Dr Wieslaw Maslowski

Proper representation of sea ice and oceanic processes in the northern high latitudes is needed to improve skill of climate model predictions and to understand natural and man-induced climate variability. A strong coupling between the Atlantic and Arctic as well as between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans occurs due to mass and property exchanges and complex air-sea-ice interactions. This coupling has been demonstrated based on observations but its causes, effects, and quantitative details are not well understood. To address some of these issues, a postdoctoral research will involve both modeling (using existing or new models) and analyses of obervational information to: (i) understand interannual-to-decadal variability of inter-ocean exchanges, (ii) explain their relationship to atmospheric (e.g. NAO, AO, PDO) and sea ice conditions in the pan-Arctic region, (iii) construct conceptual models of interactions between the Arctic and Atlantic/Pacific Oceans, including heat, salt/fresh water, and mass fluxes, and (iv) develop new parameterizations of such interactions to improve climate model simulations of polar physical processes, which are not adequately representated in the existing models.