Stability of water masses-impact on cod recruitment off West Greenland

• Published in: Fisheries Oceanography
• Main Authors: Stein, Manfred, Lloret, Josep
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley & Sons 1995
• Subjects: Greenland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/288112; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2419.1995.tb00146.x

8 pages Based upon the hypothesis of Meyer (1968: Hansa, 16:2–4) that periods of low stability of the water column in autumn should parallel good cod year-classes in the following year, the paper analyzes available time series of cod recruitment, subsurface oceanographic stability data and wind stress data off West Greenland. No significant correlations were found between stability, wind stress and recruitment when considering the entire. length of available time series. However, splitting the autumn-based oceanographic data set into a pre- 1970s part (when warm climatic conditions and high recruitment prevailed), and a recent part (for the past 20 years of cooling climate) yields significant coherence of recruitment and environmental conditions for the cold climate period. For the warm climate period, only occasional consistency is shown. The possible influence of the Great Salinity Anomaly on recruitment of cod is discussed. It is suggested that during the past 20 years a new correlation mechanism, an advective coupling instead of low stability coupling, may explain the variability of recruitment Peer reviewed