Transports and pathways of overflow water in the Rockall Trough

Johnson, Clare; Sherwin, Toby; Cunningham, Stuart; Dumont, Estelle; Houpert, Loïc ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8750-5631; Holliday, N. Penny ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9733-8002. 2017 Transports and pathways of overflow water in the Rockall Trough. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 122. 48-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2017.02.004

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Text © 2017 Elsevier B.V. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was/will be published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers (doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2017.02.004) 1-s2.0-S0967063716302503-main.pdf - Accepted Version Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Water mass analysis reveals a persistent core of deep overflow water within the Rockall Trough which hugs the northern and western boundaries of the basin. Mean speeds within this overflow are 10–15 cm s−1 giving a transport time from the Wyville Thomson Ridge to the central basin of < 50 days. Analysis of the 40-year Extended Ellett Line record shows proportions of Norwegian Sea Deep Water associated with the deep core exceed 15% around one quarter of the time. We present the first transport estimates for overflow water in the Rockall Trough. This flux is for overflow water modified by mixing with a density greater than 27.65 kg m−3. Mean values calculated both from a newly deployed mooring array (OSNAP project) and indirectly from the Extended Ellett Line time-series are −0.3 ± 0.04 Sv. Although the flux is highly variable there is no long term trend. As some overflow appears to exit into the Iceland Basin via channels between the northern banks, we suggest that the volume transport will likely increase as the flow pathway is traced back around the boundary of the Rockall Trough towards the Wyville Thomson Ridge.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2017.02.004
ISSN:	09670637
Additional Keywords:	Rockall Trough; Extended Ellett Line; OSNAP; Wyville Thomson Ridge Overflow Water
Date made live:	13 Feb 2017 16:33 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516190

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