A mesoscale numerical weather prediction model is used to investigate the passage of a shallow front across a polynya in the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow, Alaska. In order to properly resolve the phenomena with the model's grid, the polynya is specified larger than actually observed, but otherwise this represents a real data case. Prior to frontal passage, a well-mixed boundary layer exists over the polynya to a depth of about 1.5 km, while following frontal passage, the frontal inversion acts to confine the strong fluxes to a depth of only a few hundred meters. The temporal behavior of surface stresses, heat fluxes, and two separate low-level jets are examined as the front passes over this large polynya.