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Contenu archivé le 2022-12-23

Quantitative description of the global ocean conveyor belt and its role in formation and distribution of large-scale anomalies in the Atlantic

Objectif



Whereas the eminent role of the north Atlantic circulation and its variations on scales indicative of climate changes is well known, recent work has shown that these changes occur much faster in some critical regions of water mass formation than previously understood. These signals are much stronger and progress much faster and at greater depths. Within the last ten years, the characteristics of the intermediate circulation in the north Atlantic have shown a strong cooling compared with the previous decade. The rate of change was so far unknown.

Crucial to the understanding of these rapid changes is the evaluation of both the forcing fields at the ocean-atmosphere and the responsof the ocean. Since July 1991 efforts have been underway to combine the extensive expertise of Russian scientists on the first issue and of west European scientists on the second. The current project will extend the existing co-operation to a joint, viable and intensive investigation of these issues by enhancing the equipment of the Russian scientists and the interaction between the various participants.

This project will obtain reliable estimates of inter-annual variations of the heat exchange between the north Atlantic and the atmosphere using a new exchange parametrisation technique. It will also analyse the main components of the meridional heat transport and the meridional freshwater transport in the tropics, mid-latitudes and sub-polar regions, including hydrographical zonal sections data, the comprehensive ocean-atmosphere data set (COADS) and simple inverse models. Finally, it will determine and quantify sea surface temperature and sea surface salinity climatic variations together with corresponding changes in the deeper layers of the north Atlantic.

Existing Russian data sets will be preserved and made accessible to other scientists so that their quality and reliability can be compared to similar data sets existing in public literature. This will support a group of scientists that have been providing excellent scientific results in the past and enable them to complete most of their current projects. This project will also forge links between Russian scientists and their counterparts in west European countries and provide them with free and open access to state-of-the-art science and scientific methods. It will enable Russian scientists to take part in current climate-related projects within the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). WOCE is in the last two years of its field-phase which is concentrated in the north Atlantic. Subsequently, the results of this project will position the participating Russian scientists in an active and challenging scientific environment. The project will provide new insight into the processes that govern the exchange of heat, freshwater and momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean in a region critical to the global climate. The results will fill an important gap by making use of 25 years of hardly accessible Russian data and science.

Appel à propositions

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Régime de financement

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Coordinateur

Bundesamt für Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie
Contribution de l’UE
Aucune donnée
Adresse
Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 78
20305 Hamburg
Allemagne

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Coût total
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Participants (4)