scholarly journals Increasing transports of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1013-1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Hansen ◽  
K. M. H. Larsen ◽  
H. Hátún ◽  
R. Kristiansen ◽  
E. Mortensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Volume Heat ◽  
In Situ Observations

Abstract. The flow of warm and saline water from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge, into the Nordic Seas – the Atlantic inflow – is split into three separate branches. The most intensive of these branches is the inflow between Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Faroes), which is focused into the Faroe Current, north of the Faroes. The Atlantic inflow is an integral part of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC), which is projected to weaken during the 21 century and might conceivably reduce the oceanic heat and salt transports towards the Arctic. Since the mid-1990s, hydrographic properties and current velocities of the Faroe Current have been monitored along a section extending north from the Faroe shelf. From these in situ observations, time series of volume, heat, and salt transport have previously been reported, but the high variability of the transport series has made it difficult to identify trends. Here, we present results from a new analysis of the Faroe Current where the in situ observations have been combined with satellite altimetry. For the period 1993 to 2013, we find the average volume transport of Atlantic water in the Faroe Current to be 3.8 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv =106 m3 s−1) with a heat transport relative to 0 °C of 124 ± 15 TW (1 TW =1012 W). Consistent with other results for the Northeast Atlantic component of the THC, we find no indication of weakening. The transports of the Faroe Current, on the contrary, increased. The overall trend over the two decades of observation was 9 ± 8% for volume transport and 18 ± 9% for heat transport (95% confidence intervals). During the same period, the salt transport relative to the salinity of the deep Faroe Bank Channel overflow (34.93) more than doubled, potentially strengthening the feedback on thermohaline intensity. The increased heat and salt transports are partly caused by the increased volume transport and partly by increased temperatures and salinities of the Atlantic inflow, attributed mainly to the weakened subpolar gyre.

scholarly journals Transport of volume, heat, and salt towards the Arctic in the Faroe Current 1993–2013

Ocean Science ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 743-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Hansen ◽  
K. M. H. Larsen ◽  
H. Hátún ◽  
R. Kristiansen ◽  
E. Mortensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Volume Heat ◽  
In Situ Observations

Abstract. The flow of warm and saline water from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge, into the Nordic Seas – the Atlantic inflow – is split into three separate branches. The most intense of these branches is the inflow between Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Faroes), which is focused into the Faroe Current, north of the Faroes. The Atlantic inflow is an integral part of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC), which is projected to weaken during the 21st century and might conceivably reduce the oceanic heat and salt transports towards the Arctic. Since the mid-1990s, hydrographic properties and current velocities of the Faroe Current have been monitored along a section extending north from the Faroe shelf. From these in situ observations, time series of volume, heat, and salt transport have previously been reported, but the high variability of the transport has made it difficult to establish whether there are trends. Here, we present results from a new analysis of the Faroe Current where the in situ observations have been combined with satellite altimetry. For the period 1993 to 2013, we find the average volume transport of Atlantic water in the Faroe Current to be 3.8 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1) with a heat transport relative to 0 °C of 124 ± 15 TW (1 TW = 1012 W). Consistent with other results for the Northeast Atlantic component of the THC, we find no indication of weakening. The transports of the Faroe Current, on the contrary, increased. The overall increase over the 2 decades of observation was 9 ± 8 % for volume transport and 18 ± 9 % for heat transport (95 % confidence intervals). During the same period, the salt transport relative to the salinity of the deep Faroe Bank Channel overflow (34.93) more than doubled, potentially strengthening the feedback on thermohaline intensity. The increased heat and salt transports are partly caused by the increased volume transport and partly by increased temperatures and salinities of the Atlantic inflow, which have been claimed mainly to be caused by the weakened subpolar gyre.

scholarly journals Atlantic water flow through the Faroese Channels

Ocean Science ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 873-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogi Hansen ◽  
Turið Poulsen ◽  
Karin Margretha Húsgarð Larsen ◽  
Hjálmar Hátún ◽  
Svein Østerhus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Flow ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
General Scheme ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Regions ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Surface Drifter ◽  
Flow Through

