Spatial and Temporal Variability of Ocean Temperature over the Labrador Shelf

Abstract

The mid‐to‐bottom waters of the Labrador Shelf are shown to exhibit an anomalous along‐shelf temperature gradient, with warmer waters found in the north. This feature is present in summer and autumn but appears to reverse in December. Inadequate data are available during winter and spring to draw firm conclusions regarding this feature. A time averaged heat loss of the shelf waters to the atmosphere would result on average, in colder waters in the south (because of north‐south advection); however, it is shown that there is a net annual‐mean input of heat to the shelf waters. An examination of the seasonal temperature cycle at standard depths reveals that its phase is almost uniform below 30‐m depth on the northern banks of the Labrador Shelf. The limited phase variation suggests the influence of a plume of well mixed water originating near Hudson Strait. It thus appears that mixing at the entrance to Hudson Strait imparts a phase anomaly to the seasonal cycle in the north that contributes to the observed inversion of the expected latitudinal temperature gradient.