Linking Coherent Anticyclonic Eddies in the Iceland Basin to Decadal Oceanic Variability in the Subpolar North Atlantic

• The Iceland Basin in the eastern Subpolar North Atlantic is an eddy-rich region characterized by intense anticyclonic eddy activity. Our study present the variability of coherent Anticyclonic Eddies (AEs) generated in this region, using satellite altimetry and two ocean eddy tracking algorithms. The yearly count of AEs in the Iceland Basin reveals a decadal variability similar to that of ocean heat content change in the eastern subpolar gyre. Periods with higher number of AEs coincide with periods of increased ocean heat content, and vice versa. However, both algorithms agree that more than 50% of the detected AEs are confined to the central Iceland Basin. The annual number of AEs also tracks zonal shifts of the subpolar front, a variable that can explain about 53 (77)% of the interannual (decadal) variability of AEs in the Iceland Basin. Finally, a Lagrangian approach is used to demonstrate that the amount of subtropical versus subpolar water masses reaching the Iceland Basin appears to influence, via baroclinic instability, the generation of AEs.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

mesoscale eddies

eddy detection algorithm

Iceland basin

sub polar front

ocean heat content

EA pattern

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

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