Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current
The East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC) is characterised as cold, low salinity polar waters flowing equatorwards on the east Greenland shelf. It is an important conduit of freshwater from the Arctic Ocean, but our present understanding of it is poor, outside of an assortment of measurements which...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:507431 2023-05-15T14:59:18+02:00 Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current Bacon, Sheldon Marshall, Abigail Holliday, N. Penny Aksenov, Yevgeny Dye, Stephen R. 2014-06 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507431/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507431/1/jgrc20734-Bacon.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279 en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507431/1/jgrc20734-Bacon.pdf Bacon, Sheldon orcid:0000-0002-2471-9373 Marshall, Abigail; Holliday, N. Penny orcid:0000-0002-9733-8002 Aksenov, Yevgeny orcid:0000-0001-6132-3434 Dye, Stephen R. 2014 Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 119 (6). 3967-3987. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279> cc_by CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2014 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279 2023-02-04T19:39:45Z The East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC) is characterised as cold, low salinity polar waters flowing equatorwards on the east Greenland shelf. It is an important conduit of freshwater from the Arctic Ocean, but our present understanding of it is poor, outside of an assortment of measurements which stem mainly from summertime visits by research vessels. This manuscript first describes measurements from moored instruments deployed on the East Greenland shelf (~63°N) between 2000–2004. The measurements are then used to show that a high-resolution coupled ice-ocean global general circulation model supports a realistic representation of the EGCC. The results show that the EGCC exists throughout the year, and is stronger in winter than in summer. The model EGCC seawater transports are a maximum (minimum) in February (August), at 3.8 (1.9) x 106 m3 s-1. Freshwater transports, including modelled estimates of sea ice transport and referenced to salinity 35.0, are a maximum (minimum) in February (August) at 106 (59) x 103 m3 s-1. The model results show that wind and buoyancy forcing are of similar importance to EGCC transport. An empirical decomposition of the buoyancy-forced transport into a buoyancy-only component and a coupled wind and buoyancy component indicates the two to be of similar magnitude in winter. The model annual mean freshwater flux of ~80-90 x 103 m3 s-1 approaches 50% of the net rate of Arctic freshwater gain, underlining the climatic importance of the EGCC. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean East Greenland Greenland Sea ice Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119 6 3967 3987 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC) is characterised as cold, low salinity polar waters flowing equatorwards on the east Greenland shelf. It is an important conduit of freshwater from the Arctic Ocean, but our present understanding of it is poor, outside of an assortment of measurements which stem mainly from summertime visits by research vessels. This manuscript first describes measurements from moored instruments deployed on the East Greenland shelf (~63°N) between 2000–2004. The measurements are then used to show that a high-resolution coupled ice-ocean global general circulation model supports a realistic representation of the EGCC. The results show that the EGCC exists throughout the year, and is stronger in winter than in summer. The model EGCC seawater transports are a maximum (minimum) in February (August), at 3.8 (1.9) x 106 m3 s-1. Freshwater transports, including modelled estimates of sea ice transport and referenced to salinity 35.0, are a maximum (minimum) in February (August) at 106 (59) x 103 m3 s-1. The model results show that wind and buoyancy forcing are of similar importance to EGCC transport. An empirical decomposition of the buoyancy-forced transport into a buoyancy-only component and a coupled wind and buoyancy component indicates the two to be of similar magnitude in winter. The model annual mean freshwater flux of ~80-90 x 103 m3 s-1 approaches 50% of the net rate of Arctic freshwater gain, underlining the climatic importance of the EGCC. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bacon, Sheldon Marshall, Abigail Holliday, N. Penny Aksenov, Yevgeny Dye, Stephen R. |
spellingShingle |
Bacon, Sheldon Marshall, Abigail Holliday, N. Penny Aksenov, Yevgeny Dye, Stephen R. Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current |
author_facet |
Bacon, Sheldon Marshall, Abigail Holliday, N. Penny Aksenov, Yevgeny Dye, Stephen R. |
author_sort |
Bacon, Sheldon |
title |
Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current |
title_short |
Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current |
title_full |
Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current |
title_sort |
seasonal variability of the east greenland coastal current |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507431/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507431/1/jgrc20734-Bacon.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean East Greenland Greenland Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean East Greenland Greenland Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507431/1/jgrc20734-Bacon.pdf Bacon, Sheldon orcid:0000-0002-2471-9373 Marshall, Abigail; Holliday, N. Penny orcid:0000-0002-9733-8002 Aksenov, Yevgeny orcid:0000-0001-6132-3434 Dye, Stephen R. 2014 Seasonal variability of the East Greenland Coastal Current. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 119 (6). 3967-3987. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009279 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
119 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
3967 |
op_container_end_page |
3987 |
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1766331406331412480 |