Boundary Currents and the Thermohaline Circulation

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ABSTRACTPI/Institution: Spall / WHOI Proposal No: OCE-0240978The export of recently ventilated high latitude water masses from their formation basins via narrow boundary currents is a central, and not well understood, aspect of the global thermohaline circulation. The primary objectives of the proposed work are: 1) to compare and contrast lateral exchange with the interior and direct atmospheric forcing as mechanisms to get recently formed water masses into rapid boundary currents and 2) to determine how these processes are related to the downwelling limb of the thermohaline circulation. By making use of both high resolution numerical models and simple theories, this process-oriented approach is designed to illuminate the dynamical balances in this near boundary regime. Finally, we will build on this dynamical framework to analyze real data from the Labrador Sea. By comparing and contrasting model results and data, we will attempt to identify, in the data, the processes that lead to a densification of the boundary current in the region and to estimate the rate of export of Labrador Sea water. The proposed study will have broader impacts spanning both research and educational activities. The insight gained by this process study will provide the foundation for parameterizations of this important and presently unresolved component of the thermohaline circulation for implementation in climate models.