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| Titel |
Spatial pattern of convection activity in the subpolar North Atlantic in the
winter of 2013/14 |
| VerfasserIn |
Anastasia Falina, Artem Sarafanov, Herlé Mercier, Vyacheslav Zapotylko, Sergey Gladyshev |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250124721
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-4199.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Argo float data from the winter of 2013/14 (December–April, about 1000 profiles) were used
for an analysis of spatial characteristics of convectively formed mixed layer (ML) in a region
enclosing the Labrador and Irminger seas in the subpolar North Atlantic. The method
consisted of mapping the potential density (σ0) vertical stratification in the water column
sampled by Argo and subsequent determination of the ML properties in the sites where
the water column is least stratified. Several distinct domains of intense convective
mixing were identified (maximum ML depths in parentheses): a domain over the
western slope of the Reykjanes Ridge (500 m), a domain immediately south of the
Denmark Strait (550 m), the southern interior of the Irminger Sea (650 m), a domain
south of Cape Farewell, Greenland, (1050 m) and the interior of the Labrador Sea
(1750 m). The ML potential density spatially increased (from 27.37 to 27.73) in the
direction of the subpolar gyre cyclonic circulation: the lowest densities of the ML were
observed over the Reykjanes Ridge in the Irminger Sea, and the densest ML was found
in the central Labrador Sea. The ML thermohaline properties observed over the
Reykjanes Ridge and in the vicinity of the Denmark Strait (σ0 < 27.55, θ > 6.5˚
C, S > 35.0) are typical of the Subpolar Mode Water, while the ML properties
in the southern Irminger Sea, to the south of Cape Farewell and in the Labrador
Sea (σ0 > 27.70, 3.3< θ < 4.0˚ C, 34.82 < S < 34.90) correspond to the
Labrador Sea Water. The results are discussed in the context of preceding deep
convection events that occurred in the subpolar North Atlantic since the mid-1990s. |
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