kjetil våge, uib bob pickart, whoi mike spall, whoi kent moore, uot héðinn valdimarsson, mri...
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Kjetil Våge, UiBBob Pickart, WHOIMike Spall, WHOIKent Moore, UoTHéðinn Valdimarsson, MRISteingrimur Jónsson, MRI/UNAKDan Torres, WHOISvetlana Erofeeva, OSUSvein Østerhus, UNI BCCRTor Eldevik, UiBJan Even Ø. Nilsen, NERSC
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Blosseville coast, north of the Denmark StraitView from R/V Knorr, October 2008
Nordic seas exchange Crucial part of climate system
Reasonably well quantified
Greenland-Scotland Ridge
Transformation of warm
inflow
into dense overflow waters
north of the ridge
from Hansen et al.(2010)
1 Sv = 106 m3/s
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- background and motivation
from www.whoi.edu
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- origin of Denmark Strait Overflow Water
Transformation
within the boundary
current loop
(Mauritzen, 1996)
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- origin of Denmark Strait Overflow Water
Transformation
within the boundary
current loop
(Mauritzen, 1996) Approach along the
Iceland slope in the
North Icelandic Jet
(Jónsson and
Valdimarsson, 2004)
North Icelandic Jet
Circulation north of the
Denmark Strait
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- outline
Circulation north of the
Denmark Strait
The North Icelandic Jet overflow water masses and pathways formation of the North Icelandic Jet overturning circulation schemes
The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- outline
High-resolution surveys off northwest IcelandHydrographic and direct velocity measurements
R/V Knorr KN194 – October 2008 vessel-mounted ADCP
R/V Bjarni Sæmundsson BS010 – August 2009 lowered ADCP
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Maximum density above sill depth (650 m)KN194 – October 2008
KN194 - October 2008
Dense water high on the Iceland slope Recirculation of dense EGC waters?
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Dense water high on the Iceland slope Hydrography suggests that this does not originate from the EGC
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Maximum density above sill depth (650 m)KN194 – October 2008
KN194 - October 2008
Dense water high on the Iceland slope Hydrography suggests that this does not originate from the EGC Consistent flow of overflow water toward the Denmark Strait the NIJ
Mean flow of overflow waterOverflow range: σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
KN194 - October 2008
The North Icelandic Jet originates east of the
Kolbeinsey Ridge
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Absolute geostrophic velocityKN194 – October 2008
Mean flow of overflow waterOverflow range: σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m
BS010 - August 2009
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Absolute geostrophic velocity
The October 2008 and August 2009 surveys are fully consistent
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Path of the North Icelandic Jet
The NIJ core was typically found above the 650 m
isobath – the same depth as the Denmark Strait sill.
A coincidence?
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Transport of the North Icelandic JetThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Transport of the North Icelandic JetTransport of overflow water upstream of the sill (σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m)
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 1.5 ± 0.2 Sv
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Transport of the North Icelandic JetTransport of overflow water upstream of the sill (σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m)
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 1.5 ± 0.2 SvFor σθ > 28.03 kg/m3: T = 0.6 ± 0.1 Sv (densest component)
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Transport of the North Icelandic JetTransport of overflow water upstream of the sill (σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m)
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 1.5 ± 0.2 SvFor σθ > 28.03 kg/m3: T = 0.6 ± 0.1 Sv (densest component)
Sill
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Transport of the North Icelandic JetTransport of overflow water in the NIJ compared to transport at the sill (σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m)
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 1.5 ± 0.2 Sv
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 2.9 ± 0.5 Sv
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 1.5 ± 0.2 SvFor σθ > 28.03 kg/m3: T = 0.6 ± 0.1 Sv (densest component)
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 2.9 ± 0.5 SvFor σθ > 28.03 kg/m3: T = 0.6 ± 0.2 Sv (densest component)
Transport of the North Icelandic JetTransport of overflow water in the NIJ compared to transport at the sill (σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m)
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 1.5 ± 0.2 SvFor σθ > 28.03 kg/m3: T = 0.6 ± 0.1 Sv (densest component)
For σθ > 27.8 kg/m3: T = 2.9 ± 0.5 SvFor σθ > 28.03 kg/m3: T = 0.6 ± 0.2 Sv (densest component)
Transport of the North Icelandic JetTransport of overflow water in the NIJ compared to transport at the sill (σθ > 27.8 and depth < 650 m)
The NIJ accounts for about half of the total overflow and nearly all of the densest component
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Formation of the North Icelandic JetIdealized model simulations
Key elements A sill An island Bouancy loss Cyclonic wind stress curl
Key features Warm inflow Interior convection
MITgcm, idealized configuration, 5 km horizontal resolution
Mean surface temperature and bottom topography
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Formation of the North Icelandic JetModel circulation and hydrography
a) Mean surface temperature and bottom topographyb) Mean surface temperature and velocity at 650 mc) Vertical section of meridional velocityd) Vertical section of temperature
Model processes NIIC disintegrates Lateral exchange Interior convection Densified water returned Along-boundary sinking Feeds the NIJ
C
Water mass transformation in the central Iceland Sea and the NIIC/NIJ current system implicated in the deep limb of the AMOC
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Transformation
within boundary
current loop
(Mauritzen, 1996)
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Overturning circulation schemes
Transformation
within boundary
current loop
(Mauritzen, 1996) Transformation
within interior loop
(Våge et al., 2011) Roughly equal
contribution from
either source
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Overturning circulation schemes
Circulation north of the
Denmark Strait The North Icelandic Jet
The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- outline
BathymetryThe Blosseville Basin
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
East Greenland Current (EGC)
North Icelandic Jet (NIJ)
Two currents
advecting overflow
water into the
Denmark Strait
Two currents merging to form the DSOW plume?
