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Hall, S., Dye, S. R. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4182-8475, Heywood, K. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9859-0026 and Wadley, M. R.
(2011)
Wind forcing of salinity anomalies in the Denmark Strait overflow.
Ocean Science, 7 (6).
pp. 821-834.
ISSN 1812-0784
Abstract
The overflow of dense water from the Nordic Seas to the North Atlantic through Denmark Strait is an important part of the global thermohaline circulation. The salinity of the overflow plume has been measured by an array of current meters across the continental slope off the coast of Angmagssalik, southeast Greenland since September 1998. During 2004 the salinity of the overflow plume changed dramatically; the entire width of the array (70 km) freshened between January 2004 and July 2004, with a significant negative salinity anomaly of about 0.06 in May. The event in May represents a fresh anomaly of over 3 standard deviations from the mean since recording began in 1998. The OCCAM 1/12° Ocean General Circulation Model not only reproduces the 2004 freshening event (r=0.96, p<0.01), but also correlates well with salinity observations over a previous 6 year period (r=0.54, p<0.01), despite the inevitable limitations of a z-coordinate model in representing the mixing processes at and downstream of the Denmark Strait sill. Consequently the physical processes causing the 2004 anomaly and prior variability in salinity are investigated using the model output. Our results reject the hypotheses that the anomaly is caused by processes occurring between the overflow sill and the moorings, or by an increase in upstream net freshwater input. Instead, we show that the 2004 salinity anomaly is caused by an increase in volume flux of low salinity water, with a potential density greater than 27.60 kg m−3, flowing towards the Denmark Strait sill in the East Greenland Current. This is caused by an increase in southward wind stress upstream of the sill at around 75° N 20° W four and a half months earlier, and an associated strengthening of the East Greenland Current.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | oceanography ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1910 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climate, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Meteorology, Oceanography and Climate Dynamics (former - to 2017) |
| Depositing User: | Users 2731 not found. |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Feb 2012 13:36 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Sep 2024 09:03 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/37671 |
| DOI: | 10.5194/os-7-821-2011 |
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