The retroflection of part of the East Greenland Current at Cape Farewell

The East Greenland Current (EGC) and the smaller East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC) provide the major conduit for cold fresh polar water to enter the lower latitudes of the North Atlantic. They flow equatorward through the western Irminger Basin and around Cape Farewell into the Labrador Sea. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Holliday, N.P., Meyer, A., Bacon, S., Alderson, S., de Cuevas, B.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Arctic
Greenland
Irminger Basin
Irminger Sea
Cape Farewell
East Greenland
east greenland current
Labrador Sea
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/144770/
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/144770/1/2006GL029085.pdf
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/gl0707/2006GL029085/
https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL029085
Description
Summary:The East Greenland Current (EGC) and the smaller East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC) provide the major conduit for cold fresh polar water to enter the lower latitudes of the North Atlantic. They flow equatorward through the western Irminger Basin and around Cape Farewell into the Labrador Sea. The surface circulation and transport of the Cape Farewell boundary current region in summer 2005 is described. The EGCC merges with Arctic waters of the EGC to the south of Cape Farewell, forming the West Greenland Current. The EGC transport decreases from 15.5 Sv south of Cape Farewell to 11.7 Sv in the eastern Labrador Sea (where the water becomes known as Irminger Sea Water). The decrease in EGC transport is balanced by the retroflection of a substantial proportion of the boundary current (5.1 Sv) into the central Irminger Basin; a new pathway for fresh water into the interior of the subpolar gyre.

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