Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater
The depth of winter convection in the central Labrador Sea is strongly influenced by the prevailing stratification in late summer. For this late summer stratification salinity is as important as temperature, and in the upper water layers salinity even dominates. To analyze the source of the spring a...
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2007
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Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/1/jpo3065.1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1 |
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ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:2193 2024-09-30T14:31:31+00:00 Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater Schmidt, Sunke Send, Uwe 2007 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/1/jpo3065.1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1 en eng AMS (American Meteorological Society) https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/1/jpo3065.1.pdf Schmidt, S. and Send, U. (2007) Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater. Open Access Journal of Physical Oceanography, 37 . pp. 1445-1454. DOI 10.1175/JPO3065.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1>. doi:10.1175/JPO3065.1 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2007 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1 2024-09-04T05:04:40Z The depth of winter convection in the central Labrador Sea is strongly influenced by the prevailing stratification in late summer. For this late summer stratification salinity is as important as temperature, and in the upper water layers salinity even dominates. To analyze the source of the spring and summer freshening in the central region, seasonal freshwater cycles have been constructed for the interior Labrador Sea, the West Greenland Current, and the Labrador Current. It is shown that none of the local freshwater sources is responsible for the spring–summer freshening in the interior, which appears to occur in two separate events in April to May and July to September. Comparing the timing and volume estimates of the seasonal freshwater cycles of the boundary currents with the central Labrador Sea helps in understanding the origin of the interior freshwater signals. The first smaller pulse cannot be attributed clearly to either of the boundary currents. The second one is about three times stronger and supplies 60% of the seasonal summer freshwater. Transport estimates and calculated mixing properties provide evidence that its source is the West Greenland Current. The finding implies a connection also on interannual time scales between Labrador Sea surface salinity and freshwater sources in the West Greenland Current and farther upstream in the East Greenland Current. The freshwater input from the West Greenland Current thus also is the likely pathway for the known modulation of Labrador Sea Water mass formation by freshwater export from the Arctic (via the East Greenland Current), which implies some predictability on longer time scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Labrador Sea OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Arctic Greenland Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 6 1445 1454 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
op_collection_id |
ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
The depth of winter convection in the central Labrador Sea is strongly influenced by the prevailing stratification in late summer. For this late summer stratification salinity is as important as temperature, and in the upper water layers salinity even dominates. To analyze the source of the spring and summer freshening in the central region, seasonal freshwater cycles have been constructed for the interior Labrador Sea, the West Greenland Current, and the Labrador Current. It is shown that none of the local freshwater sources is responsible for the spring–summer freshening in the interior, which appears to occur in two separate events in April to May and July to September. Comparing the timing and volume estimates of the seasonal freshwater cycles of the boundary currents with the central Labrador Sea helps in understanding the origin of the interior freshwater signals. The first smaller pulse cannot be attributed clearly to either of the boundary currents. The second one is about three times stronger and supplies 60% of the seasonal summer freshwater. Transport estimates and calculated mixing properties provide evidence that its source is the West Greenland Current. The finding implies a connection also on interannual time scales between Labrador Sea surface salinity and freshwater sources in the West Greenland Current and farther upstream in the East Greenland Current. The freshwater input from the West Greenland Current thus also is the likely pathway for the known modulation of Labrador Sea Water mass formation by freshwater export from the Arctic (via the East Greenland Current), which implies some predictability on longer time scales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schmidt, Sunke Send, Uwe |
spellingShingle |
Schmidt, Sunke Send, Uwe Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater |
author_facet |
Schmidt, Sunke Send, Uwe |
author_sort |
Schmidt, Sunke |
title |
Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater |
title_short |
Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater |
title_full |
Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater |
title_fullStr |
Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater |
title_full_unstemmed |
Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater |
title_sort |
origin and composition of seasonal labrador sea freshwater |
publisher |
AMS (American Meteorological Society) |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/1/jpo3065.1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Labrador Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Labrador Sea |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/2193/1/jpo3065.1.pdf Schmidt, S. and Send, U. (2007) Origin and Composition of Seasonal Labrador Sea Freshwater. Open Access Journal of Physical Oceanography, 37 . pp. 1445-1454. DOI 10.1175/JPO3065.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1>. doi:10.1175/JPO3065.1 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO3065.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
37 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1445 |
op_container_end_page |
1454 |
_version_ |
1811636024476958720 |