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Title: A continuous pathway for fresh water along the East Greenland shelf
Export from the Arctic and meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet together form a southward-flowing coastal current along the East Greenland shelf. This current transports enough fresh water to substantially alter the large-scale circulation of the North Atlantic, yet the coastal current’s origin and fate are poorly known due to our lack of knowledge concerning its north-south connectivity. Here, we demonstrate how the current negotiates the complex topography of Denmark Strait using in situ data and output from an ocean circulation model. We determine that the coastal current north of the strait supplies half of the transport to the coastal current south of the strait, while the other half is sourced from offshore via the shelfbreak jet, with little input from the Greenland Ice Sheet. These results indicate that there is a continuous pathway for Arctic-sourced fresh water along the entire East Greenland shelf from Fram Strait to Cape Farewell.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1756863 1835640 1558742
NSF-PAR ID:
10199297
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Volume:
6
Issue:
43
ISSN:
2375-2548
Page Range / eLocation ID:
eabc4254
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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