Development of a Freshwater Flux Array off Southeast Greenland
OCCI Project Funded: 2004 There is growing observational and
modeling evidence that the role of the Arctic in global climate
change may act through exchange with seas further south. Thus,
decadal variability may be imposed on the Arctic Ocean through
changes in the inputs of heat and salt caused by climatic
forcing over Nordic seas. In turn, changes in the heat and
freshwater flux from the Arctic to subjacent seas can alter the
rate and characteristics of the Atlantic thermohaline
circulation (THC), which helps maintain the relative warmth of
the climate of NW Europe. To monitor the exchange of water
between the Arctic and the subarctic seas, two collaborative
arrays have been deployed off Southeastern Greenland (Figure
1).First, a current meter array which, discontinuously since
1986, has been set to measure the transport of the cold dense
Denmark Strait overflow where it descends across the Continental
Slope off SE Greenland. Originally deployed