Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section OceanographyNorwegian Meteorological Institute

met.no

Salinity anomalies in the Subpolar Gyre and

the Nordic Seas

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Part 1:Results from Curry & Mauritzen (2005)

Objectives:1. quantify how much additional fresh water it took to

cause observed changes in salinity2. how fast this fresh water entered the sub-Arctic ocean3. where this fresh water was stored4. assess the impact of freshening on the Atlantic MOC

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Objective 1how muchadditionalfresh waterdid it take?

1.8m fresh-water

3.0m fresh-water

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Objective 2how fast did the additional fresh water entered the sub-Arctic?

Great Salinity Anomaly

figure fromwhoi.edu/oceanus

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Objective 3where was the additional fresh water stored?

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Objective 4how does freshening affect the Atlantic MOC? Denmark StraitFaroe Bank Channel

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Part 2:Recent changes

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

W E

Integrated salt anomalies, basins

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Dickson et al.; Nature,2002

Integrated salt anomalies, in

depth

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Salinity anomalies, 0-700m

W. Subpolar Basins:

E. Subpolar Basins:

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

Anomalies in the

Northern Seas

Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

R&D, Section Oceanography

0-700

700-1200

1200-2000

2000-2500

2500-3200

Nor.Seas

1.50 0.85 1.05 0.45 0.35

W. SPB 1.90 1.10 1.60 0.85 0.85

E. SPB 1.40 0.90 1.15 0.55 0.45

Volumes of “slices”