The Iceland-Faroe Slope Jet: a conduit for dense water toward the Faroe Bank Channel overflow

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Semper, Stefanie, Pickart, Robert S., Våge, Kjetil, Larsen, Karin Margretha H., Hátún, Hjálmar, Hansen, Bogi
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
• Subjects: Article; Faroe Bank; Faroe Islands; Greenland; Denmark Strait; Greenland-Scotland Ridge; Iceland; Nordic Seas
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7585422/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33097704; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19049-5

Dense water from the Nordic Seas passes through the Faroe Bank Channel and supplies the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a critical component of the climate system. Yet, the upstream pathways of this water are not fully known. Here we present evidence of a previously unrecognised deep current following the slope from Iceland toward the Faroe Bank Channel using high-resolution, synoptic shipboard observations and long-term measurements north of the Faroe Islands. The bulk of the volume transport of the current, named the Iceland-Faroe Slope Jet (IFSJ), is relatively uniform in hydrographic properties, very similar to the North Icelandic Jet flowing westward along the slope north of Iceland toward Denmark Strait. This suggests a common source for the two major overflows across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. The IFSJ can account for approximately half of the total overflow transport through the Faroe Bank Channel, thus constituting a significant component of the overturning circulation in the Nordic Seas.