Jacobs, Zoe L., Grist, Jeremy P., Marsh, Robert and Josey, Simon A. (2019) A subannual subsurface pathway from the Gulf Stream to the Subpolar Gyre and its role in warming and salinification in the 1990s. Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (13), 7518-7526. (doi:10.1029/2019GL083021).
Abstract
The transport of warm, saline subtropical water to the subpolar gyre (SPG) in the North Atlantic has been the subject of a range of Lagrangian studies, establishing intergyre exchange on timescales of 2–7 years, with greater subsurface throughflow. Here calculating particle trajectories in a high-resolution, global hindcast, we present new evidence for a direct, subsurface pathway to the SPG from the Gulf Stream (GS) on subannual timescales. The pathway is most evident for particles initially at 200-m depth in the GS and is enhanced after a prolonged period of positive North Atlantic Oscillation. This occurred in the mid-1990s and led to warming and salinification of the western SPG consistent with observations. The more realistic advective pathways and timescales in the high-resolution model enable, for the first time, attribution of temperature and salinity changes in the SPG to a direct influx of GS water.
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- Faculties (pre 2018 reorg) > Faculty of Engineering and the Environment (pre 2018 reorg) > Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute (pre 2018 reorg)
- Faculties (pre 2018 reorg) > Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences (pre 2018 reorg) > Ocean and Earth Science (pre 2018 reorg)
Current Faculties > Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences > School of Ocean and Earth Science > Ocean and Earth Science (pre 2018 reorg)
School of Ocean and Earth Science > Ocean and Earth Science (pre 2018 reorg) - Faculties (pre 2018 reorg) > Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences (pre 2018 reorg) > National Oceanography Centre (pre 2018 reorg)
- Current Faculties > Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences > School of Ocean and Earth Science > Paleooceanography and Palaeoclimate
School of Ocean and Earth Science > Paleooceanography and Palaeoclimate
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