NANSEN AND AMUNDSEN BASINS OBSERVATIONAL SYSTEM (NABOS): CONTRIBUTING TO UNDERSTANDING CHANGES IN THE ARCTIC

Pnyushkov and Polyakov discuss the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS) program. On Sep 2, 2002, the NABOS program deployed its first mooring in the Eastern Eurasian Basin (EEB) of the Arctic Ocean. Since then, NABOS moorings, complemented by repeat multidisciplinary shipborne surveys and Lagrangian drifters, have provided a unique data set in an area of traditionally sparse observations. A series of moorings placed at several strategically important locations continues to be the program's primary monitoring tool for capturing major near-slope mass, heat, and salt transports and their links to lower-latitude processes. These data will aid in quantifying shelf-basin interactions, documenting water mass transformations, and understanding key mechanisms that lead to the Arctic Ocean's variability. The rapid and unforeseen changes in the eastern Arctic climate system associated with Atlantification are complex, poorly understood, and require careful evaluation.