Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea
This study investigated relations between direct current measurements in the Norwegian Atlantic slope current (NwASC), the sea surface height variability from the TOPEX altimeter, and reanalysed mean sea level pressure fields. The analyses show significant coherence between the leading mslp and ssh...
Published in: | Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1956/362 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 |
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:1956/362 2023-05-15T17:29:58+02:00 Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea Skagseth, Øystein 2004-03 44482 bytes 137 bytes 466388 bytes text/plain application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1956/362 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 eng eng Elsevier urn:issn:0967-0637 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/362 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 Peer reviewed Journal article 2004 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 2023-03-14T17:40:32Z This study investigated relations between direct current measurements in the Norwegian Atlantic slope current (NwASC), the sea surface height variability from the TOPEX altimeter, and reanalysed mean sea level pressure fields. The analyses show significant coherence between the leading mslp and ssh EOF modes of variability, and again these modes are significantly coherent with variability in the NwASC for periods of a few months to 6 months. There is also some indication that similar relation is also valid for the annual scale. The underlying physical process, inferred from the temporal evolution and spatial structure, is that variability in the westerly winds modulates the sea level slope from the northern North Atlantic into the Norwegian Sea, and thus provide a barotropic force to the Norwegian Sea. Furthermore, increased westerlies occur in phase with a steepening of the generally downward sea level slope, and this also coincides with increased NwASC. A generalized Sverdrup balance allows the observed variability in the sea level slope along the NwASC to be related to the local variability in the wind stress curl. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Norwegian Sea University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Curl ENVELOPE(-63.071,-63.071,-70.797,-70.797) Norwegian Sea Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 51 3 349 366 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
This study investigated relations between direct current measurements in the Norwegian Atlantic slope current (NwASC), the sea surface height variability from the TOPEX altimeter, and reanalysed mean sea level pressure fields. The analyses show significant coherence between the leading mslp and ssh EOF modes of variability, and again these modes are significantly coherent with variability in the NwASC for periods of a few months to 6 months. There is also some indication that similar relation is also valid for the annual scale. The underlying physical process, inferred from the temporal evolution and spatial structure, is that variability in the westerly winds modulates the sea level slope from the northern North Atlantic into the Norwegian Sea, and thus provide a barotropic force to the Norwegian Sea. Furthermore, increased westerlies occur in phase with a steepening of the generally downward sea level slope, and this also coincides with increased NwASC. A generalized Sverdrup balance allows the observed variability in the sea level slope along the NwASC to be related to the local variability in the wind stress curl. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Skagseth, Øystein |
spellingShingle |
Skagseth, Øystein Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea |
author_facet |
Skagseth, Øystein |
author_sort |
Skagseth, Øystein |
title |
Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea |
title_short |
Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea |
title_full |
Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea |
title_fullStr |
Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monthly to annual variability of the Norwegian Atlantic slope current: connection between the northern North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea |
title_sort |
monthly to annual variability of the norwegian atlantic slope current: connection between the northern north atlantic and the norwegian sea |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1956/362 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.071,-63.071,-70.797,-70.797) |
geographic |
Curl Norwegian Sea |
geographic_facet |
Curl Norwegian Sea |
genre |
North Atlantic Norwegian Sea |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Norwegian Sea |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0967-0637 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/362 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.014 |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
51 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
349 |
op_container_end_page |
366 |
_version_ |
1766125213301342208 |