Oltmanns Marilena

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Last Name
Oltmanns
First Name
Marilena
ORCID
0000-0002-8959-4938

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  • Article
    Mean conditions and seasonality of the West Greenland boundary current system near Cape Farewell
    (American Meteorological Society, 2020-09-18) Pacini, Astrid ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Bahr, Frank B. ; Torres, Daniel J. ; Ramsey, Andree L. ; Holte, James W. ; Karstensen, Johannes ; Oltmanns, Marilena ; Straneo, Fiamma ; Le Bras, Isabela Astiz ; Moore, G. W. K. ; de Jong, Marieke Femke
    The structure, transport, and seasonal variability of the West Greenland boundary current system near Cape Farewell are investigated using a high-resolution mooring array deployed from 2014 to 2018. The boundary current system is comprised of three components: the West Greenland Coastal Current, which advects cold and fresh Upper Polar Water (UPW); the West Greenland Current, which transports warm and salty Irminger Water (IW) along the upper slope and UPW at the surface; and the Deep Western Boundary Current, which advects dense overflow waters. Labrador Sea Water (LSW) is prevalent at the seaward side of the array within an offshore recirculation gyre and at the base of the West Greenland Current. The 4-yr mean transport of the full boundary current system is 31.1 ± 7.4 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1), with no clear seasonal signal. However, the individual water mass components exhibit seasonal cycles in hydrographic properties and transport. LSW penetrates the boundary current locally, through entrainment/mixing from the adjacent recirculation gyre, and also enters the current upstream in the Irminger Sea. IW is modified through air–sea interaction during winter along the length of its trajectory around the Irminger Sea, which converts some of the water to LSW. This, together with the seasonal increase in LSW entering the current, results in an anticorrelation in transport between these two water masses. The seasonality in UPW transport can be explained by remote wind forcing and subsequent adjustment via coastal trapped waves. Our results provide the first quantitatively robust observational description of the boundary current in the eastern Labrador Sea.
  • Article
    Extreme variability in Irminger Sea winter heat loss revealed by ocean observatories initiative mooring and the ERA5 reanalysis
    (American Geophysical Union, 2018-12-18) Josey, Simon A. ; de Jong, Marieke Femke ; Oltmanns, Marilena ; Moore, Kent ; Weller, Robert A.
    Ground‐breaking measurements from the ocean observatories initiative Irminger Sea surface mooring (60°N, 39°30′W) are presented that provide the first in situ characterization of multiwinter surface heat exchange at a high latitude North Atlantic site. They reveal strong variability (December 2014 net heat loss nearly 50% greater than December 2015) due primarily to variations in frequency of intense short timescale (1–3 days) forcing. Combining the observations with the new high resolution European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5 (ERA5) atmospheric reanalysis, the main source of multiwinter variability is shown to be changes in the frequency of Greenland tip jets (present on 15 days in December 2014 and 3 days in December 2015) that can result in hourly mean heat loss exceeding 800 W/m2. Furthermore, a new picture for atmospheric mode influence on Irminger Sea heat loss is developed whereby strongly positive North Atlantic Oscillation conditions favor increased losses only when not outweighed by the East Atlantic Pattern.