Circulation and Transport at the Southeast Tip of Greenland

Abstract

Abstract The circulation and related transports at the southeast tip of Greenland are determined from direct current observations of a moored current meter array. The measurements cover a time span from June 2004 to June 2006. The net mean total southwestward transport of the East Greenland–Irminger Current from the midshelf (20 km off the coast at 60°N) to the 2070-m isobath (about 100 km offshore) was estimated as 17.3 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) with an uncertainty of 1 Sv. The transport variability is characterized by a standard deviation of 3.8 Sv with a peak-to-peak amplitude up to 30 Sv. The seasonal variability has an amplitude of 1.5 Sv. Frequencies around 0.1 day−1 dominate the signal, although a variability at lower frequency (∼1 month−1) also appears in winter. The coherence between the observed transport variability and the wind stress curl variability over the Irminger Sea differs significantly from 0 at the 95% confidence level for periods greater than 5 days.