Influence of the Atlantic Subpolar Gyre on the Thermohaline Circulation
Abstract
During the past decade, record-high salinities have been observed in the Atlantic Inflow to the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean, which feeds the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC). This may counteract the observed long-term increase in freshwater supply to the area and tend to stabilize the North Atlantic THC. Here we show that the salinity of the Atlantic Inflow is tightly linked to the dynamics of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre circulation. Therefore, when assessing the future of the North Atlantic THC, it is essential that the dynamics of the subpolar gyre and its influence on the salinity are taken into account.
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We thank M. Bentsen for model development, P. Rhines for commenting on the paper; M. Miles for language editing, and S. Häkkinen for the extended gyre index in Fig. 2A, based on altimetry. The work is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers program Vestnordisk Oceanklima; the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team of NASA; the Research Council of Norway through RegClim, NOClim, and the Program of Supercomputing; and the European Union DG-XII Climate and Environment Program through DYNAMITE (GOCE-0093903) and NOCES (EVK2-2001-00115).
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Published In
Science
Volume 309 | Issue 5742
16 September 2005
16 September 2005
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American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 12 May 2005
Accepted: 4 August 2005
Published in print: 16 September 2005
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www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5742/1841/DC1
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Figs. S1 to S6
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