thumb|300x300px|The North Atlantic Deep Water is considered to be one of several possible [[tipping points in the climate system.]]

North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is a deep water mass formed in the North Atlantic Ocean. Thermohaline circulation (properly described as meridional overturning circulation) of the world's oceans involves the flow of warm surface waters from the southern hemisphere into the North Atlantic. Water flowing northward becomes modified through evaporation and mixing with other water masses, leading to increased salinity. When this water reaches the North Atlantic, it cools and sinks through convection, due to its decreased temperature and increased salinity resulting in increased density. NADW is the outflow of this thick deep layer, which can be detected by its high salinity, high oxygen content, nutrient minima, high <sup>14</sup>C/<sup>12</sup>C, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

CFCs are anthropogenic substances that enter the surface of the ocean from gas exchange with the atmosphere. This distinct composition allows its path to be traced as it mixes with Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), which in turn fills the deep Indian Ocean and part of the South Pacific. NADW and its formation is essential to the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which is responsible for transporting large amounts of water, heat, salt, carbon, nutrients and other substances from the Tropical Atlantic to the Mid and High Latitude Atlantic.

In the conveyor belt model of thermohaline circulation of the world's oceans, the sinking of NADW pulls the waters of the North Atlantic drift northward. However, this is almost certainly an oversimplification of the actual relationship between NADW formation and the strength of the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic drift.

NADW has a temperature of 2.0-3.5&nbsp;°C with a practical salinity of S<sub>P</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;34.9-35.0, found at a depth between 1500 and 4000m.

Formation and sources

The NADW is a complex of several water masses formed by deep convection and overflow of dense water across the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland Ridge.

thumb|400px|The circulation patterns in the North Atlantic Ocean. Cold, dense water is shown in blue, flowing south from upper latitudes, while warm, less dense water, shown in red, flows north from low latitudes.

The upper layers are formed by deep open ocean convection during winter. Labrador Sea Water (LSW), formed in the Labrador Sea, can reach depths of 2000 m as dense water sinks downward. Classical Labrador Sea Water (CLSW) production is dependent on preconditioning of water in the Labrador Sea from the previous year and the strength of the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO).

The formation of both of these waters involves the conversion of warm, salty, northward-flowing surface waters to cold, dense, deep waters behind the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland Ridge. Water flow from the North Atlantic current enters the Arctic Ocean through the Norwegian Current, which splits into the Fram Strait and Barents Sea Branch. Water from the Fram Strait recirculates, reaching a density of DSOW, sinks, and flows towards the Denmark Strait. Water flowing into the Barents Sea feeds ISOW.

ISOW enters the eastern North Atlantic over the Iceland-Scotland Ridge through the Faeroe Bank Channel at a depth of 850 m, with some water flowing over the shallower Iceland-Faeroe Rise. ISOW has a low CFC concentrations and it has been estimated from these concentrations that ISOW resides behind the ridge for 45 years. Winter cooling and convection allow AIW to sink and pool behind the Denmark Strait. Upper AIW has a high amount of anthropogenic tracers due its exposure to the atmosphere. AIW's tritium and CFC signature is observed in DSOW at the base of the Greenland continental slope. This also showed that the DSOW flowing 450&nbsp;km to the south was no older than 2 years.

ULSW is the major source of upper NADW. ULSW advects southward from the Labrador Sea in small eddies that mix into the DWBC. A CFC maximum associated with ULSW has been observed along 24°N in the DWBC at 1500 m.

Variability

It is believed that North Atlantic Deep Water formation has been dramatically reduced at times during the past (such as during the Younger Dryas or during Heinrich events), and that this might correlate with a decrease in the strength of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic drift, in turn cooling the climate of northwestern Europe.

There is concern that global warming might cause this to happen again. It is also hypothesized that during the Last Glacial Maximum, NADW was replaced with an analogous watermass that occupied a shallower depth known as Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water.

See also

  • Ekman transport
  • Irminger Current
  • Sargasso Sea

References

Further reading

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  • Glossary of Physical Oceanography and Related Disciplines North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW)