A sea change in our view of overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic
Authors/Creators
- Lozier, S.1
- Li, F.1
- Bacon, S.2
- Bahr, F.3
- Bower, A.3
- Cunningham, S.4
- de Jong, F.5
- de Steur, L.5
- de Young, B.6
- Fischer, J.7
- Gary, S.4
- Greenan, B.8
- Holliday, N.2
- Houk, A.9
- Houpert, L.4
- Inall, M.4
- Johns, W.9
- Johnson, H.10
- Johnson, C.4
- Karstensen, J.7
- Koman, G.9
- Le Bras, I.11
- Lin, X.12
- Mackay, N.2
- Marshall, D.10
- Mercier, H.13
- Oltmanns, M.7
- Pickart, R.14
- Ramsey, A.14
- Rayner, D.2
- Straneo, F.11
- Thierry, V.15
- Torres, D.14
- Williams, R.16
- Wilson, C.2
- Yang, J.14
- Zhao, J.14
- 1. Duke University
- 2. National Oceanography Centre
- 3. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- 4. Scottish Association for Marine Science
- 5. Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
- 6. Memorial University
- 7. GEOMAR
- 8. Bedford Institute of Oceanography
- 9. University of Miami
- 10. University of Oxford
- 11. Scripps Insitution of Oceanography
- 12. Ocean University of China
- 13. CNRS
- 14. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
- 15. IFREMER
- 16. University of Liverpool
Description
To provide an observational basis for IPCC projections of a slowing Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) in the 21st century, the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) observing system was launched in the summer of 2014. The first 21-month record reveals a highly variable overturning circulation responsible for the majority of the heat and freshwater transport across the OSNAP line. In a departure from the prevailing view that changes in deep water formation in the Labrador Sea dominate MOC variability, these results suggest that the conversion of warm, salty, shallow Atlantic waters into colder, fresher, deep waters that move southward in the Irminger and Iceland basins, is largely responsible for overturning and its variability in the subpolar basin.
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lozier_ea_as_accepted.pdf
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