Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation
Abstract The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an important component of ocean thermohaline circulation. Melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is freshening the North Atlantic; however, whether the augmented freshwater flux is disrupting the AMOC is unclear. Dense Labrador Sea Water (...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10525 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10525.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10525 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/ncomms10525 2023-05-15T15:04:47+02:00 Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation Yang, Qian Dixon, Timothy H. Myers, Paul G. Bonin, Jennifer Chambers, Don van den Broeke, M. R. Ribergaard, Mads H. Mortensen, John 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10525 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10525.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10525 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Nature Communications volume 7, issue 1 ISSN 2041-1723 General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry journal-article 2016 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10525 2022-01-04T12:46:31Z Abstract The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an important component of ocean thermohaline circulation. Melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is freshening the North Atlantic; however, whether the augmented freshwater flux is disrupting the AMOC is unclear. Dense Labrador Sea Water (LSW), formed by winter cooling of saline North Atlantic water and subsequent convection, is a key component of the deep southward return flow of the AMOC. Although LSW formation recently decreased, it also reached historically high values in the mid-1990s, making the connection to the freshwater flux unclear. Here we derive a new estimate of the recent freshwater flux from Greenland using updated GRACE satellite data, present new flux estimates for heat and salt from the North Atlantic into the Labrador Sea and explain recent variations in LSW formation. We suggest that changes in LSW can be directly linked to recent freshening, and suggest a possible link to AMOC weakening. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea North Atlantic Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Greenland Nature Communications 7 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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English |
topic |
General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry |
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General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry Yang, Qian Dixon, Timothy H. Myers, Paul G. Bonin, Jennifer Chambers, Don van den Broeke, M. R. Ribergaard, Mads H. Mortensen, John Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |
topic_facet |
General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry |
description |
Abstract The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an important component of ocean thermohaline circulation. Melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is freshening the North Atlantic; however, whether the augmented freshwater flux is disrupting the AMOC is unclear. Dense Labrador Sea Water (LSW), formed by winter cooling of saline North Atlantic water and subsequent convection, is a key component of the deep southward return flow of the AMOC. Although LSW formation recently decreased, it also reached historically high values in the mid-1990s, making the connection to the freshwater flux unclear. Here we derive a new estimate of the recent freshwater flux from Greenland using updated GRACE satellite data, present new flux estimates for heat and salt from the North Atlantic into the Labrador Sea and explain recent variations in LSW formation. We suggest that changes in LSW can be directly linked to recent freshening, and suggest a possible link to AMOC weakening. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yang, Qian Dixon, Timothy H. Myers, Paul G. Bonin, Jennifer Chambers, Don van den Broeke, M. R. Ribergaard, Mads H. Mortensen, John |
author_facet |
Yang, Qian Dixon, Timothy H. Myers, Paul G. Bonin, Jennifer Chambers, Don van den Broeke, M. R. Ribergaard, Mads H. Mortensen, John |
author_sort |
Yang, Qian |
title |
Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |
title_short |
Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |
title_full |
Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |
title_fullStr |
Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |
title_sort |
recent increases in arctic freshwater flux affects labrador sea convection and atlantic overturning circulation |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10525 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10525.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10525 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea North Atlantic |
op_source |
Nature Communications volume 7, issue 1 ISSN 2041-1723 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10525 |
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Nature Communications |
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7 |
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1 |
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1766336512605028352 |