Project Details
Projekt
Variation of the fresh water in the western Nordic Seas
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Ursula Schauer
Subject Area
Oceanography
Term
from 2013 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 198122929
The goal of this project is to capture and analyse the freshwater fluctuations in the western Nordic Seas, to identify their sources and to understand the underlying mechanisms. The Nordic Seas are shaped by the strong salinity contrast arising from the northward flow of saline Atlantic Water along their eastern rim and the southward flow of very fresh Polar Water along their western rim in the East Greenland Current (EGC). The huge import of freshwater to the Arctic Ocean from continental runoff and from the Pacific Ocean, and the freshwater accumulated at the surface through sea ice formation is drained to the North Atlantic. Part of it is carried in the EGC as sea ice and in liquid form. In the Nordic Seas freshwater is added to the EGC by an increasing rate of runoff from Greenland. A fraction of this freshwater drains from the EGC via branching and through mesoscale features into the central Nordic Seas. The amount and the vertical distribution of this freshwater influence the density stratification in the Nordic Seas and thus the convection depth and the formation of deep waters. The last decades showed significant changes of the freshwater yield and distribution in the Nordic Seas and of the convective activity. Recent studies, also those of the first phase of FOR1740, indicate that mostly sea ice is the source of freshwater for the inner Nordic Seas. In this project we will investigate the structure of the freshwater leakage from the EGC to the inner western Nordic Seas by long-term (months to seasons) glider missions, and analyse the underlying processes and their variability. We will analyse this leakage in the context of freshwater changes in the inner basins derived from Argo floats and use input from TP2.1 for assessing the contribution of net precipitation as compared to the leakage from the EGC.
DFG Programme
Research Units
