Timothy P. Stanton

Bio: Timothy P. Stanton is an academic researcher from Naval Postgraduate School. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sea ice & Boundary layer. The author has an hindex of 33, co-authored 84 publications receiving 5025 citations. Previous affiliations of Timothy P. Stanton include United States Department of the Navy.

Testing the iron hypothesis in ecosystems of the equatorial Pacific Ocean

Abstract: The idea that iron might limit phytoplankton growth in large regions of the ocean has been tested by enriching an area of 64 km2 in the open equatorial Pacific Ocean with iron This resulted in a doubling of plant biomass, a threefold increase in chlorophyll and a fourfold increase in plant production Similar increases were found in a chlorophyll-rich plume down-stream of the Galapagos Islands, which was naturally enriched in iron These findings indicate that iron limitation can control rates of phytoplankton productivity and biomass in the ocean

Observations of highly nonlinear internal solitons over the continental shelf

Abstract: Surface disturbances caused by strong, near-surface internal waves are widely seen in coastal regions as bands of slick and rough water propagating shoreward. These surface slicks are typically manifestations of optical and radar backscatter properties above internal solitons, and have strong surface current pulses associated with them. During a recent experiment studying coastal internal waves, extremely strong solitary internal wave packets were observed over a three week period on a very shallow and strongly stratified pycnocline off Northern Oregon. During periods of strongest tidal forcing, solitons were consistently observed on the leading edge of a semidiurnal internal tide bore, with pycnocline displacements up to 25m downward from a 7m initial depth in the first few solitons. The extreme nonlinearity of these internal waves is believed to be unique in ocean observations. This note characterizes these highly nonlinear Solitary Internal Waves (SIW) and presents a second order KdV model which reproduces the form of the displacements, and the small change in soliton width with amplitude predicted by this model.

Year on ice gives climate insights

Abstract: Research involving a yearlong drift with the ice pack in the Arctic Ocean witnessed surprisingly thin ice at the start and even thinner ice at the end. Also, the extent of open water during the summer of 1998 in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas was the greatest of the past 2 decades. As the ice is melting from under your feet there is an understandable tendency to blame global warming. But the project, known as the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA), though motivated by climate change, was not designed to detect global warming. Definitive climate change pronouncements can not be made based on a single experiment.

The Coupled Boundary Layers and Air–Sea Transfer Experiment in Low Winds

Abstract: The Office of Naval Research's Coupled Boundary Layers and Air–Sea Transfer (CBLAST) program is being conducted to investigate the processes that couple the marine boundary layers and govern the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum across the air–sea interface. CBLAST-LOW was designed to investigate these processes at the low-wind extreme where the processes are often driven or strongly modulated by buoyant forcing. The focus was on conditions ranging from negligible wind stress, where buoyant forcing dominates, up to wind speeds where wave breaking and Langmuir circulations play a significant role in the exchange processes. The field program provided observations from a suite of platforms deployed in the coastal ocean south of Martha's Vineyard. Highlights from the measurement campaigns include direct measurement of the momentum and heat fluxes on both sides of the air–sea interface using a specially constructed Air–Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT), and quantification of regional oceanic variability over sca...

Freshening of the upper ocean in the Arctic: Is perennial sea ice disappearing?

Abstract: During the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) deployment in October, 1997, multiyear ice near the center of the Beaufort Gyre was anomalously thin The upper ocean was both warmer and less saline than in previous years The salinity deficit in the upper 100 m, compared with the same region during the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (AIDJEX) in 1975, is equivalent to surface input of about 24 m of fresh water Heat content has increased by 67 MJ m−2 During AIDJEX the change in salinity over the melt season implied melt equivalent to about 08 m of fresh water As much as 2 m of freshwater input may have occurred during the 1997 summer, possibly resulting from decreased ice concentration from changes in atmospheric circulation early in the summer , in the classic albedo-feedback scenario Unchecked, the pattern could lead to a significantly different sea-ice regime in the central Arctic

The Arctic oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields

Abstract: The leading empirical orthogonal function of the wintertime sea-level pressure field is more strongly coupled to surface air temperature fluctuations over the Eurasian continent than the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). It resembles the NAO in many respects; but its primary center of action covers more of the Arctic, giving it a more zonally symmetric appearance. Coupled to strong fluctuations at the 50-hPa level on the intraseasonal, interannual, and interdecadal time scales, this "Arctic Oscillation" (AO)can be interpreted as the surface signature of modulations in the strength of the polar vortex aloft. It is proposed that the zonally asymmetric surface air temperature and mid-tropospheric circulation anomalies observed in association with the AO may be secondary baroclinic features induced by the land-sea contrasts. The same modal structure is mirrored in the pronounced trends in winter and springtime surface air temperature, sea-level pressure, and 50-hPa height over the past 30 years: parts of Eurasia have warmed by as much as several K, sea-level pressure over parts of the Arctic has fallen by 4 hPa, and the core of the lower stratospheric polar vortex has cooled by several K. These trends can be interpreted as the development of a systematic bias in one of the atmosphere's dominant, naturally occurring modes of variability.

The Ecology of Phytoplankton

Abstract: Communities of microscopic plant life, or phytoplankton, dominate the Earth's aquatic ecosystems. This important new book by Colin Reynolds covers the adaptations, physiology and population dynamics of phytoplankton communities in lakes and rivers and oceans. It provides basic information on composition, morphology and physiology of the main phyletic groups represented in marine and freshwater systems and in addition reviews recent advances in community ecology, developing an appreciation of assembly processes, co-existence and competition, disturbance and diversity. Although focussed on one group of organisms, the book develops many concepts relevant to ecology in the broadest sense, and as such will appeal to graduate students and researchers in ecology, limnology and oceanography.

A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization

Abstract: Changes in iron supply to oceanic plankton are thought to have a significant effect on concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide by altering rates of carbon sequestration, a theory known as the 'iron hypothesis' For this reason, it is important to understand the response of pelagic biota to increased iron supply Here we report the results of a mesoscale iron fertilization experiment in the polar Southern Ocean, where the potential to sequester iron-elevated algal carbon is probably greatest Increased iron supply led to elevated phytoplankton biomass and rates of photosynthesis in surface waters, causing a large drawdown of carbon dioxide and macronutrients, and elevated dimethyl sulphide levels after 13 days This drawdown was mostly due to the proliferation of diatom stocks But downward export of biogenic carbon was not increased Moreover, satellite observations of this massive bloom 30 days later, suggest that a sufficient proportion of the added iron was retained in surface waters Our findings demonstrate that iron supply controls phytoplankton growth and community composition during summer in these polar Southern Ocean waters, but the fate of algal carbon remains unknown and depends on the interplay between the processes controlling export, remineralisation and timescales of water mass subduction