Discovery of an unrecognized pathway carrying overflow waters toward the Faroe Bank Channel

Léon Chafik (), Hjálmar Hátún, Joakim Kjellsson, Karin Margretha H. Larsen, Thomas Rossby and Barbara Berx
Additional contact information
Léon Chafik: Stockholm University
Hjálmar Hátún: Faroe Marine Research Institute
Joakim Kjellsson: GEOMAR Helmholtz Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Karin Margretha H. Larsen: Faroe Marine Research Institute
Thomas Rossby: University of Rhode Island
Barbara Berx: Scottish Association for Marine Science

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The dense overflow waters of the Nordic Seas are an integral link and important diagnostic for the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The pathways feeding the overflow remain, however, poorly resolved. Here we use multiple observational platforms and an eddy-resolving ocean model to identify an unrecognized deep flow toward the Faroe Bank Channel. We demonstrate that anticyclonic wind forcing in the Nordic Seas via its regulation of the basin circulation plays a key role in activating an unrecognized overflow path from the Norwegian slope – at which times the overflow is anomalously strong. We further establish that, regardless of upstream pathways, the overflows are mostly carried by a deep jet banked against the eastern slope of the Faroe-Shetland Channel, contrary to previous thinking. This deep flow is thus the primary conduit of overflow water feeding the lower branch of the AMOC via the Faroe Bank Channel.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17426-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17426-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17426-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().