Discovering How a Polynya ("Pol-in-ya") Impacts Weather Patterns
At the edge of Antarctica, katabatic winds blast across the frosty lip of the continent pushing sea ice away from the coast and creating yawning stretches of open ocean. Scientists call these rare but persistent openings polynyas. Atmospheric sciences professor John Cassano wants to know how Antarctica’s katabatic winds and polynyas interact to affect the global climate system.
Over the month of September, Cassano will work with a team of scientists and engineers to fly drone planes – in what are planned to be the longest Antarctic flights ever recorded – across the Terra Nova Bay polynya, sampling heat and moisture exchanges between the atmosphere and ocean. "Sea ice constantly forms at the fringes of a polynya, leaving cold and salty water behind," Cassano said. "As this denser ocean water sinks, it affects global currents like the thermohaline circulation, which influences weather patterns as far away as the United States and Europe."
John Cassano
Dr. Cassano is an assistant professor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) and a Fellow of the university's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). His research focuses on weather and climate in polar regions. This is his 9th trip to Antarctica.
Jim Maslanik
Jim Maslanik is a research professor in Aerospace Engineering at CU and an Affiliate of CIRES. His recent research has focused on remote-sensing and modeling of sea ice processes. He has used unmanned aerial systems for several studies in the Arctic.
