Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic

N. Penny Holliday; Manfred Bersch; Barbara Berx; Léon Chafik; Stuart Cunningham; Cristian Florindo-López; Hjálmar Hátún; William Johns; Simon A. Josey; Karin Margretha H. Larsen; Sandrine Mulet; Marilena Oltmanns; Gilles Reverdin; Tom Rossby; Virginie Thierry; Hedinn Valdimarsson; Igor Yashayaev

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14474-y

Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic

N. Penny Holliday, Manfred Bersch, Barbara Berx, Léon Chafik, Stuart Cunningham, Cristian Florindo-López, Hjálmar Hátún, William Johns, Simon A. Josey, Karin Margretha H. Larsen, Sandrine Mulet, Marilena Oltmanns, Gilles Reverdin, Tom Rossby, Virginie Thierry, Hedinn Valdimarsson, Igor Yashayaev

Ocean Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

The Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation is important to the climate system because it carries heat and carbon northward, and from the surface to the deep ocean. The high salinity of the subpolar North Atlantic is a prerequisite for overturning circulation, and strong freshening could herald a slowdown. We show that the eastern subpolar North Atlantic underwent extreme freshening during 2012 to 2016, with a magnitude never seen before in 120 years of measurements. The cause was unusual winter wind patterns driving major changes in ocean circulation, including slowing of the North Atlantic Current and diversion of Arctic freshwater from the western boundary into the eastern basins. We find that wind-driven routing of Arctic-origin freshwater intimately links conditions on the North West Atlantic shelf and slope region with the eastern subpolar basins. This reveals the importance of atmospheric forcing of intra-basin circulation in determining the salinity of the subpolar North Atlantic.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	585
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	11
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14474-y
State	Published - Dec 1 2020

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

Cite this

Holliday, N. P., Bersch, M., Berx, B., Chafik, L., Cunningham, S., Florindo-López, C., Hátún, H., Johns, W., Josey, S. A., Larsen, K. M. H., Mulet, S., Oltmanns, M., Reverdin, G., Rossby, T., Thierry, V., Valdimarsson, H., & Yashayaev, I. (2020). Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic. Nature communications, 11(1), [585]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14474-y

Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic. / Holliday, N. Penny; Bersch, Manfred; Berx, Barbara; Chafik, Léon; Cunningham, Stuart; Florindo-López, Cristian; Hátún, Hjálmar; Johns, William; Josey, Simon A.; Larsen, Karin Margretha H.; Mulet, Sandrine; Oltmanns, Marilena; Reverdin, Gilles; Rossby, Tom; Thierry, Virginie; Valdimarsson, Hedinn; Yashayaev, Igor.

In: Nature communications, Vol. 11, No. 1, 585, 01.12.2020.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Holliday, NP, Bersch, M, Berx, B, Chafik, L, Cunningham, S, Florindo-López, C, Hátún, H, Johns, W, Josey, SA, Larsen, KMH, Mulet, S, Oltmanns, M, Reverdin, G, Rossby, T, Thierry, V, Valdimarsson, H & Yashayaev, I 2020, 'Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic', Nature communications, vol. 11, no. 1, 585. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14474-y

Holliday, N. Penny ; Bersch, Manfred ; Berx, Barbara ; Chafik, Léon ; Cunningham, Stuart ; Florindo-López, Cristian ; Hátún, Hjálmar ; Johns, William ; Josey, Simon A. ; Larsen, Karin Margretha H. ; Mulet, Sandrine ; Oltmanns, Marilena ; Reverdin, Gilles ; Rossby, Tom ; Thierry, Virginie ; Valdimarsson, Hedinn ; Yashayaev, Igor. / Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic. In: Nature communications. 2020 ; Vol. 11, No. 1.

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10.1038/s41467-020-14474-y