Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013
The flow of warm and saline water from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge, into the Nordic Seas – the Atlantic inflow – is split into three separate branches. The most intense of these branches is the inflow between Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Faroes), which is focused into t...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/os-11-743-2015 https://doaj.org/article/73b7af49beb64adeb1d2daeea5a14e5a |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:73b7af49beb64adeb1d2daeea5a14e5a 2023-05-15T15:03:48+02:00 Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 B. Hansen K. M. H. Larsen H. Hátún R. Kristiansen E. Mortensen S. Østerhus 2015-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/os-11-743-2015 https://doaj.org/article/73b7af49beb64adeb1d2daeea5a14e5a EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.ocean-sci.net/11/743/2015/os-11-743-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 1812-0784 1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-11-743-2015 https://doaj.org/article/73b7af49beb64adeb1d2daeea5a14e5a Ocean Science, Vol 11, Iss 5, Pp 743-757 (2015) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/os-11-743-2015 2022-12-31T12:36:15Z The flow of warm and saline water from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge, into the Nordic Seas – the Atlantic inflow – is split into three separate branches. The most intense of these branches is the inflow between Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Faroes), which is focused into the Faroe Current, north of the Faroes. The Atlantic inflow is an integral part of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC), which is projected to weaken during the 21st century and might conceivably reduce the oceanic heat and salt transports towards the Arctic. Since the mid-1990s, hydrographic properties and current velocities of the Faroe Current have been monitored along a section extending north from the Faroe shelf. From these in situ observations, time series of volume, heat, and salt transport have previously been reported, but the high variability of the transport has made it difficult to establish whether there are trends. Here, we present results from a new analysis of the Faroe Current where the in situ observations have been combined with satellite altimetry. For the period 1993 to 2013, we find the average volume transport of Atlantic water in the Faroe Current to be 3.8 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 10 6 m 3 s −1 ) with a heat transport relative to 0 °C of 124 ± 15 TW (1 TW = 10 12 W). Consistent with other results for the Northeast Atlantic component of the THC, we find no indication of weakening. The transports of the Faroe Current, on the contrary, increased. The overall increase over the 2 decades of observation was 9 ± 8 % for volume transport and 18 ± 9 % for heat transport (95 % confidence intervals). During the same period, the salt transport relative to the salinity of the deep Faroe Bank Channel overflow (34.93) more than doubled, potentially strengthening the feedback on thermohaline intensity. The increased heat and salt transports are partly caused by the increased volume transport and partly by increased temperatures and salinities of the Atlantic inflow, which have been claimed mainly to be ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas North Atlantic North atlantic Thermohaline circulation Northeast Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Faroe Bank ENVELOPE(-8.667,-8.667,60.917,60.917) Faroe Shelf ENVELOPE(-6.000,-6.000,62.000,62.000) Ocean Science 11 5 743 757 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 B. Hansen K. M. H. Larsen H. Hátún R. Kristiansen E. Mortensen S. Østerhus Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 |
topic_facet |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
The flow of warm and saline water from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge, into the Nordic Seas – the Atlantic inflow – is split into three separate branches. The most intense of these branches is the inflow between Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Faroes), which is focused into the Faroe Current, north of the Faroes. The Atlantic inflow is an integral part of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC), which is projected to weaken during the 21st century and might conceivably reduce the oceanic heat and salt transports towards the Arctic. Since the mid-1990s, hydrographic properties and current velocities of the Faroe Current have been monitored along a section extending north from the Faroe shelf. From these in situ observations, time series of volume, heat, and salt transport have previously been reported, but the high variability of the transport has made it difficult to establish whether there are trends. Here, we present results from a new analysis of the Faroe Current where the in situ observations have been combined with satellite altimetry. For the period 1993 to 2013, we find the average volume transport of Atlantic water in the Faroe Current to be 3.8 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 10 6 m 3 s −1 ) with a heat transport relative to 0 °C of 124 ± 15 TW (1 TW = 10 12 W). Consistent with other results for the Northeast Atlantic component of the THC, we find no indication of weakening. The transports of the Faroe Current, on the contrary, increased. The overall increase over the 2 decades of observation was 9 ± 8 % for volume transport and 18 ± 9 % for heat transport (95 % confidence intervals). During the same period, the salt transport relative to the salinity of the deep Faroe Bank Channel overflow (34.93) more than doubled, potentially strengthening the feedback on thermohaline intensity. The increased heat and salt transports are partly caused by the increased volume transport and partly by increased temperatures and salinities of the Atlantic inflow, which have been claimed mainly to be ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
B. Hansen K. M. H. Larsen H. Hátún R. Kristiansen E. Mortensen S. Østerhus |
author_facet |
B. Hansen K. M. H. Larsen H. Hátún R. Kristiansen E. Mortensen S. Østerhus |
author_sort |
B. Hansen |
title |
Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 |
title_short |
Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 |
title_full |
Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 |
title_fullStr |
Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013 |
title_sort |
transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the arctic in the faroe current 1993–2013 |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-11-743-2015 https://doaj.org/article/73b7af49beb64adeb1d2daeea5a14e5a |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-8.667,-8.667,60.917,60.917) ENVELOPE(-6.000,-6.000,62.000,62.000) |
geographic |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Faroe Bank Faroe Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Faroe Bank Faroe Shelf |
genre |
Arctic Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas North Atlantic North atlantic Thermohaline circulation Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas North Atlantic North atlantic Thermohaline circulation Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
Ocean Science, Vol 11, Iss 5, Pp 743-757 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://www.ocean-sci.net/11/743/2015/os-11-743-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 1812-0784 1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-11-743-2015 https://doaj.org/article/73b7af49beb64adeb1d2daeea5a14e5a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-11-743-2015 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
743 |
op_container_end_page |
757 |
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1766335649464451072 |