FOR 1740:  A New Approach toward Improved Estimates of Atlantic Ocean Freshwater Budgets and Transports as Part of the Global Hydrological Cycle

• Subject Area: Geosciences
• Term: from 2013 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 198122929

The overarching theme of the Research Unit is the analysis and understanding of the freshwater budget of the ocean, including the role, which surface freshwater fluxes (net evaporation minus precipitation plus run-off and sea ice melting) play in changing the salt content in the upper ocean. The Research Unit focusses on the Atlantic, one of the key regions for climate relevant variability, and addresses, specifically, the questions of how and how much the upper Atlantic Ocean and the formation/melting of sea ice contribute to the global hydrological cycle. Work of the Research Unit is, therefore, also concerned with the oceans’ role in the global hydrological cycle and with the impact of a changing hydrological cycle on the ocean’s salinity, density and circulation fields. These questions are at the heart of research activities fostered by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and its sub-programmes CLIVAR and GEWEX. Moreover, the subject "water" is central to many questions dealt with under climate impact studies, including precipitation over land, the availability of water for drinking and irrigation, but also sea level rise. The theme addressed in this Research Unit is, therefore, essential for many climate-related and socio-economic questions.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• A new Approach toward Improved Estimates of Atlantic Ocean freshwater Budgets and Tranports as Part of the Global Hydrological Cycle (Applicant Stammer, Detlef )
• Amplitude, mechanism, and dynamical significance of salinity variability in the Atlantic and Nordic Seas, analyzed from satellite data and ocean syntheses (Applicant Stammer, Detlef )
• Analysis of magnitude, drivers, and mechanisms of salinity variability in the tropical Atlantic (Applicant Brandt, Peter )
• Freshwater budget and salinity variability in the subpolar and subtropical gyres of the North Atlantic (Applicant Rhein, Monika )
• Role of submesoscale instabilities in the lateral transport and mixing of freshwater (Applicant Badin, Gualtiero )
• The Atmospheric Side of the Freshwater Budget (Applicants Bühler, Stefan ;  Hollmann, Rainer )
• Variation of the fresh water in the western Nordic Seas (Applicant Schauer, Ursula )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Detlef Stammer