Overturning circulation schemesThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
EGC NIJ???
Greenland Iceland
Mean absolute geostrophic velocity at Kögur computed from 4 realizations
Observed circulation at the Kögur transectAn unknown current in the interior Blosseville Basin
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
shelf break
EGC NIJ
Greenland Iceland
Mean absolute geostrophic velocity at Kögur computed from 4 realizations
separated
EGC
Observed circulation at the Kögur transectThe separated East Greenland Current
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
East Greenland Current (EGC)
North Icelandic Jet (NIJ)
Overturning circulation schemesRevised circulation scheme
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Circulation north of the
Denmark Strait The North Icelandic Jet
The East Greenland Current presence of separated EGC a permanent feature of the circulation hypotheses to explain the separated EGC
gyre scenario eddy scenario
Revised circulation scheme
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait- outline
Mean conditions at the Kögur transectThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Gyre scenario
Eddy scenario
Synoptic realizations of absolute geostrophic velocityTwo scenarios for the formation of the separated East Greenland Current
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Nearly ¼ of
the EGC
system FW
transport
takes place in
the interiorReference salinity = 34.8
TransportsFreshwater
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Nearly ¼ of
the EGC
system FW
transport
takes place in
the interior
The majority
of the OW
approaches
the strait
along the
Iceland slope
Reference salinity = 34.8
TransportsOverflow water
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Dynamic height of sea surface relative to 500 db
Iceland Sea Gyre
EGC
shelf break EGC
separated EGC
Historical circulationThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Potential temperature Salinity
Vertically averaged between 50-100 m (potential temperature) and 10-30 m (salinity)
Historical hydrographyNear-surface layer
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Potential temperature Salinity
Maximum value between 27.9 and 28.0 kg/m3
Historical hydrographyOverflow water layer
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Annual mean sea level pressure and 10 m wind speed/vectors
Icelandic LowBlosseville Basin
ERA-Interim
barrier winds
Atmospheric forcingThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
anticyclonic wind stress curl
Annual mean wind stress curl and 10 m wind vectors
ERA-Interim
Atmospheric forcingThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Annual mean wind stress curl and 10 m wind vectors
North American Regional Reanalysis
anticyclonic wind stress curl
Atmospheric forcingThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Annual mean wind stress curl and 10 m wind vectors
North American Regional Reanalysis
anticyclonic wind stress curl closed bathymetry contours the separated EGC is part of
an anticyclonic gyre
anticyclonic wind stress curl
Atmospheric forcingGyre scenario
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
MITgcm channel oriented along the
east coast of Greenland southern outflow becomes
northern inflow salinity restored to initial
conditions in the northern end
(32 at the surface on the
shelf, 35 in the deep interior),
temperature is constant 1 km horizontal resolution,
30 vertical levels forced by steady annual
mean wind stress
Numerical simulationsThe North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
sharp gradient near the shelf
break at high latitudes
supporting a shelf break jet offshore diversion of
freshwater near y = 500 km
Numerical simulationsMean sea surface salinity over final 2 years
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
southward flow near the
Greenland shelf break
→ shelf break EGC anticyclonic circulation
over the deep Iceland slope
→ a gyre?
Meridional velocity
Salinity
Anticyclonic ring
Numerical simulationsSynoptic section at y = 320 km on day 360
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
eddies and filaments
dominate the Blosseville Basin freshwater diversion from the
shelf break is highly time
dependent
Numerical simulationsSea surface salinity on day 770
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Numerical simulationsTemporal evolution of near-surface layer at y = 320 km
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
southward flow inshore of x = 50 km offshore salinity front near x = 120 km,
coincident with southward flow the separated EGC arises from eddies that
coalesce when encountering the Iceland slope gyre scenario not supported by the model
Numerical simulationsEddy scenario
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
Numerical simulationsEddy generating mechanism
The North Icelandic Jet The East Greenland Current Revised circulation scheme
mean winds are generally
parallel to the coast onshore Ekman transport
maintains the EGC’s baroclinicity frontal instabilities are inhibited
Difference in angle between the mean wind direction and the orientation of the shelf break
Not the case at the northern end of the Blosseville Basin
→ baroclinic instabilities
generate eddies
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union 7th Framework Programme (FP7 2007-2013), under grant agreement n.308299 NACLIM www.naclim.eu
Revised circulation scheme north of the Denmark Strait