Mean full-depth summer circulation and transports at the northern periphery of the Atlantic Ocean in the 2000s
| Type | Article | ||||||||
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| Date | 2012-01 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Sarafanov Artem1, 2, Falina Anastasia1, 2, Mercier Herle 3, Sokov Alexey1, Lherminier Pascale4, Gourcuff Claire3, Gladyshev Sergey1, Gaillard Fabienne4, Daniault Nathalie5 |
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| Affiliation(s) | 1 : PP Shirshov Oceanol Inst, Moscow 117997, Russia. 2 : IRD, UBO, CNRS, Lab Phys Oceans, UMR 6523, IFREMER, F-29280 Plouzane, France. 3 : CNRS, Ifremer IRD, Lab Phys Oceans, UMR 6523, UBO, F-29238 Brest, France. 4 : Ifremer, IRD, CNRS,Lab Phys Oceans, UMR 6523, UBO, F-29280 Brest, France. 5 : UBO, CNRS, IRD, Lab Phys Oceans, UMR 6523, IFREMER, F-29280 Plouzane, France. |
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| Source | Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans (0148-0227) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2012-01 , Vol. 117 , P. - | ||||||||
| DOI | 10.1029/2011JC007572 | ||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 79 | ||||||||
| Abstract | A mean state of the full-depth summer circulation in the Atlantic Ocean in the region in between Cape Farewell (Greenland), Scotland and the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (GSR) is assessed by combining 2002–2008 yearly hydrographic measurements at 59.5°N, mean dynamic topography, satellite altimetry data and available estimates of the Atlantic–Nordic Seas exchange. The mean absolute transports by the upper-ocean, mid-depth and deep currents and the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOCσ = 16.5 ± 2.2 Sv, at σ0 = 27.55) at 59.5°N are quantified in the density space. Inter-basin and diapycnal volume fluxes in between the 59.5°N section and the GSR are then estimated from a box model. The dominant components of the meridional exchange across 59.5°N are the North Atlantic Current (NAC, 15.5 ± 0.8 Sv, σ0 < 27.55) east of the Reykjanes Ridge, the northward Irminger Current (IC, 12.0 ± 3.0 Sv) and southward Western Boundary Current (WBC, 32.1 ± 5.9 Sv) in the Irminger Sea and the deep water export from the northern Iceland Basin (3.7 ± 0.8 Sv, σ0 > 27.80). About 60% (12.7 ± 1.4 Sv) of waters carried in the MOCσ upper limb (σ0 < 27.55) by the NAC/IC across 59.5°N (21.1 ± 1.0 Sv) recirculates westward south of the GSR and feeds the WBC. 80% (10.2 ± 1.7 Sv) of the recirculating NAC/IC-derived upper-ocean waters gains density of σ0 > 27.55 and contributes to the MOCσ lower limb. Accordingly, the contribution of light-to-dense water conversion south of the GSR (∼10 Sv) to the MOCσ lower limb at 59.5°N is one and a half times larger than the contribution of dense water production in the Nordic Seas (∼6 Sv). | ||||||||
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