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Recent changes in the Greenland–Scotland overflow‐derived water transport inferred from hydrographic observations in the southern Irminger Sea
Author(s) -
Sarafanov Artem,
Falina Anastasia,
Mercier Herlé,
Lherminier Pascale,
Sokov Alexey
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2009gl038385
Subject(s) - hydrography , oceanography , baroclinity , boundary current , geology , groenlandia , water mass , climatology , current (fluid) , ocean current , ice sheet
Recent decadal changes (1955–2007) in the baroclinic transport (T BC ) of the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) carrying the Greenland–Scotland overflow‐derived waters along the East Greenland slope are quantified from a set of hydrographic sections in vicinity of Cape Farewell. The updated historical record of T BC shows clear decadal variability (±2–2.5 Sv) with the transport minima in the 1950s and mid‐1990s, maximum in the early 1980s and moderate‐to‐high transport in the 2000s. Since the mid‐1990s, the DWBC T BC has increased by ∼2 Sv (significant at the 99.9% level), which constitute ∼20% of the mean absolute transport (9.0 Sv) as obtained from three cruises in 2002–2006. The DWBC T BC anomalies negatively correlate (R = –0.80) with thickness anomalies of the Labrador Sea Water (LSW) at its origin implying a close association, albeit not necessarily causative, between the DWBC transport east of Greenland and the LSW production.