Abstract. Through the Faroese Channels – the collective name for a system of channels linking the Faroe–Shetland Channel, Wyville Thomson Basin, and Faroe Bank Channel – there is a deep flow of cold waters from Arctic regions that exit the system as overflow through the Faroe Bank Channel and across the Wyville Thomson Ridge. The upper layers, in contrast, are dominated by warm, saline water masses from the southwest, termed Atlantic water. In spite of intensive research over more than a century, there are still open questions on the passage of these waters through the system with conflicting views in recent literature. Of special note is the suggestion that there is a flow of Atlantic water from the Faroe–Shetland Channel through the Faroe Bank Channel, which circles the Faroes over the slope region in a clockwise direction. Here, we combine the observational evidence from ship-borne hydrography, moored current measurements, surface drifter tracks, and satellite altimetry to address these questions and propose a general scheme for the Atlantic water flow through this channel system. We find no evidence for a continuous flow of Atlantic water from the Faroe–Shetland Channel to the Faroe Bank Channel over the Faroese slope. Rather, the southwestward-flowing water over the Faroese slope of the Faroe–Shetland Channel is totally recirculated within the combined area of the Faroe–Shetland Channel and Wyville Thomson Basin, except possibly for a small release in the form of eddies. This does not exclude a possible westward flow over the southern tip of the Faroe Shelf, but even including that, we estimate that the average volume transport of a Circum-Faroe Current does not exceed 0.5 Sv (1 Sv  =  106 m3 s−1). Also, there seems to be a persistent flow of Atlantic water from the western part of the Faroe Bank Channel into the Faroe–Shetland Channel that joins the Slope Current over the Scottish slope. These conclusions will affect potential impacts from offshore activities in the region and they imply that recently published observational estimates of the transport of warm water towards the Arctic obtained by different methods are incompatible.

scholarly journals Heat, salt, and volume transports in the eastern Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean, from two years of mooring observations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Pnyushkov ◽  
Igor Polyakov ◽  
Robert Rember ◽  
Vladimir Ivanov ◽  
Matthew B. Alkire ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Eurasian Basin ◽  
The Laptev Sea ◽  
Volume Transports

Abstract. This study discusses along-slope volume, heat, and salt transports derived from observations collected in 2013–15 using a cross-slope array of six moorings ranging from 250 m to 3900 m in the eastern Eurasian Basin (EB) of the Arctic Ocean. These observations demonstrate that in the upper 780 m layer, the along-slope boundary current advected, on average, 5.1 ± 0.1 Sv of water, predominantly in the eastward (shallow-to-right) direction. Monthly net volume transports across the Laptev Sea slope vary widely, from ~ 0.3 ± 0.8 in April 2014 to ~ 9.9 ± 0.8 Sv in June 2014. 3.1 ± 0.1 Sv (or 60 %) of the net transport was associated with warm and salty intermediate-depth Atlantic Water (AW). Calculated heat transport for 2013–15 (relative to −1.8 °C) was 46.0 ± 1.7 TW, and net salt transport (relative to zero salinity) was 172 ± 6 Mkg/s. Estimates for AW heat and salt transports were 32.7 ± 1.3 TW (71 % of net heat transport) and 112 ± 4 Mkg/s (65 % of net salt transport). The variability of currents explains ~ 90 % of the variability of the heat and salt transports. The remaining ~ 10 % is controlled by temperature and salinity anomalies together with temporal variability of the AW layer thickness. The annual mean volume transports decreased by 25 % from 5.8 ± 0.2 Sv in 2013–14 to 4.4 ± 0.2 Sv in 2014–15 suggesting that changes of the transports at interannual and longer time scales in the eastern EB may be significant.

scholarly journals Stability and forcing of the Iceland-Faroe inflow of water, heat, and salt to the Arctic

