Present-day manifestation of the Nordic Seas Overflows
Dense Nordic waters enter the North Atlantic through passages in the Greenland-Scotland Ridge at a mean rate of 6 Sv. Subsequent entrainment of ambient water into the sinking plumes downstream of the sills approximately double this flux. Decade-long observations show these fluxes to be stable with n...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AGU (American Geophysical Union)
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/29766/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/29766/1/Quadfasel_Kase13.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/173GM07 |
| Summary: | Dense Nordic waters enter the North Atlantic through passages in the Greenland-Scotland Ridge at a mean rate of 6 Sv. Subsequent entrainment of ambient water into the sinking plumes downstream of the sills approximately double this flux. Decade-long observations show these fluxes to be stable with no discernible trends. Hydraulic control of the overflows and the buffering effect of the Nordic basins effectively filter out short-term variability of dense water production associated with white noise North Atlantic Oscillation forcing. Simulations with directly forced and coupled atmosphere-ocean models show, under present climate conditions, overflow variability on multi-decadal time scales but no longterm trends. |
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