Lagrangian Study of the Iceland-Faroe Front. Part II: Analysis and Synthesis

学术价值：一项关于北大西洋浅水和暖水穿过冰岛-法罗海脊，沿着冰岛-法罗海锋（IFF）流入挪威海的拉格朗日研究，此前已由罗德岛大学（URI）和挪威卑尔根海洋研究所（IMR）合作资助。这项研究的一个主要目标是了解IFF的基本特征：它的平均和时变结构，它的水来自冰岛盆地的哪一边，以及它们在哪里和如何继续下游。来自URI的60个浮标被部署在冰岛-法罗海岭以南200 dbar的位置，以检查温暖的北大西洋海水穿过海岭并进入挪威海的浅通道，来自IMR的30个浮标被部署在海岭以北800 dbar的位置，以关注北极中间水域的流动。这些漂浮物将在2006年春季完成它们的任务并浮出水面，初步处理工作预计将在2006年夏末完成。这个分析和综合项目的主要目的是继续实地项目的原始科学目标，但也扩展这些想法，以纳入新的想法和合作。RAFOS浮子数据将用于绘制路径图，对冰岛-法罗海岭之间的运输进行定量估计，IFF中的涡变率，与北部挪威海水的交换和混合，以及描述IFF分为北部和南部法罗海流的分支。众所周知，浮子可以非常有效地识别输送和混合的路径，而相应的速度及其在锋面和锋面上的变化可以提供锋面结构和下游演变的信息。更广泛的影响：对这些观测结果的分析将增强我们对温盐环流中温水向北输送的第二个环节的理解（最后一步是北欧海的深层对流）。海洋的动力学控制着冰岛-法罗海岭的路径和暖水的输送，也控制着北欧的气候。RAFOS浮子分析的结果将与挪威和瑞典的观测者和数值模拟者密切分享，以便对浅层和中层环流作出连贯和全面的了解。该项目的所有数据和结果将通过向数据中心提交、在国家和国际会议上发言以及出版技术报告和科学论文的方式提供给社区。

ABSTRACTOCE-0623210Intellectual Merit: A Lagrangian study of the inflow of shallow and warm North Atlantic water across the Iceland-Faroe Ridge, along the Iceland-Faroe Front (IFF), and into the Norwegian Sea has previously been funded as a cooperative effort between the University of Rhode Island (URI) and the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Bergen, Norway. A major objective of that study was to understand the basic features of the IFF: its mean and time varying structure, from which side of the Iceland Basin its waters come, and where and how they continue downstream. Sixty floats from URI were deployed at 200 dbar to the south of the Iceland-Faroe Ridge to examine the shallow pathways of warm North Atlantic waters across the Ridge and beyond into the Norwegian Sea, and 30 floats from IMR were deployed at 800 dbar just north of the Ridge to focus on the flow of Arctic intermediate waters. These floats will have completed their mission and surfaced by the spring of 2006, and preliminary processing is expected to be complete by the end of that summer. The primary purpose of this analysis and synthesis project is to continue the original scientific objectives of the field program, but also extend those ideas to incorporate new ideas and collaborations. The RAFOS float data will be used to map the pathways, develop quantitative estimates of the transport across the Iceland-Faroes Ridge, the eddy variability in the IFF, and the exchanges and mixing with the Norwegian Sea Water to its north, and a description of the bifurcation of the IFF into the northern and southern Faroe Current. As is well-known, floats can be very effective at identifying pathways of transport and mixing, while the corresponding velocities and their variability in and along the front give information on the front's structure and downstream evolution. Broader Impacts: The analysis of these observations will enhance our understanding of the penultimate link in the northward transport of warm water in the thermohaline circulation (the final step being deep convection in the Nordic Seas). The dynamics of the ocean that controls the pathways and the transport of warm water over the Iceland- Faroes Ridge also serve to control the climate over northern Europe. The results of the RAFOS float analysis will be shared closely with collaborators, both observationalists and numerical modelers, in Norway and Sweden so that a coherent and comprehensive picture of the both the shallow and intermediate circulation can be made. All the data and results from this project will be made available to the community through submissions to data centers, presentations at national and international meetings, and publication of technical reports and scientific papers.