Faroe Bank Channel Overflow: Dynamics and Mixing, 2013

The aim of this project was to investigate the mixing and entrainment of the dense oceanic overflow from the Faroe Bank Channel. A large part of the deep, cold waters in the Nordic Seas flow out through the Faroe Bank Channel and into the North Atlantic as a subsea flow. These currents flow over the thresholds between the Nordic Seas and The North Atlantic and mix with the surrounding water masses, and become an important part of the global ocean circulation and the climate. Since there is a lack of observations and we don't quite understand how the water masses mix, these processes are poorly represented in climate models. The mixing happens at a small scale (0,1-1 m), but are dependent on processes on a larger scale (10 m - 100 km). The connection between what happens at a small and large scale is of great importance, and requires dedicated and complex observation systems as well as process based observations. Expertise and new instrumentation were united in this project to meet these requirements. The goal was, based on observations, to improve the knowledge about the dynamics and mixing in dense deep ocean currents, with a special focus on the Faroe Bank Channel. Detailed measurements of the movements were gathered, from a large scale to the smaller scales where the energy “died out”. The observations were collected from ships and gliders, and from instrumented rigs deployed in the ocean over a whole year. The data set from these rigs are unique in the way that they for the first time provide us with measurements over a cross section that covers width and height of the whole outflow area. This made it possible to make a heat budget over the outflow area, which in turn produced time series of vertical mixing, volume transport and heat content. Data is available for downloading at www.pangaea.de.

For further information regarding "Faroe Bank Channel Overflow: Dynamics and Mixing, 2013", please contact the primary investigator.