Woods Hole - Possible 3rd Location For Deep Ocean Convection

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New Location of deep convection May Exist in North Atlantic, Altering Views of Atmosphere-Ocean interaction
From Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Thursday, July 17, 2003

"Deep convection, or mixing of ocean waters in the North Atlantic, widely thought to occur only in the Labrador Sea and the Mediterranean, may occur in a third location first proposed nearly 100 years ago by the explorer and oceanographer Fridtjof Nansen. The findings, reported this week in the journal Nature, may alter thinking about the ocean's overturning circulation that affects earth's climate.

An international team of scientists reports in Nature that convection, a process that forms deep waters of the world's oceans and plays a major role in the climate system, may also be occurring in the Irminger Sea east of Greenland because of a sporadic and localized atmospheric phenomenon known as the Greenland tip jet.

EDIT

The Labrador Sea and the Mediterranean have been thought to be the only locations where open-ocean convection leads to formation of deep water in the North Atlantic to depths of 1500-2000 meters. Polar air blows across Canada during the winter, removing heat over much of the Labrador Sea and causing the surface layers to sink and mix into deep waters. New evidence rekindled interest in Nansen's idea that a large amount of Labrador Sea Water may actually be formed outside the Labrador Sea in the Irminger Sea."

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute