Is Labrador Sea Water Formed in the Irminger Basin?

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Pickart Proposal Number: 0002492 Funds are provided for a hydrographic survey, including lowered ADCP profiles, of the Irminger Sea. Furthermore, two moored profilers will be deployed for periods of three years. One profiler will be deployed in the center of the Irminger Gyre and the other at the edge of the Deep Western Boundary Current. They will be serviced once a year. These profilers will monitor the vertical structure of temperature, salinity, and current. It is anticipated that these instruments will record signals indicative of deep convection. An important water mass involved in the meridional overturning circulation of the North Atlantic is Labrador Sea Water. These waters have recently been observed forming in the Labrador Sea. This program is designed to test the hypothesis that water of similar characteristics is actively formed in the Irminger Sea.