Hydrography of the Labrador Sea During Active Convection

Abstract

The long-term goals are to improve our understanding of the dynamics of open-ocean convection and its parameterization in large-scale numerical models. The main objectives are (1) to describe the large-scale context within which convection occurs, including the water masses involved and the general circulation, and (2) to characterize the mixed layer structure and variability, both laterally and vertically, and hence shed light on the nature of the overturning. A hydrographic data set was collected in winter 1997 as part of the Deep Convection Accelerated Research Initiative (ARI). These data together with atmospheric forcing fields (K. Moore, University of Toronto) and hydrography collected the previous fall and following spring (A. Clarke, Bedford Institute of Oceanography) are being analyzed together to investigate overturning in the Labrador Sea. To elucidate various larger-scale aspects of convection in the subpolar North Atlantic, a hydrographic/direct-velocity data set from the Irminger and Labrador Seas during the time period 1990 97 was assembled.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2000
Accession Number
ADA609735

Entities

People

  • Robert Pickart

Organizations

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Convection
  • Data Sets
  • Far Field
  • Flow Fields
  • Fresh Water
  • Hydrography
  • Information Operations
  • Labrador Sea
  • Landforms
  • Newfoundland (Province)
  • Oceans
  • Physical Oceanography
  • Sea Water
  • Spatial Distribution
  • Water
  • Water Masses

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Academic Conference Management
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Oceanography.