The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas
The flow of Atlantic water between Iceland and the Faroe Islands is one of three current branches flowing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Nordic Seas across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. By the heat that it carries along, it keeps the subarctic regions abnormally warm and by its import of salt, it...
Published in: | Progress in Oceanography |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1956/378 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 |
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:1956/378 2023-05-15T15:00:59+02:00 The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas Hansen, Bogi Østerhus, Svein Hátún, Hjalmar Kristiansen, Regin Larsen, Karin Margretha Húsgarð 2003-12 92979 bytes 137 bytes 930044 bytes text/plain application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1956/378 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 eng eng Elsevier urn:issn:0079-6611 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/378 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 Copyright 2003 Elsevier Ltd. Peer reviewed Journal article 2003 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 2023-03-14T17:41:53Z The flow of Atlantic water between Iceland and the Faroe Islands is one of three current branches flowing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Nordic Seas across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. By the heat that it carries along, it keeps the subarctic regions abnormally warm and by its import of salt, it helps maintain a high salinity and hence density in the surface waters as a precondition for thermohaline ventilation. From 1997 to 2001, a number of ADCPs have been moored on a section going north from the Faroes, crossing the inflow. Combining these measurements with decade-long CTD observations from research vessel cruises along this section, we compute the fluxes of water (volume), heat, and salt. For the period June 1997–June 2001, we found the average volume flux of Atlantic water to be 3.5 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3·s1). When compared to recent estimates of the other branches, this implies that the Iceland– Faroe inflow is the strongest branch in terms of volume flux, transporting 47% of the total Atlantic inflow to the Arctic Mediterranean (Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean with shelf areas). If all of the Atlantic inflow were assumed to be cooled to 0 °C, before returning to the Atlantic, the Iceland–Faroe inflow carries a heat flux of 124 ± 15 TW (1 TW = 1012 W), which is about the same as the heat carried by the inflow through the Faroe–Shetland Channel. The Iceland–Faroe Atlantic water volume flux was found to have a negligible seasonal variation and to be remarkably stable with no reversals, even on daily time scales. Out of a total of 1348 daily flux estimates, not one was directed westwards towards the Atlantic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas Subarctic University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Arctic Arctic Ocean Faroe Islands Greenland Progress in Oceanography 59 4 443 474 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
The flow of Atlantic water between Iceland and the Faroe Islands is one of three current branches flowing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Nordic Seas across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. By the heat that it carries along, it keeps the subarctic regions abnormally warm and by its import of salt, it helps maintain a high salinity and hence density in the surface waters as a precondition for thermohaline ventilation. From 1997 to 2001, a number of ADCPs have been moored on a section going north from the Faroes, crossing the inflow. Combining these measurements with decade-long CTD observations from research vessel cruises along this section, we compute the fluxes of water (volume), heat, and salt. For the period June 1997–June 2001, we found the average volume flux of Atlantic water to be 3.5 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3·s1). When compared to recent estimates of the other branches, this implies that the Iceland– Faroe inflow is the strongest branch in terms of volume flux, transporting 47% of the total Atlantic inflow to the Arctic Mediterranean (Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean with shelf areas). If all of the Atlantic inflow were assumed to be cooled to 0 °C, before returning to the Atlantic, the Iceland–Faroe inflow carries a heat flux of 124 ± 15 TW (1 TW = 1012 W), which is about the same as the heat carried by the inflow through the Faroe–Shetland Channel. The Iceland–Faroe Atlantic water volume flux was found to have a negligible seasonal variation and to be remarkably stable with no reversals, even on daily time scales. Out of a total of 1348 daily flux estimates, not one was directed westwards towards the Atlantic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen, Bogi Østerhus, Svein Hátún, Hjalmar Kristiansen, Regin Larsen, Karin Margretha Húsgarð |
spellingShingle |
Hansen, Bogi Østerhus, Svein Hátún, Hjalmar Kristiansen, Regin Larsen, Karin Margretha Húsgarð The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas |
author_facet |
Hansen, Bogi Østerhus, Svein Hátún, Hjalmar Kristiansen, Regin Larsen, Karin Margretha Húsgarð |
author_sort |
Hansen, Bogi |
title |
The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas |
title_short |
The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas |
title_full |
The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas |
title_fullStr |
The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Iceland–Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas |
title_sort |
iceland–faroe inflow of atlantic water to the nordic seas |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1956/378 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Faroe Islands Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Faroe Islands Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Iceland Nordic Seas Subarctic |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0079-6611 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/378 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2003 Elsevier Ltd. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2003.10.003 |
container_title |
Progress in Oceanography |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
443 |
op_container_end_page |
474 |
_version_ |
1766333039497969664 |