Variability of the Wind Stress, the Field of Currents, Wind Stress Curl and Vorticity of Surface Currents in the North Atlantic

• Published in: Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. Seriya Geograficheskaya.
• Main Authors: A. B. Polonsky, P. A. Sukhonos, А. Б. Полонский, П. А. Сухонос
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. Seriya Geograficheskaya 2017
• Subjects: Северная Атлантика; wind stress curl; vorticity of the surface currents; the North Atlantic; завихренность касательного напряжения трения ветра; завихренность поверхностных течений; Arctic; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://izvestia.igras.ru/jour/article/view/540; https://doi.org/10.15356/0373-2444-2017-1-62-73

The role of the Atlantic Ocean in climate changes in the Atlantic-European region determines the importance of studying spatial-temporal variability of the field of currents and the wind field generating the circulation of water in the ocean. The analysis of literature shows that data on seasonal variability of currents in the North Atlantic are controversial and reliable information on the interannual variability of ocean circulation in some regions of the North Atlantic it is impossible to obtain due to the lack of long oceanographic observations. The purpose of this study was clarifying seasonal changes and analyzing of interannual changes of the response of circulation of the upper layer of the North Atlantic on atmospheric forcing (wind stress and wind stress curl) by homogeneous and long-term datasets of re-analysis. Features of seasonal variability of wind stress, velocities of currents and their vorticity in subtropical and subpolar areas of the North Atlantic are confirmed. To the north of 15-20° of north latitude, seasonal variability of wind stress, velocities of currents and their vorticity generally accounts for less than one third of their total variability, the remaining dispersion is due to interannual and decennial fluctuations. In the Subtropical Atlantic in January there was a trend toward increased seasonal variability of wind stress, velocities of currents and anticyclonic wind stress curl and vorticity of surface currents in the second half of the 20th century. In September, since the mid-1970s, there is the tendency towards the weakening of these values, which leads to a long-term increase in the amplitude of the annual cycle. In the Subpolar Atlantic since the late 1950s, during the months with extreme values in the annual cycle there is an increase in seasonal variability of wind stress, velocities of currents and cyclonic wind stress curl and vorticity of surface currents. While, a significant increase in the amplitude of the annual cycle it is not revealed. Роль Атлантического океана ...