Spatial and temporal structure of the Denmark Strait Overflow revealed by acoustic observations.

Macrander, Andreas, Käse, Rolf H., Send, Uwe, Valdimarsson, Héðinn and Jónsson, Steingrímur (2007) Spatial and temporal structure of the Denmark Strait Overflow revealed by acoustic observations. Ocean Dynamics, 57 (2). pp. 75-89. DOI 10.1007/s10236-007-0101-x.

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Abstract

In spite of the fundamental role the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays for global climate stability, no direct current measurement of the Denmark Strait Overflow, which is the densest part of the AMOC, has been available until recently that resolve the cross-stream structure at the sill for long periods. Since 1999, an array of bottom-mounted acoustic instruments measuring current velocity and bottom-to-surface acoustic travel times was deployed at the sill. Here, the optimization of the array configuration based on a numerical overflow model is discussed. The simulation proves that more than 80% of the dense water transport variability is captured by two to three acoustic current profilers (ADCPs). The results are compared with time series from ADCPs and Inverted Echo Sounders deployed from 1999 to 2003, confirming that the dense overflow plume can be reliably measured by bottom-mounted instruments and that the overflow is largely geostrophically balanced at the sill.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: POSEIDON; Meteor; Arni Fridriksson; Bjarni Saemundsson; SFB 460; POS262; Denmark Strait Overflow, Acoustic observations, ADCP, PIES, Geostrophy
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB1 Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics > FB1-TM Theory and Modeling
HGF-AWI
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Springer
Projects: SFB460
Expeditions/Models/Experiments:
Date Deposited: 23 Sep 2015 08:04
Last Modified: 07 Feb 2017 08:10
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/29765

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