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1245-1287 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Hansen ◽  
H. Hátún ◽  
R. Kristiansen ◽  
S. M. Olsen ◽  
S. Østerhus
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Nordic Seas ◽  
The North ◽  
Significant Seasonal Variation ◽  
System Coupling

Abstract. The flow of Atlantic water across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (Atlantic inflow) is critical for conditions in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean by importing heat and salt. Here, we present a decade-long series of measurements from the Iceland-Faroe inflow branch (IF-inflow), which carries almost half the total Atlantic inflow. The observations show no significant trend in volume transport of Atlantic water, but temperature and salinity increased during the observational period. On shorter time scales, the observations show considerable variations but no statistically significant seasonal variation is observed and even weekly averaged transport values were consistently uni-directional from the Atlantic into the Nordic Seas. Combining transport time-series with sea level height from satellite altimetry and wind stress reveals that the force driving the IF-inflow across the topographic barrier of the Ridge is mainly generated by a pressure gradient that is due to a continuously maintained low sea level in the Southern Nordic Seas. This links the IF-inflow to the estuarine and thermohaline processes that generate outflow from the Nordic Seas and lower its sea level. The IF-inflow is an important component of the system coupling the Arctic region to the North Atlantic through the thermohaline circulation, which has been predicted to weaken in the 21st century. Our observations show no indication of weakening, as yet.

scholarly journals Combining in-situ measurements and altimetry to estimate volume, heat and salt transport variability through the Faroe Shetland Channel

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Berx ◽  
B. Hansen ◽  
S. Østerhus ◽  
K. M. Larsen ◽  
T. Sherwin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Altimetry ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Average Volume ◽  
Large Level ◽  
Height Data ◽  
Temperature Depth

Abstract. From 1994 to 2011, instruments measuring ocean currents (ADCPs) have been moored on a section crossing the Faroe-Shetland Channel. Together with CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth) measurements from regular research vessel occupations, they describe the flow field and water mass structure in the channel. Here, we use these data to calculate the average volume transport and properties of the flow of warm water through the channel from the Atlantic towards the Arctic, termed the Atlantic inflow. We find the average volume transport of this flow to be 2.7 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1) between the shelf edge on the Faroe side and the 150 m isobath on the Shetland side. The average heat transport (relative to 0 °C) was estimated to be 107 ± 21 TW and the average salt import to be 98 ± 20 × 106 kg s−1. Transport values for individual months, based on the ADCP data, include a large level of variability, but can be used to calibrate sea level height data from satellite altimetry. In this way, a time series of volume transport has been generated back to the beginning of satellite altimetry in December 1992. The Atlantic inflow has a seasonal variation in volume transport that peaks around the turn of the year and has an amplitude of 0.7 Sv. The Atlantic inflow has become warmer and more saline since 1994, but no equivalent trend in volume transport was observed.

scholarly journals Biased thermohaline exchanges with the Arctic across the Iceland–Faroe Ridge in ocean climate models

Ocean Science ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Olsen ◽  
B. Hansen ◽  
S. Østerhus ◽  
D. Quadfasel ◽  
H. Valdimarsson
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Ocean Heat Transport ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Predictive Skill

