Otani, W., Nakayama, Y., Wood, M., Fenty, I.G., and Mensah, V. (2024)
Presented at:
Ocean Sciences Meeting 2024The North Atlantic subpolar gyre carries Atlantic Water (AW) towards the margins of western Greenland, which intrudes into fjords and contributes to the recent retreat and acceleration of Greenland Glaciers. The AW transport by subpolar gyre towards west Greenland is suggested to be controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation. During sustained positive NAO index, an increase in westerly winds enhances AW advection from Irminger Sea to West Greenland Current. Here, we develop a regional ocean model in West Greenland downscaled from ECCO LLC 270 global state estimate for 26 years (1992-2017) using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm). Horizontal grid spacing is 3-4km. The vertical discretization comprises 50 levels varying in thickness from 10 m near the surface, 70-90 m in the 500-1000 m depth range, and 450 m at the deepest level of 6000 m. We compare our simulated output with existing ship-based observations, Argo floats, and moorings. We also compare our simulated output with sea surface height observations from satellites. We further investigate AW variability in the WGC along several sections by comparing the model and observations focusing on the water mass distributions, properties, and variabilities.
