Benthic storms in the Greenland sea

We present observations of strong, episodic, bottom-intensified currents from two current meter moorings, each of a year's duration, placed in the central Greenland Sea at 75°N, 8°W, in a water depth of circa 3340 m. The events, recorded by the current meters placed some 50 m above the sea floor, occur about 4 times a year and last about a week. They show currents of up to 43 cm/s, turning in direction, occasionally modulated by a signal of the frequency of the Coriolis parameter or the semi-diurnal tide. The temperature record at the current meter however remains constant to 0.01°C. The current direction measured at overlying meters correlates well with that of the deepest meter – the current speed does not. Independent, geological data also show evidence of strong bottom flows in the area.We discuss possible mechanisms for these `benthic storms', including the hypothesis of a sediment driven plume descending from the East Greenland continental slope. These high energy events have implications for sedimentation, shelf-basin exchange and boundary mixing processes. Normal mode theory is used to justify the dynamical response of the system to such a bottom-trapped impulse.     

The Greenland Sea tracer experiment 1996-2002: Horizontal mixing and transport of Greenland Sea Intermediate Water

In summer 1996, a tracer release experiment using sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) was launched in the intermediate-depth waters of the central Greenland Sea (GS), to study the mixing and ventilation processes in the region and its role in the northern limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation. Here we describe the hydrographic context of the experiment, the methods adopted and the results from the monitoring of the horizontal tracer spread for the 1996-2002 period documented by ∼10 shipboard surveys. The tracer marked “Greenland Sea Arctic Intermediate Water” (GSAIW). This was redistributed in the gyre by variable winter convection penetrating only to mid-depths, reaching at most 1800 m depth during the strongest event observed in 2002.For the first 18 months, the tracer remained mainly in the Greenland Sea. Vigorous horizontal mixing within the Greenland Sea gyre and a tight circulation of the gyre interacting slowly with the other basins under strong topographic influences were identified. We use the tracer distributions to derive the horizontal shear at the scale of the Greenland Sea gyre, and rates of horizontal mixing at ∼10 and ∼300 km scales. Mixing rates at small scale are high, several times those observed at comparable depths at lower latitudes. Horizontal stirring at the sub-gyre scale is mediated by numerous and vigorous eddies. Evidence obtained during the tracer release suggests that these play an important role in mixing water masses to form the intermediate waters of the central Greenland Sea.By year two, the tracer had entered the surrounding current systems at intermediate depths and small concentrations were in proximity to the overflows into the North Atlantic. After 3 years, the tracer had spread over the Nordic Seas basins. Finally by year six, an intensive large survey provided an overall synoptic documentation of the spreading of the tagged GSAIW in the Nordic Seas. A circulation scheme of the tagged water originating from the centre of the GS is deduced from the horizontal spread of the tracer. We present this circulation and evaluate the transport budgets of the tracer between the GS and the surroundings basins. The overall residence time for the tagged GSAIW in the Greenland Sea was about 2.5 years. We infer an export of intermediate water of GSAIW from the GS of 1 to 1.85 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹) for the period from September 1998 to June 2002 based on the evolution of the amount of tracer leaving the GS gyre. There is strong exchange between the Greenland Sea and Arctic Ocean via Fram Strait, but the contribution of the Greenland Sea to the Denmark Strait and Iceland Scotland overflows is modest, probably not exceeding 6% during the period under study.     

Anthropogenic carbon in the East Greenland Current

Sections of dissolved inorganic anthropogenic carbon () based on 2002 data in the East Greenland Current (EGC) are presented. The has been estimated using a model based on optimum multiparameter analysis with predefined source water types. Values of have been assigned to the source water types through age estimations based on the transit time distribution (TTD) technique. The validity of this approach is discussed and compared to other methods. The results indicated that the EGC had rather high levels of in the whole water column, and the anthropogenic signal of the different source areas were detected along the southward transit. We estimated an annual transport of with the Denmark Strait overflow (σ_θ > 27.8 kg m⁻³) of ∼0.036 ± 0.005 Gt C y⁻¹. The mean concentration in this density range was ∼30 μmol kg⁻¹. The main contribution was from Atlantic derived waters, the Polar Intermediate Water and the Greenland Sea Arctic Intermediate Water.     

格陵兰冰心中的矿物粉尘记录

矿物粉尘在当今气候研究中发挥着重要的作用。矿物粉尘气溶胶具有的发射性质使其直接影响着大气圈的辐射平衡。矿物粉尘也以多种间接方式积极参与了气候活动,其中包括成为云层凝聚中心来决定云盖层的规模和特征以及可能控制着遥远的营养贫瘠的大洋与大陆地区的原始生物生产力。     

格陵兰冰上最深钻孔成果

北格陵兰冰上岩心钻探计划(NGRIP)开始于1995年,其目的是研究最近120~130ka以来的古气候。除丹麦和德国外,参与国还有比利时、法国、冰岛、日本、瑞士、瑞典和美国。钻探平台位于格陵兰冰盖的西北部,其地理坐标为75°05′47″N,42°19′41″W,高度为海平面以上2921m。根据雷达研究资料,该地区的冰盖厚度为3085m。最后一次研究工作是于2004年夏季6月份开始的,那时的气温升至-30~-20℃,工作结束于8月份秋季暴风雪来临之前。钻探点的积雪量为195mm/a,而年平均气温则为-32℃。冰川表面缓慢地向北北西方向运动,速度为1·33m/a。科研计划工作量…     

Sea-ice flux in the East Greenland Current

The sea-ice export out of the central Arctic through the Fram Strait is a key variable in the Arctic climate system. Satellite data provide the only basis for mapping ice features with a high spatial and temporal resolution in polar regions. An automatic drift algorithm has been employed and optimized to monitor the sea-ice drift velocity in the Greenland Sea with AVHRR data. The combination of the ice drift and the spatial ice distribution provides an insight into the ice transport processes along the coast of Greenland. The combination with sea-ice thickness measurements allows an estimation of the spatial distribution of the sea-ice mass flux. The seasonal and spatial variability of the mass flux allows further predictions of the meridional melting and freezing processes along the East Greenland Current. This investigation covers the years 1993 and 1994. Seasonal and spatial distributions of the sea-ice drift were derived. The derived absolute values in this study are in good agreement with estimates proposed by other authors.     

格陵兰冰心示踪的火山事件

火山灰年代早已被用作第四纪序列概要排序的对比工具,但近来隐晶质火山灰层识别技术的发展已经扩大了其应用范围,特别是对古气候的研究潜力巨大。区域上可识别的隐晶质火山灰层不总是与火山灰年代学的研究相一致,某些火山灰的地理分布范围可能有所扩大,因此,利用这些同一时间的火山灰标志层来精确厘定大范围的大陆沉积序列已成为可能。近年来,在欧洲此项技术对于改善年代学模式和在Termination 1和早全新世(18～9kaBP)突变、快速气候事件、