Variability of the Iceland‐Scotland overflow water transport through the Charlie‐Gibbs fracture zone : results from an eddying simulation and observations
Date
2018-08-20Author
Xu, Xiaobiao
Concept link
Bower, Amy S.
Concept link
Furey, Heather H.
Concept link
Chassignet, Eric P.
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/10658As published
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013895DOI
10.1029/2018JC013895Keyword
Iceland‐Scotland overflow water; Charlie‐Gibbs fracture zone; Variability; Volume transport; Eddying simulationAbstract
Observations show that the westward transport of the Iceland‐Scotland overflow water (ISOW) through the Charlie‐Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) is highly variable. This study examines (a) where this variability comes from and (b) how it is related to the variability of ISOW transport at upstream locations in the Iceland Basin and other ISOW flow pathways. The analyses are based on a 35‐year 1/12° eddying Atlantic simulation that represents well the main features of the observed ISOW in the area of interest, in particular, the transport variability through the CGFZ. The results show that (a) the variability of the ISOW transport is closely correlated with that of the barotropic transports in the CGFZ associated with the meridional displacement of the North Atlantic Current front and is possibly induced by fluctuations of large‐scale zonal wind stress in the Western European Basin east of the CGFZ; (b) the variability of the ISOW transport is increased by a factor of 3 from the northern part of the Iceland Basin to the CGFZ region and transport time series at these two locations are not correlated, further suggesting that the variability at the CGFZ does not come from the upstream source; and (c) the variability of the ISOW transport at the CGFZ is strongly anticorrelated to that of the southward ISOW transport along the eastern flank of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, suggesting an out‐of‐phase covarying transport between these two ISOW pathways.
Description
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 (2018): 5808-5823, doi:10.1029/2018JC013895.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 (2018): 5808-5823Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water transport variability through the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone and the impact of the North Atlantic Current
Bower, Amy S.; Furey, Heather H. (John Wiley & Sons, 2017-09-01)The Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ), a deep and wide gap in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 52°N, is a gateway between the eastern and western subpolar regions for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). In ... -
Moored observations of the Iceland-Scotland Overflow plume along the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge
Johns, William E.; Devana, Manish; Houk, Adam; Zou, Sijia (American Geophysical Union, 2021-08-13)Since 2014, an array of current meters deployed in the Iceland Basin as part of the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program has provided new measurements of the southward flow of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water ... -
Precession-driven changes in Iceland–Scotland Overflow Water penetration and bottom water circulation on Gardar Drift since ~ 200 ka
Elmore, Aurora C.; Wright, James D.; Chalk, Thomas B. (2015-09-21)Benthic foraminiferal stable isotopic records from a transect of sediment cores south of the Iceland-Scotland Ridge reveal that the penetration depth of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) varied on orbital timescales ...