Rescuing important ocean climate observations for the Coordinated Arctic
Acoustic Thermometry Experiment (CAATEX)
Scientists from Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAN) and Norwegian Meteorological Institute (METNO) are taking part in a 5-week long expedition with the Coast Guard ship NORCG Svalbard into the Arctic Ocean. Operation took place in the period 16 October to 24 November 2020. The main mission was to recover three moorings in the Beaufort Sea North of Alaska which carry acoustic and oceanographic instruments. The instruments in the moorings bring important measurements to observe the ocean climate change. The moorings are part of a trans Arctic observing system measuring the mean ocean temperature across the whole Arctic Basin using acoustic thermometry. The new observations will be compared to similar measurements made in the 1990s. After a successful operation in the Arctic Ocean, the course was set towards Svalbard with all the research buoys on board and intact full of dates.