Sack Lunch Seminar (SLS)

The Seasonal and Interannual Variability of the West Greenland Current System in the Labrador Sea







The Labrador Sea, as one of the few places of deep water formation, plays an important role in the Meridional Overturning Circulation. While the interior of the Labrador Sea, where convection takes place, is known to experience variability on time scales ranging from days to decades, little is known about the variability of the other components of the Labrador Sea circulation, the boundary current system and the eddies that connect it with the interior. Using various types of in situ data combined with surface flux and satellite altimetry data products, I studied the variability of both the boundary current system and eddies on different time scales as well as their influence on the post-convective restratification of the interior of the Labrador Sea. The main results of this work include documentation of the seasonal and interannual changes in the properties and velocity of both parts of the boundary current system: the surface West Greenland Current and subsurface Irminger Current. The analysis presented in the thesis supports results from previous theoretical studies that argue that lateral fluxes, driven by the boundary current/interior gradients, play an important role in the post-convective restratification of the Labrador Sea.