Observations of water mass transformation and eddies in the Lofoten basin of the Nordic Seas

• Published in: Journal of Physical Oceanography
• Main Authors: Richards, Clark G., Straneo, Fiamma
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Meteorological Society 2015
• Subjects: Circulation/ Dynamics; Atmosphere-ocean interaction; Boundary currents; Eddies; Fluxes; Mesoscale processes; Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena; Thermohaline circulation; Lofoten; Lofoten Basin; Labrador Sea; Nordic Seas; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7389

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 45 (2015): 1735–1756, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0238.1. The Lofoten basin of the Nordic Seas is recognized as a crucial component of the meridional overturning circulation in the North Atlantic because of the large horizontal extent of Atlantic Water and winter surface buoyancy loss. In this study, hydrographic and current measurements collected from a mooring deployed in the Lofoten basin from July 2010 to September 2012 are used to describe water mass transformation and the mesoscale eddy field. Winter mixed layer depths (MLDs) are observed to reach approximately 400 m, with larger MLDs and denser properties resulting from the colder 2010 winter. A heat budget of the upper water column requires lateral input, which balances the net annual heat loss of ~80 W m−2. The lateral flux is a result of mesoscale eddies, which dominate the velocity variability. Eddy velocities are enhanced in the upper 1000 m, with a barotropic component that reaches the bottom. Detailed examination of two eddies, from April and August 2012, highlights the variability of the eddy field and eddy properties. Temperature and salinity properties of the April eddy suggest that it originated from the slope current but was ventilated by surface fluxes. The properties within the eddy were similar to those of the mode water, indicating that convection within the eddies may make an important contribution to water mass transformation. A rough estimate of eddy flux per unit boundary current length suggests that fluxes in the Lofoten basin are larger than in the Labrador Sea because of the enhanced boundary current–interior density difference. The work was supported by NSF OCE 0850416. 2015-12-01