with online option): Registration deadline 16th May
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The purpose of this workshop is for the UK Ocean Science community to discuss and then draft a prospectus document outlining the priority Arctic research questions the community would like to address during the run up to, throughout and beyond the International Polar Year 32/33. Additionally, to identify what unique strengths and technologies the UK has to help fill these knowledge gaps.
The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to writing groups, one for each of the priority research questions identified - from both the pre-meeting questionnaire (HERE) and day one discussion. By the end of the meeting, each group will have produced draft text and sourced supporting figures for the prospectus.
Post meeting, the draft will be opened for comments and suggestions from everyone, regardless of whether they were able to attend the workshop or not. It will then be shared with UK funders (UKRI, FCDO, DSIT, ARIA) and potential international programmes with whom we would like to collaborate (e.g. Arctic 2050, Norway). It will form a basis from which wider integration with terrestrial, atmospheric and cryosphere communities can be built, e.g. at the UK Arctic Science Meeting in September in Northumbria.
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Challenger Society Council Position Vacancy
The Challenger Society for Marine Science (CSMS) are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to support the next generation of ocean scientists and innovators. CSMS are looking for a new Council member to fill the Student Travel Awards and Stepping Stones Portfolio. The successful applicant will administer the travel and research grants available for Early Career Researchers.
The role involves:
- Receiving applications for the two schemes and responding to applicant inquiries
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- Working with the Honorary Treasurer on allocating funds to successful applicants
- Following up with award winners on their reporting requirements
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The usual term for Council members is three years.
For more information about the CSMS Council, please follow this link: https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/The_Council
For more information about our Early Career Researcher grants and awards, please follow this link:
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Stepping_Stones
and
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Travel_awards
If you are interested in applying or have any questions regarding the role, please contact kathen@bas.ac.uk