Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea
Aspects of the circulation and convection in the Irminger Sea are investigated using a variety of in-situ, satellite, and atmospheric reanalysis products. Westerly Greenland tip jet events are intense, small-scale wind phenomena located east of Cape Farewell, and are important to circulation and con...
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ftdtic:ADA514561 2023-05-15T15:51:50+02:00 Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea Vage, Kjetil MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH CAMBRIDGE 2010-02 text/html http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA514561 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA514561 en eng http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA514561 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. DTIC Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC) *OCEAN CURRENTS TOPOGRAPHY LABRADOR SEA FLOW CLIMATOLOGY CYCLONES THESES WIND EVOLUTION(GENERAL) IRMINGER SEA GREENLAND TIP JETS LABRADOR SEA WATER Text 2010 ftdtic 2016-02-22T23:26:00Z Aspects of the circulation and convection in the Irminger Sea are investigated using a variety of in-situ, satellite, and atmospheric reanalysis products. Westerly Greenland tip jet events are intense, small-scale wind phenomena located east of Cape Farewell, and are important to circulation and convection in the Irminger Sea. A climatology of such events was used to investigate their evolution and mechanism of generation. The air parcels constituting the tip jet are shown to have a continental origin, and to exhibit a characteristic deflection and acceleration around southern Greenland. The events are almost invariably accompanied both by a notable coherence of the lower-level tip jet with an overlying upper-level jet stream, and by a surface cyclone located in the lee (east) of Greenland. It is argued that the tip jet arises from the interplay of the synopticscale flow evolution and the perturbing effects of Greenland's topography upon the flow. The Irminger Gyre is a narrow, cyclonic recirculation confined to the southwest Irminger Sea. While the gyre's existence has been previously documented, relatively little is known about its specific features or variability. The mean strength of the gyre's circulation between 1991 and 2007 was 6.8 +/- 1.8 Sv. It intensified at a rate of 4.3 Sv per decade over the observed period despite declining atmospheric forcing. Examination of the temporal evolution of the LSW layer thickness across the Irminger Basin suggests that local convection formed LSW during the early 1990s within the Irminger Gyre. In contrast, LSW appeared outside of the gyre in the eastern part of the Irminger Sea with a time lag of 2-3 years, consistent with transit from a remote source in the Labrador Sea. The original document contains color images. Prepared in cooperation with Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., Woods Hole, MA. Text Cape Farewell Greenland Labrador Sea Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database Greenland Irminger Basin ENVELOPE(-36.000,-36.000,61.000,61.000) Irminger Sea ENVELOPE(-34.041,-34.041,63.054,63.054) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database |
op_collection_id |
ftdtic |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC) *OCEAN CURRENTS TOPOGRAPHY LABRADOR SEA FLOW CLIMATOLOGY CYCLONES THESES WIND EVOLUTION(GENERAL) IRMINGER SEA GREENLAND TIP JETS LABRADOR SEA WATER |
spellingShingle |
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC) *OCEAN CURRENTS TOPOGRAPHY LABRADOR SEA FLOW CLIMATOLOGY CYCLONES THESES WIND EVOLUTION(GENERAL) IRMINGER SEA GREENLAND TIP JETS LABRADOR SEA WATER Vage, Kjetil Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea |
topic_facet |
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC) *OCEAN CURRENTS TOPOGRAPHY LABRADOR SEA FLOW CLIMATOLOGY CYCLONES THESES WIND EVOLUTION(GENERAL) IRMINGER SEA GREENLAND TIP JETS LABRADOR SEA WATER |
description |
Aspects of the circulation and convection in the Irminger Sea are investigated using a variety of in-situ, satellite, and atmospheric reanalysis products. Westerly Greenland tip jet events are intense, small-scale wind phenomena located east of Cape Farewell, and are important to circulation and convection in the Irminger Sea. A climatology of such events was used to investigate their evolution and mechanism of generation. The air parcels constituting the tip jet are shown to have a continental origin, and to exhibit a characteristic deflection and acceleration around southern Greenland. The events are almost invariably accompanied both by a notable coherence of the lower-level tip jet with an overlying upper-level jet stream, and by a surface cyclone located in the lee (east) of Greenland. It is argued that the tip jet arises from the interplay of the synopticscale flow evolution and the perturbing effects of Greenland's topography upon the flow. The Irminger Gyre is a narrow, cyclonic recirculation confined to the southwest Irminger Sea. While the gyre's existence has been previously documented, relatively little is known about its specific features or variability. The mean strength of the gyre's circulation between 1991 and 2007 was 6.8 +/- 1.8 Sv. It intensified at a rate of 4.3 Sv per decade over the observed period despite declining atmospheric forcing. Examination of the temporal evolution of the LSW layer thickness across the Irminger Basin suggests that local convection formed LSW during the early 1990s within the Irminger Gyre. In contrast, LSW appeared outside of the gyre in the eastern part of the Irminger Sea with a time lag of 2-3 years, consistent with transit from a remote source in the Labrador Sea. The original document contains color images. Prepared in cooperation with Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., Woods Hole, MA. |
author2 |
MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH CAMBRIDGE |
format |
Text |
author |
Vage, Kjetil |
author_facet |
Vage, Kjetil |
author_sort |
Vage, Kjetil |
title |
Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea |
title_short |
Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea |
title_full |
Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea |
title_fullStr |
Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Circulation and Convection in the Irminger Sea |
title_sort |
circulation and convection in the irminger sea |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA514561 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA514561 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-36.000,-36.000,61.000,61.000) ENVELOPE(-34.041,-34.041,63.054,63.054) |
geographic |
Greenland Irminger Basin Irminger Sea |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Irminger Basin Irminger Sea |
genre |
Cape Farewell Greenland Labrador Sea |
genre_facet |
Cape Farewell Greenland Labrador Sea |
op_source |
DTIC |
op_relation |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA514561 |
op_rights |
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. |
_version_ |
1766387212563251200 |