Eddies—swirling currents that can transport heat and freshwater throughout the upper ocean—are ubiquitus in the worlds oceans, including in polar regions. In the Arctic, we’ve seen that subduction of eddies can trap heat below the surface and transport it deep under the sea ice (MacKinnon et. al., 2021). Moreover, filaments and eddies are commonly seen in satellite imagery of sea ice in the marginal ice zone (fig. 1), as they’re revealed by the transport and convergence of sea ice floes. Understanding the structure and evolution of these currents and the role that they play in ice-ocean feedback processes remains an active area of research.

fig. 1: NASA Worldview image off the coast of Greenland, from July 26, 2023

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I am particularly interested in how these upper ocean features interact with sea ice.

It is likely that floe-scale effects further impact the evolution of these