Pathway classification of Argo floats within the Irminger Sea

Pathway classification of Argo floats within the Irminger Sea

Oldenhuis, David (TU Delft Civil Engineering & Geosciences)

Katsman, C.A. (mentor)
de Roode, S.R. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

2023-03-02

The Atlantic Meridonial Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in the North Atlantic Ocean (NAO) plays a major role in earth’s climate and climate change. A key element of the AMOC is deep convection, which is still not fully understood. One of the unknowns is where water is exchanged between the boundary current and the regions where deep convection can occur. This is important for models to know where deep waters are formed and where they are transported to. This study focuses on the Irminger Sea (IRS), a sub-sea of the NAO. The interior of this sub-sea is a known area where deep convection can occur. Using data from the Argo Float Program, a analysis was conducted to investigate exchanges of water between the boundary current of the IRS and the area where deep convection can occur. The entries and departure locations of the Argo floats are collected and statistically compared. Furthermore, seasonality difference between winter and summer months are compared using the Mann-Whitney U-Test. Lastly, the internal pathways water takes within the interior area are analysed, by tracking where a float enters the interior area and where it afterwards leaves the area. The results show water takes many different pathways in and out of the interior area and the pathways taken within the area show the expected cyclonic pattern. There were no clear differences between summer and winter months, except in the northern part of the interior area, where in winter a clear south-western current is present, but not in summer. Future studies on the exchange between the boundary current and the interior area can use these results as an indication that the exchange happens all around the area, but the water does follow a cyclonic pattern.

AMOC
Irminger Sea
Deep Convection
Argo Floats

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© 2023 David Oldenhuis