Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean
The global thermohaline circulation is the oceanic overturning mode, which is manifested in the North Atlantic Ocean as northward-flowing surface waters which sink in the Nordic (Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian) seas and return southwards—after overflowing the Greenland–Scotland ridge—as deep water...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:50817 2023-07-30T04:01:47+02:00 Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean Bacon, S. 1998-08-27 https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/50817/ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v394/n6696/full/394871a0.html unknown Bacon, S. (1998) Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean. Nature, 394 (6697), 871-874. (doi:10.1038/29736 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/29736>). Article PeerReviewed 1998 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1038/29736 2023-07-09T20:55:04Z The global thermohaline circulation is the oceanic overturning mode, which is manifested in the North Atlantic Ocean as northward-flowing surface waters which sink in the Nordic (Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian) seas and return southwards—after overflowing the Greenland–Scotland ridge—as deep water. This process has been termed the 'conveyor belt', and is believed to keep Europe 5–8 °C warmer than it would be if the conveyor were to shut down. The variability of today's conveyor belt is therefore an important component of climate regulation. The Nordic seas are the only Northern Hemisphere source of deep water and a previous study has revealed no long-term variability in the outflow of deep water from the Nordic seas to the Atlantic Ocean. Here I use flows derived from hydrographic data to show that this outflow has approximately doubled, and then returned to previous values, over the past four decades. I present evidence which suggests that this variability is forced by variability in polar air temperature, which in turn may be connected to the recently reported Arctic warming. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas North Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Arctic Greenland Nature 394 6696 871 874 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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ftsouthampton |
language |
unknown |
description |
The global thermohaline circulation is the oceanic overturning mode, which is manifested in the North Atlantic Ocean as northward-flowing surface waters which sink in the Nordic (Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian) seas and return southwards—after overflowing the Greenland–Scotland ridge—as deep water. This process has been termed the 'conveyor belt', and is believed to keep Europe 5–8 °C warmer than it would be if the conveyor were to shut down. The variability of today's conveyor belt is therefore an important component of climate regulation. The Nordic seas are the only Northern Hemisphere source of deep water and a previous study has revealed no long-term variability in the outflow of deep water from the Nordic seas to the Atlantic Ocean. Here I use flows derived from hydrographic data to show that this outflow has approximately doubled, and then returned to previous values, over the past four decades. I present evidence which suggests that this variability is forced by variability in polar air temperature, which in turn may be connected to the recently reported Arctic warming. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bacon, S. |
spellingShingle |
Bacon, S. Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean |
author_facet |
Bacon, S. |
author_sort |
Bacon, S. |
title |
Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean |
title_short |
Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean |
title_full |
Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean |
title_sort |
decadal variability in the outflow from the nordic seas to the deep atlantic ocean |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/50817/ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v394/n6696/full/394871a0.html |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Bacon, S. (1998) Decadal variability in the outflow from the Nordic seas to the deep Atlantic Ocean. Nature, 394 (6697), 871-874. (doi:10.1038/29736 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/29736>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/29736 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
394 |
container_issue |
6696 |
container_start_page |
871 |
op_container_end_page |
874 |
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1772812538438746112 |