Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses
The West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) cools and freshens as it flows northward along the western Svalbard shelf. The cooling takes place at the ocean surface through interaction with the atmosphere and also in subsurface. We present observations with high horizontal resolution (around 2 km) from a SeaE...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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Language: | English |
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Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
2018
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Online Access: | https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/2/129384%20-%20Cooling%20and%20freshening%20of%20the%20West%20Spitsbergen%20Current%20by%20shelf-origin%20cold%20core%20lenses.pdf |
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:45196 2023-05-15T15:09:30+02:00 Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses Koenig, Z Meyer, A Provost, C Sennechael, N Sundfjord, A Beguery, L Athanase, M Gascard, J-C 2018 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/2/129384%20-%20Cooling%20and%20freshening%20of%20the%20West%20Spitsbergen%20Current%20by%20shelf-origin%20cold%20core%20lenses.pdf en eng Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/2/129384%20-%20Cooling%20and%20freshening%20of%20the%20West%20Spitsbergen%20Current%20by%20shelf-origin%20cold%20core%20lenses.pdf Koenig, Z, Meyer, A orcid:0000-0003-0447-795X , Provost, C, Sennechael, N, Sundfjord, A, Beguery, L, Athanase, M and Gascard, J-C 2018 , 'Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, vol. 123, no. 11 , pp. 8299-8312 , doi:10.1029/2018JC014463 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014463>. glider West Spitsbergen Current Arctic Ocean cooling and freshening lenses shelf/slope exchanges Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014463 2022-03-07T23:17:12Z The West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) cools and freshens as it flows northward along the western Svalbard shelf. The cooling takes place at the ocean surface through interaction with the atmosphere and also in subsurface. We present observations with high horizontal resolution (around 2 km) from a SeaExplorer glider deployed in July 2017 for 14 days in the WSC offshore Kongsfjorden around 79°N. They document small lenses (less than 10‐km diameter) of cold (less than 3.8 °C) and fresh (less than 35.2 g/kg) waters in the core of the WSC, coming from the shelf and contributing to its cooling and freshening. Data show that water from the shelf cascades to the bottom of the slope and then detaches on the offshore side of the WSC core where it is baroclinically unstable. The presence of these lenses from the shelf can be related to the wind regime. Strong southerly winds cause upwelling of the warm Atlantic Water onto the shelf in winter. Weak and/or northerly winds allow modified Atlantic Water formed by mixing with cold waters on the shelf to cascade down the slope, leading to lenses of colder and fresher water protruding into the WSC. If lenses are common in the WSC, they could be contributing significantly to its cooling and freshening especially in summer when the influence of the atmosphere on the cooling of the WSC is less important. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard Spitsbergen University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 11 8299 8312 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
glider West Spitsbergen Current Arctic Ocean cooling and freshening lenses shelf/slope exchanges |
spellingShingle |
glider West Spitsbergen Current Arctic Ocean cooling and freshening lenses shelf/slope exchanges Koenig, Z Meyer, A Provost, C Sennechael, N Sundfjord, A Beguery, L Athanase, M Gascard, J-C Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
topic_facet |
glider West Spitsbergen Current Arctic Ocean cooling and freshening lenses shelf/slope exchanges |
description |
The West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) cools and freshens as it flows northward along the western Svalbard shelf. The cooling takes place at the ocean surface through interaction with the atmosphere and also in subsurface. We present observations with high horizontal resolution (around 2 km) from a SeaExplorer glider deployed in July 2017 for 14 days in the WSC offshore Kongsfjorden around 79°N. They document small lenses (less than 10‐km diameter) of cold (less than 3.8 °C) and fresh (less than 35.2 g/kg) waters in the core of the WSC, coming from the shelf and contributing to its cooling and freshening. Data show that water from the shelf cascades to the bottom of the slope and then detaches on the offshore side of the WSC core where it is baroclinically unstable. The presence of these lenses from the shelf can be related to the wind regime. Strong southerly winds cause upwelling of the warm Atlantic Water onto the shelf in winter. Weak and/or northerly winds allow modified Atlantic Water formed by mixing with cold waters on the shelf to cascade down the slope, leading to lenses of colder and fresher water protruding into the WSC. If lenses are common in the WSC, they could be contributing significantly to its cooling and freshening especially in summer when the influence of the atmosphere on the cooling of the WSC is less important. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Koenig, Z Meyer, A Provost, C Sennechael, N Sundfjord, A Beguery, L Athanase, M Gascard, J-C |
author_facet |
Koenig, Z Meyer, A Provost, C Sennechael, N Sundfjord, A Beguery, L Athanase, M Gascard, J-C |
author_sort |
Koenig, Z |
title |
Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
title_short |
Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
title_full |
Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
title_fullStr |
Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
title_sort |
cooling and freshening of the west spitsbergen current by shelf-origin cold core lenses |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/2/129384%20-%20Cooling%20and%20freshening%20of%20the%20West%20Spitsbergen%20Current%20by%20shelf-origin%20cold%20core%20lenses.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45196/2/129384%20-%20Cooling%20and%20freshening%20of%20the%20West%20Spitsbergen%20Current%20by%20shelf-origin%20cold%20core%20lenses.pdf Koenig, Z, Meyer, A orcid:0000-0003-0447-795X , Provost, C, Sennechael, N, Sundfjord, A, Beguery, L, Athanase, M and Gascard, J-C 2018 , 'Cooling and freshening of the West Spitsbergen Current by shelf-origin cold core lenses' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, vol. 123, no. 11 , pp. 8299-8312 , doi:10.1029/2018JC014463 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014463>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014463 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
123 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
8299 |
op_container_end_page |
8312 |
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1766340689453383680 |