ASOF stands for Arctic and Subarctic Ocean Fluxes: ASOF is an international program on the oceanography of the Arctic and Subarctic seas and their role in climate. ASOF focuses on ocean fluxes of mass, heat, freshwater, and ice in the Arctic and Subarctic oceans.

The overarching science issues driving ASOF are:

• What are the fluxes of mass, heat, liquid freshwater and ice from the Arctic Ocean into the subpolar North Atlantic?
• What are the terms in the budgets of mass, heat, liquid freshwater and ice for the Arctic and subpolar North Atlantic Oceans, and how are they changing with time?
• How will anticipated changes in Arctic freshwater efflux impact the MOC?
• What impacts do the changing Arctic and subarctic physical environment have on ecosystems?
• How can ocean circulation, sea ice, and climate models be improved through issues 1 and 2, and how can these models help address them?

ASOF recognizes that the scientific questions it addresses are of decadal scale and require stamina to maintain the observing array that exceeds the regular funding cycles and attention spans of research agencies. This statement was true in 2000 when ASOF began, and remains true today. On-going synthesis of the physical measurements across the whole ASOF region is an essential component of this activity. Science issues 1 and 2 deal with this issue.

ASOF also recognizes that applying the knowledge that already exists, and is still accumulating, is critical to leverage the success of the initial phase and broaden the scope of the program. Engaging climate dynamicists, high-latitude ecosystems researchers, and high-latitude modelers in science issues 3-5 will deliver this goal of applying the discoveries of the ASOF program. These synthesis are impossible without international coordination.

More about this initiative: http://asof.awi.de/

24-26 April 2019, ASOF and Blue-Action meeting "Representativeness of Ocean Observations and Flux Calculations", Copenhagen (DK)

This event was co-organised by ASOF and Blue-Action and it was linked to the Blue-Action deliverable D6.2. The event was co-sponsored by Blue-Action and CliC.

Read more about this event and its results.