Girton, J. B., Sanford, T. B. and Käse, Rolf H. (2001) Synoptic sections of the Denmark Strait Overflow. Geophysical Research Letters, 28 (8). pp. 1619-1622. DOI 10.1029/2000GL011970.

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Abstract

We report on a rapid high-resolution survey of the Denmark Strait overflow (DSO) as it crosses the sill, the first such program to incorporate full-water-column velocity profiles in addition to conventional hydrographic measurements. Seven transects with expendable profilers over the course of one week are used to estimate volume transport as a function of density. Our observations reveal the presence of a strongly barotropic flow associated with the nearly-vertical front dividing the Arctic and Atlantic waters. The seven-section mean transport of water denser than σθ=27.8 is 2.7±0.6Sv, while the mean transport of water colder than 2.0°C is 3.8±0.8 Sv. Although this is larger than the 2.9 Sv of θ < 2°C water measured by a 1973 current meter array, we find that a sampling of our sections equivalent to the extent of that array also measures 2.9Sv of cold water. Both the structure and magnitude of the measured flow are reproduced well by a high-resolution numerical model of buoyancy-driven exchange with realistic topography.

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