Abstract. The northern limb of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation and its transport of heat and salt towards the Arctic strongly modulate the climate of the Northern Hemisphere. The presence of warm surface waters prevents ice formation in parts of the Arctic Mediterranean, and ocean heat is directly available for sea-ice melt, while salt transport may be critical for the stability of the exchanges. Through these mechanisms, ocean heat and salt transports play a disproportionally strong role in the climate system, and realistic simulation is a requisite for reliable climate projections. Across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge (GSR) this occurs in three well-defined branches where anomalies in the warm and saline Atlantic inflow across the shallow Iceland–Faroe Ridge (IFR) have been shown to be particularly difficult to simulate in global ocean models. This branch (IF-inflow) carries about 40 % of the total ocean heat transport into the Arctic Mediterranean and is well constrained by observation during the last 2 decades but associated with significant inter-annual fluctuations. The inconsistency between model results and observational data is here explained by the inability of coarse-resolution models to simulate the overflow across the IFR (IF-overflow), which feeds back onto the simulated IF-inflow. In effect, this is reduced in the model to reflect only the net exchange across the IFR. Observational evidence is presented for a substantial and persistent IF-overflow and mechanisms that qualitatively control its intensity. Through this, we explain the main discrepancies between observed and simulated exchange. Our findings rebuild confidence in modelled net exchange across the IFR, but reveal that compensation of model deficiencies here through other exchange branches is not effective. This implies that simulated ocean heat transport to the Arctic is biased low by more than 10 % and associated with a reduced level of variability, while the quality of the simulated salt transport becomes critically dependent on the link between IF-inflow and IF-overflow. These features likely affect sensitivity and stability of climate models to climate change and limit the predictive skill.

scholarly journals Biased thermohaline exchanges with the arctic across the Iceland-Faroe Ridge in ocean climate models

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1471-1510 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Olsen ◽  
B. Hansen ◽  
S. Østerhus ◽  
D. Quadfasel ◽  
H. Valdimarsson
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Ocean Heat Transport ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Predictive Skill

Abstract. The northern limb of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation and its transport of heat and salt towards the Arctic strongly modulates the climate of the Northern Hemisphere. Presence of warm surface waters prevents ice formation in parts of the Arctic Mediterranean and ocean heat is in critical regions directly available for sea-ice melt, while salt transport may be critical for the stability of the exchanges. Hereby, ocean heat and salt transports play a disproportionally strong role in the climate system and realistic simulation is a requisite for reliable climate projections. Across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (GSR) this occurs in three well defined branches where anomalies in the warm and saline Atlantic inflow across the shallow Iceland-Faroe Ridge (IFR) have shown particularly difficult to simulate in global ocean models. This branch (IF-inflow) carries about 40 % of the total ocean heat transport into the Arctic Mediterranean and is well constrained by observation during the last two decades but is associated with significant inter-annual fluctuations. The inconsistency between model results and observational data is here explained by the inability of coarse resolution models to simulate the overflow across the IFR (IF-overflow), which feeds back on the simulated IF-inflow. In effect, this is reduced in the model to reflect only the net exchange across the IFR. Observational evidence is presented for a substantial and persistent IF-overflow and mechanisms that qualitatively control its intensity. Through this, we explain the main discrepancies between observed and simulated exchange. Our findings rebuild confidence in modeled net exchange across the IFR, but reveal that compensation of model deficiencies here through other exchange branches is not effective. This implies that simulated ocean heat transport to the Arctic is biased low by more than 10 % and associated with a reduced level of variability while the quality of the simulated salt transport becomes critically dependent on the link between IF-inflow and IF-overflow. These features likely affect sensitivity and stability of climate models to climate change and limit the predictive skill.

scholarly journals Combining in situ measurements and altimetry to estimate volume, heat and salt transport variability through the Faroe–Shetland Channel

Ocean Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Berx ◽  
B. Hansen ◽  
S. Østerhus ◽  
K. M. Larsen ◽  
T. Sherwin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Altimetry ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Average Volume ◽  
Large Level ◽  
Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers ◽  
Height Data ◽  
Temperature Depth

Abstract. From 1994 to 2011, instruments measuring ocean currents (Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers; ADCPs) have been moored on a section crossing the Faroe–Shetland Channel. Together with CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth) measurements from regular research vessel occupations, they describe the flow field and water mass structure in the channel. Here, we use these data to calculate the average volume transport and properties of the flow of warm water through the channel from the Atlantic towards the Arctic, termed the Atlantic inflow. We find the average volume transport of this flow to be 2.7 ± 0.5 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s–1) between the shelf edge on the Faroe side and the 150 m isobath on the Shetland side. The average heat transport (relative to 0 °C) was estimated to be 107 ± 21 TW (1 TW = 1012 W) and the average salt import to be 98 ± 20 × 106 kg s−1. Transport values for individual months, based on the ADCP data, include a large level of variability, but can be used to calibrate sea level height data from satellite altimetry. In this way, a time series of volume transport has been generated back to the beginning of satellite altimetry in December 1992. The Atlantic inflow has a seasonal variation in volume transport that peaks around the turn of the year and has an amplitude of 0.7 Sv. The Atlantic inflow has become warmer and more saline since 1994, but no equivalent trend in volume transport was observed.

