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A Lagrangian study of pathways and mixing of Arctic and Atlantic water in the southern Norwegian Sea
Henrik Søiland, Kjell Arne Mork, Tom Rossby and Mark Prater
Institute of Marine Research
henrik@imr.no(Abstract received 04/29/2005 for session A)
ABSTRACT
The circulation in and the inflow to the southern Norwegian Sea are studied with acoustically tracked subsurface drifters (RAFOS floats). The main objectives in the project are to investigate the inflow and diffusive modification of the transport of warm saline water across the Iceland-Faroe ridge north into the Norwegian Sea and the spreading of the Arctic Intermediate Water (AIW) and its interaction with the warm Atlantic waters in the Norwegian Sea. 26 RAFOS floats were deployed in September 2004 north of the Faroes at 800m depth in the Arctic Intermediate Water (AIW) and from November 2004 to through June 2005, 54 RAFOS floats are being deployed in a sequential manner in the Atlantic Water (AW) at 200m depth in the Iceland Faroe Front off Iceland and the Faroes. Most of the RAFOS floats are due up in April 2006, but the few floats that have surfaced show interesting features of the circulation. The deep circulation (1500m) is simultaneously monitored by a small number of ARGO floats in the Norwegian Sea. 3 ARGO floats were deployed in summer of 2003 and 6 in summer of 2004. They show that the mean flow speed is about 3 cms-1 in the southern Norwegian Sea, whereas in the Lofoten Basin the mean flow speed is about 6 cms-1. A strong topographic steering is clearly evident in some of the ARGO float trajectories. Also the RAFOS floats at intermediate depth follow the topography closely whereas the shallow RAFOS floats cross the isobaths. The project is a cooperative effort between scientists at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway, and scientists at University of Rhode Island, USA.
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2005 LAPCOD Meeting, Lerici, Italy, June 13-17, 2005