Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003
The Atlantic water (AW) layer in the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) is an important source of heat and salt for the Arctic Ocean and the areas of deep convection in the Greenland Sea. In the southern Fram Strait, the WSC has two main branches, an eastern core on the continental slope and a western o...
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/524493/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:524493 2023-05-15T15:18:54+02:00 Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 Schlichtholz, Pawel Goszczko, Ilona 2006-03 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/524493/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 unknown Schlichtholz, Pawel; Goszczko, Ilona orcid:0000-0002-5719-5860 . 2006 Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 53 (4). 608-626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2006 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 2023-02-04T19:48:53Z The Atlantic water (AW) layer in the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) is an important source of heat and salt for the Arctic Ocean and the areas of deep convection in the Greenland Sea. In the southern Fram Strait, the WSC has two main branches, an eastern core on the continental slope and a western one in the Knipovich Ridge area. Here we analyze interannual variability of the heat content and geostrophic flow (level of no motion at 1000 m) in the AW layer (temperature above and salinity above 34.9) in both branches of the WSC using summer hydrographic data along a zonal section from to at occupied by R/V Oceania from 1996 to 2003. In the eastern branch, our time series go back to 1991. In particular, we make inferences of correlation with the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. The AW temperature series in the eastern core show two warm periods, one at the beginning of the 1990s and one at the beginning of the 2000s, separated by a cold event in 1997–1998. There is a competition between a lagged and non-lagged response to the NAO. While the cold event lags the spectacular drop of the NAO index in 1996, the temperature extremes in the warm periods are concomitant with the extremes of the NAO index in these periods. However, if we consider the average thickness of the AW layer on the whole section in the 1996–2003 period, we obtain a high correlation () in which the NAO index leads by 1 yr. In contrast, the geostrophic flow shows a close relation to the NAO only in limited areas. The most striking result is a nearly perfect correlation for the strength of the western branch of the WSC, which evolves without a lag and in opposite phase to the NAO index (). Possible causes of links between the evolution of the AW layer and the NAO are discussed based on information available from the literature. It is suggested that both the eastern and western branches undergo interannual variations which are coherent from the northern North Atlantic to Fram Strait. A conclusion is drawn that the summer AW thickness in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Fram Strait Greenland Greenland Sea North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Spitsbergen Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Knipovich Ridge ENVELOPE(7.074,7.074,75.712,75.712) Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 53 4 608 626 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
description |
The Atlantic water (AW) layer in the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) is an important source of heat and salt for the Arctic Ocean and the areas of deep convection in the Greenland Sea. In the southern Fram Strait, the WSC has two main branches, an eastern core on the continental slope and a western one in the Knipovich Ridge area. Here we analyze interannual variability of the heat content and geostrophic flow (level of no motion at 1000 m) in the AW layer (temperature above and salinity above 34.9) in both branches of the WSC using summer hydrographic data along a zonal section from to at occupied by R/V Oceania from 1996 to 2003. In the eastern branch, our time series go back to 1991. In particular, we make inferences of correlation with the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. The AW temperature series in the eastern core show two warm periods, one at the beginning of the 1990s and one at the beginning of the 2000s, separated by a cold event in 1997–1998. There is a competition between a lagged and non-lagged response to the NAO. While the cold event lags the spectacular drop of the NAO index in 1996, the temperature extremes in the warm periods are concomitant with the extremes of the NAO index in these periods. However, if we consider the average thickness of the AW layer on the whole section in the 1996–2003 period, we obtain a high correlation () in which the NAO index leads by 1 yr. In contrast, the geostrophic flow shows a close relation to the NAO only in limited areas. The most striking result is a nearly perfect correlation for the strength of the western branch of the WSC, which evolves without a lag and in opposite phase to the NAO index (). Possible causes of links between the evolution of the AW layer and the NAO are discussed based on information available from the literature. It is suggested that both the eastern and western branches undergo interannual variations which are coherent from the northern North Atlantic to Fram Strait. A conclusion is drawn that the summer AW thickness in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schlichtholz, Pawel Goszczko, Ilona |
spellingShingle |
Schlichtholz, Pawel Goszczko, Ilona Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 |
author_facet |
Schlichtholz, Pawel Goszczko, Ilona |
author_sort |
Schlichtholz, Pawel |
title |
Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 |
title_short |
Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 |
title_full |
Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 |
title_fullStr |
Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003 |
title_sort |
interannual variability of the atlantic water layer in the west spitsbergen current at in summer 1991–2003 |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/524493/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(7.074,7.074,75.712,75.712) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Knipovich Ridge |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Knipovich Ridge |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Fram Strait Greenland Greenland Sea North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Fram Strait Greenland Greenland Sea North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Spitsbergen |
op_relation |
Schlichtholz, Pawel; Goszczko, Ilona orcid:0000-0002-5719-5860 . 2006 Interannual variability of the Atlantic water layer in the West Spitsbergen Current at in summer 1991–2003. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 53 (4). 608-626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.01.001 |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
608 |
op_container_end_page |
626 |
_version_ |
1766349067304042496 |