The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Water masses and circulation pathways through the Iceland Basin during Vivaldi 1996

Water masses and circulation pathways through the Iceland Basin during Vivaldi 1996
Water masses and circulation pathways through the Iceland Basin during Vivaldi 1996
Quasi-synoptic data from late 1996 spanning the subpolar North Atlantic have been used to determine the major pathways of the North Atlantic Current (NAC) at that time. High spatial resolution allows fronts to be accurately positioned on each SeaSoar section. A clearly defined front of the NAC (the Southern Branch) turns north at around 25°W and continues through the middle of the Iceland Basin as far as 60°N, 20°W. A second branch (the Northern Branch or SubArctic Front) turns north around 30°W and retroflects westward north of 54°N to re-enter the Irminger Basin and become part of the Irminger Current up the western side of the Reykjanes Ridge. A third, eastward branch turns sharply northwest at the mouth of the Rockall Trough to skirt the southwestern margin of Hatton Bank. This branch carries a tongue of saline eastern North Atlantic water (ENAW) over Hatton Bank and in consequence ENAW covers the whole of the Hatton and Rockall Banks as well as the Rockall Trough, bounded in the west by the Southern Branch. The most saline water, found in Rockall Trough, spills out into the northern Iceland Basin between Rockall and Lousy Banks. This saline, weakly stratified tongue can be traced westward to the south of Iceland continuing southwestward along the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge. Subarctic Intermediate Water is carried into the Iceland Basin, creating a fresh tongue bounded east and west by the more saline ENAW over Hatton Bank and the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge respectively.
0148-0227
C04004
Pollard, R.T.
0c78b909-8a95-4bd2-82fd-9b11022888fd
Read, J.F.
913784a2-30c1-4aa7-aa60-63824998e845
Holliday, N.P.
358b0b33-f30b-44fd-a193-88365bbf2c79
Leach, H.
27659b70-1d6c-4f9c-9315-2a0b34859136
Pollard, R.T.
0c78b909-8a95-4bd2-82fd-9b11022888fd
Read, J.F.
913784a2-30c1-4aa7-aa60-63824998e845
Holliday, N.P.
358b0b33-f30b-44fd-a193-88365bbf2c79
Leach, H.
27659b70-1d6c-4f9c-9315-2a0b34859136

Pollard, R.T., Read, J.F., Holliday, N.P. and Leach, H. (2004) Water masses and circulation pathways through the Iceland Basin during Vivaldi 1996. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109 (C4), C04004. (doi:10.1029/2003JC002067).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Quasi-synoptic data from late 1996 spanning the subpolar North Atlantic have been used to determine the major pathways of the North Atlantic Current (NAC) at that time. High spatial resolution allows fronts to be accurately positioned on each SeaSoar section. A clearly defined front of the NAC (the Southern Branch) turns north at around 25°W and continues through the middle of the Iceland Basin as far as 60°N, 20°W. A second branch (the Northern Branch or SubArctic Front) turns north around 30°W and retroflects westward north of 54°N to re-enter the Irminger Basin and become part of the Irminger Current up the western side of the Reykjanes Ridge. A third, eastward branch turns sharply northwest at the mouth of the Rockall Trough to skirt the southwestern margin of Hatton Bank. This branch carries a tongue of saline eastern North Atlantic water (ENAW) over Hatton Bank and in consequence ENAW covers the whole of the Hatton and Rockall Banks as well as the Rockall Trough, bounded in the west by the Southern Branch. The most saline water, found in Rockall Trough, spills out into the northern Iceland Basin between Rockall and Lousy Banks. This saline, weakly stratified tongue can be traced westward to the south of Iceland continuing southwestward along the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge. Subarctic Intermediate Water is carried into the Iceland Basin, creating a fresh tongue bounded east and west by the more saline ENAW over Hatton Bank and the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge respectively.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2004

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 9861
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/9861
ISSN: 0148-0227
PURE UUID: 9f140ff6-77b6-45a9-9bc6-21ef13da936b

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Oct 2004
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 04:57

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: R.T. Pollard
Author: J.F. Read
Author: N.P. Holliday
Author: H. Leach

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×