Open ocean deep convection, Mediterranean and Greenland Seas

• Main Authors: Schott, Friedrich, Visbeck, Martin, Send, Uwe
• Other Authors: Rizzoli, P., Robinson, A.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Kluwer 1994
• Subjects: Greenland; Greenland Sea
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/1013/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/1013/1/20180507171350.pdf

Recent observations within deep convection regimes of the Gulf of Lions and Greenland Sea all confirm the existence of small-scale plumes of only a few 100 m horizontal scale during cooling periods, in agreement with scaling arguments and non-hydrostatic modelling results. The integral effect of the plumes is that of a mixing agent rather than carrying water downward in a mean motion. It depends on the intensity and duration of the cooling how complete the mixing within the depth range of the plumes is. In the Greenland Sea, the role of the ice through brine rejection was found to be important in the preconditioning period (November - February) rather than for the deep convection itself (March) which occurred when the water was ice-free. After the convection period water masses are exchanged with the environment through baroclinic instability, causing increased deep T,S variance on a larger scale that continues to exist well into the next summer, allowing identification of previous-winter convection activity