A crossroads of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation : the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone data report August 2010 – June 2012
2014-08,
Furey, Heather H.,
Trafford, Leah,
Bower, Amy S.
This is the final data report of all mooring data collected by the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution in 2010-2012 during the experiment A Crossroads of the
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: The Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. The
objectives of this experiment were (1) to obtain an improved direct estimate of the mean
and low-frequency variability of the deep westward transport of the Iceland-Scotland
Overflow Water through the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ), and (2) to gain a
better understanding of the causes of the low-frequency variability in the transport of
overflow waters through the CGFZ, especially of the role of the North Atlantic Current in
generating this variability. The mooring deployment and recovery cruises were on
German research vessels, courtesy of Drs. Monika Rhein and Dagmar Kieke: the R/V
Meteor cruise M82/2 in August 2010 and R/V Maria S. Merian cruise MSM 21/2 in June
2012, respectively. The CGFZ moored array complemented other moored arrays being
maintained by German scientists just west of the CGFZ (Pressure Inverted Echo
Sounders, or PIES) and the Faraday Fracture Zone (current meter and microcat
moorings).
A set of eight moorings were set up across the CGFZ to measure the intermediate and
deep water variability for a two-year period, from a depth of 500 m to the ocean floor.
The moorings held a total of three McClane Moored Profilers (MMPs), 10 Nortek and 18
Aanderaa current meters, and 36 Seabird MicroCATs, deployed from 18-20 August 2010
through 28-30 June 2012. This yielded a nearly two-year record of velocity, temperature,
salinity and pressure. The MMPs profiled every five days, and resulted in a high-resolution
time series of temperature, salinity, pressure and velocity data across the
interface between the generally eastward flowing Labrador Sea Water carried underneath
the North Atlantic Current, and the westward flowing deep Iceland-Scotland Overflow
Water.