scholarly journals Stability and forcing of the Iceland-Faroe inflow of water, heat, and salt to the Arctic

Ocean Science ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 1013-1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Hansen ◽  
H. Hátún ◽  
R. Kristiansen ◽  
S. M. Olsen ◽  
S. Østerhus
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Nordic Seas ◽  
The North ◽  
Significant Seasonal Variation ◽  
System Coupling

Abstract. The flow of Atlantic water across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (Atlantic inflow) is critical for conditions in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean by importing heat and salt. Here, we present a decade-long series of measurements from the Iceland-Faroe inflow branch (IF-inflow), which carries almost half the total Atlantic inflow. The observations show no significant trend in volume transport of Atlantic water, but temperature and salinity increased during the observational period. On shorter time scales, the observations show considerable variations but no statistically significant seasonal variation is observed and even weekly averaged transport values were consistently uni-directional from the Atlantic into the Nordic Seas. Combining transport time-series with sea level height from satellite altimetry and wind stress reveals that the force driving the IF-inflow across the topographic barrier of the Ridge is mainly generated by a pressure gradient that is due to a continuously maintained low sea level in the Southern Nordic Seas. This implies that the relative stability of the IF-inflow derives from the processes that lower the sea level by generating outflow from the Nordic Seas, especially the thermohaline processes that generate overflow. The IF-inflow is an important component of the system coupling the Arctic region to the North Atlantic through the thermohaline circulation, which has been predicted to weaken in the 21st century. Our observations show no indication of weakening.

scholarly journals Heat, salt, and volume transports in the eastern Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean from 2 years of mooring observations

Ocean Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1349-1371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey V. Pnyushkov ◽  
Igor V. Polyakov ◽  
Robert Rember ◽  
Vladimir V. Ivanov ◽  
Matthew B. Alkire ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Salt Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Eurasian Basin ◽  
The Laptev Sea ◽  
Volume Transports

Abstract. This study discusses along-slope volume, heat, and salt transports derived from observations collected in 2013–2015 using a cross-slope array of six moorings ranging from 250 to 3900 m in the eastern Eurasian Basin (EB) of the Arctic Ocean. These observations demonstrate that in the upper 780 m layer, the along-slope boundary current advected, on average, 5.1±0.1 Sv of water, predominantly in the eastward (shallow-to-right) direction. Monthly net volume transports across the Laptev Sea slope vary widely, from ∼0.3±0.8 in April 2014 to ∼9.9±0.8 Sv in June 2014; 3.1±0.1 Sv (or 60 %) of the net transport was associated with warm and salty intermediate-depth Atlantic Water (AW). Calculated heat transport for 2013–2015 (relative to −1.8 ∘C) was 46.0±1.7 TW, and net salt transport (relative to zero salinity) was 172±6 Mkg s−1. Estimates for AW heat and salt transports were 32.7±1.3 TW (71 % of net heat transport) and 112±4 Mkg s−1 (65 % of net salt transport). The variability of currents explains ∼90 % of the variability in the heat and salt transports. The remaining ∼10 % is controlled by temperature and salinity anomalies together with the temporal variability of the AW layer thickness. The annual mean volume transports decreased by 25 % from 5.8±0.2 Sv in 2013–2014 to 4.4±0.2 Sv in 2014–2015, suggesting that changes in the transports at interannual and longer timescales in the eastern EB may be significant.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document