DYNAMICS OF THE SOUTHERN AND ARCTIC OCEANS

This course covers the fundamentals of the Southern and Arctic Ocean dynamics, and aims to put these in the context of climate change in the 21st century. The lectures focus on the physical mechanisms responsible for large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the global energy balance, and the global hydrological cycle. It introduce fundamental concepts of fluid dynamics and apply these to the vertical and horizontal motions in the Southern and Arctic Oceans, as well as to the coastal polar seas with particular focus on the Ross Sea role in the global ocean circulation. Particular attention will be paid also to the importance of the Atlantification process, the interactions between fjords and oceans and between Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Finally, part of the course will be devoted to providing information on active ocean observing programmes in both polar areas and useful databases from which information can be extracted for scientific purposes.