ALBERT

Description: We report on wintertime data collected from Baffin Bay and northern Davis Strait, a major gateway linking the Arctic with the subpolar North Atlantic, using narwhals (Monodon monoceros) as an oceanographic sampling platform. Fourteen narwhals were instrumented with satellite-linked time-depth-temperature recorders between 2005 and 2007. Transmitters collected and transmitted water column temperature profiles from each dive between December and April, where 〉90% of maximum daily dive depths reached the bottom. Temperature measurements were combined with 15 helicopter-based conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts taken in April 2007 across central Baffin Bay and compared with hydrographic climatology values used for the region in Arctic climate models. Winter temperature maxima for whale and CTD data were in good agreement, ranging between 4.0°C and 4.6°C in inshore and offshore Baffin Bay and in Davis Strait. The warm Irminger Water was identified between 57°W and 59°W (at 68°N) between 200 and 400 m depths. Whale data correlated well with climatological temperature maxima; however, they were on average 0.9°C warmer ±0.6°C (P 〈 0.001). Furthermore, climatology data overestimated the winter surface isothermal layer thickness by 50-80 m. Our results suggest the previously documented warming in Baffin Bay has continued through 2007 and is associated with a warmer West Greenland Current in both of its constituent water masses. This research demonstrates the feasibility of using narwhals as ocean observation platforms in inaccessible Arctic areas where dense sea ice prevents regular oceanographic measurements and where innate site fidelity, affinity for winter pack ice, and multiple daily dives to 〉1700 m offer a useful opportunity to sample the area.

Description: Glass optics with ultra-low roughness surfaces (〈2 Å rms) are strongly desired for high-end optical applications (e.g., lasers, spectroscopy, etc.). The complex microscopic interactions that occur between slurry particles and the glass workpiece during optical polishing ultimately determine the removal rate and resulting surface roughness of the workpiece. In this study, a comprehensive set of 100 mm diameter glass samples (fused silica, phosphate, and borosilicate) were polished using various slurry particle size distributions (PSD), slurry concentrations, and pad treatments. The removal rate and surface roughness of the glasses were characterized using white light interferometry and atomic force microscopy. The material removal mechanism for a given slurry particle is proposed to occur via nano-plastic deformation (plastic removal) or via chemical reaction (molecular removal) depending on the slurry particle load on the glass surface. Using an expanded Hertzian contact model, called the Ensemble Hertzian Multi-gap (EHMG) model, a platform has been developed to understand the microscopic interface interactions and to predict trends of the removal rate and surface roughness for a variety of polishing parameters. The EHMG model is based on multiple Hertzian contacts of slurry particles at the workpiece–pad interface in which the pad deflection and the effective interface gap at each pad asperity height are determined. Using this, the interface contact area and each particle's penetration, load, and contact zone are determined which are used to calculate the material removal rate and simulate the surface roughness. Each of the key polishing variables investigated is shown to affect the material removal rate, whose changes are dominated by very different microscopic interactions. Slurry PSD impacts the load per particle distribution and the fraction of particles removing material by plastic removal. The slurry concentration impacts the areal number density of particles and fraction of load on particles versus pad. The pad topography impacts the fraction of pad area making contact with the workpiece. The glass composition predominantly impacts the depth of plastic removal. Also, the results show that the dominant factor controlling surface roughness is the slurry PSD followed by the glass material's removal function and the pad topography. The model compares well with the experimental data over a variety of polishing conditions for both removal rate and roughness and can be extended to provide insights and strategies to develop practical, economic processes for obtaining ultra-low roughness surfaces while simultaneously maintaining high material removal rates.

Description: During optical glass polishing, a number of interactions between the workpiece (i.e., glass), polishing slurry, and pad can influence the resulting workpiece roughness at different spatial scale lengths. In our previous studies, the particle size distribution of the slurry, the pad topography, and the amount of material removed by a single particle on the workpiece were shown to strongly correlate with roughness at AFM scale lengths (nm-μm) and weakly at μ-roughness scale lengths (μm-mm). In this study, the polishing slurry pH and the generation of glass removal products are shown to influence the slurry particle spatial and height distribution at the polishing interface and the resulting μ-roughness of the glass workpiece. A series of fused silica and phosphate glass samples were polished with various ceria and colloidal silica slurries over a range of slurry pH, and the resulting AFM roughness and μ-roughness were measured. The AFM roughness was largely invariant with pH, suggesting that the removal function of a single particle is unchanged with pH. However, the μ-roughness changed significantly, increasing linearly with pH for phosphate glass and having a maximum at an intermediate pH for fused silica. In addition, the spatial and height distribution of slurry particles on the pad (as measured by laser confocal microscopy) was determined to be distinctly different at low and high pH during phosphate glass polishing. Also, the zeta potential as a function of pH was measured for the workpiece, slurry, and pad with and without surrogate glass products (K 3 PO 4 for phosphate glass and Si(OH) 4 for silica) to assess the role of interfacial charge during polishing. The addition of K 3 PO 4 significantly raised the zeta potential, whereas addition of Si(OH) 4 had little effect on the zeta potential. An electrostatic DLVO three-body force model, using the measured zeta potentials, was used to calculate the particle–particle, particle–workpiece, and particle–pad attractive and repulsive forces as a function of pH and the incorporation of glass products at the interface. The model predicted an increase in particle–pad attraction with an increase in pH and phosphate glass products consistent with the measured slurry distribution on the pads during phosphate glass polishing. Finally, a slurry “island” distribution gap (IDG) model has been formulated which utilizes the measured interface slurry distributions and a load balance to determine the interface gap, the contact area fraction, and the load on each slurry “island”. The IDG model was then used to simulate the workpiece surface topography and μ-roughness; the results show an increase in roughness with pH similar to that observed experimentally.