Journal of Geophysical Research, 113 (2008) C12022; doi: 10.1029/2008JC004975.
Intense warming and salinification of intermediate waters of southern origin in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic in the 1990s to mid-2000s
Artem Sarafanov, Anastasia Falina, Alexey Sokov (P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow, Russia), and Alexander Demidov (Department of Oceanology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia)
Abstract
Recent thermohaline changes in the layer of intermediate waters (IW) advected into the eastern subpolar North Atlantic from lower latitudes are quantified using the data from the repeated transatlantic sections. Positive trends in temperature and salinity in the IW density class at ∼53°N (0.049°C/a and 0.0088/a, 1992–2002) and ∼60°N (0.044°C/a and 0.0085/a, 1997–2005) are derived. The unexpectedly high rates of the IW warming and salinification cannot be explained solely by the long-term and recent decadal changes at the intermediate levels in the midlatitude North Atlantic and appear to be a consequence of the northward advance of the source water masses caused by the North Atlantic Oscillation-induced contraction of the subpolar gyre.
(Received 18 June 2008, accepted 11 September 2008, published 24 December 2008.)
, Intense warming and salinification of intermediate waters of southern origin in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic in the 1990s to mid-2000s, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113 (2008) C12022; doi: 10.1029/2008JC004975.
Link to abstract: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2008JC004975.shtml
Please note that changes revealed in our study have nothing to do with global climate change. These changes (intense warming and salinification of intermediate waters in the NE North Atlantic) occurred due to the regional circulation variability, namely, the contraction of the subpolar gyre and northward advance of warm saline subtropical waters. These changes are due to natural atmospheric variability over the North Atlantic known as the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation).
ReplyDeleteDear Dr. Sarafanov,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I think the abstract makes this clear. I posted your abstract because to me it is one more important piece of the immense puzzle that is the behavior of ocean circulation and temperatures -- I don't intend that anyone assume that it means anything generally about global climate. I assume that readers can read critically and add this information to their own knowledge bases. I assume that is why your work was accepted for publication -- because it is an important addition to science.