Interannual variability of newly formed Labrador Sea Water from 1994 to 2005

Mooring records collected in the central Labrador Sea are evaluated regarding the variability of the hydrographic properties of newly formed Labrador Sea Water (LSW) between 1994 and 2005. This time series is longer and of significantly higher temporal resolution than any discussed before in the con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Avsic, Tom, Karstensen, Johannes, Send, Uwe, Fischer, Jürgen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: AGU (American Geophysical Union) 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/1234/
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/1234/1/Avsic_et_al-2006-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL026913
Description
Summary:Mooring records collected in the central Labrador Sea are evaluated regarding the variability of the hydrographic properties of newly formed Labrador Sea Water (LSW) between 1994 and 2005. This time series is longer and of significantly higher temporal resolution than any discussed before in the context of decreasing convection activity. For the upper 1500 m depth range two distinct warming periods are identified from 1997 to 1999 and from 2003 to 2005 leading to a substantial temperature increase of 0.6°C over the recent decade. The time series of LSW source water properties suggest that ocean transport of heat and freshwater anomalies play a significant role in determining the ultimate convection depth. In 2005 the LSW temperature and salinity had reached high values comparable to those from the early 1970's, shortly after the passage of the Great Salinity Anomaly.