On the Linkage between Labrador Sea Water Volume and Overturning Circulation in the Labrador Sea: A Case Study on Proxies

Abstract

Although proxies have generally been used to study deep ocean convection and overturning circulation in the Labrador Sea, their efficacy has not been explicitly evaluated because observations that directly measure those variables are scarce. In this study, the volume of newly formed Labrador Sea Water (LSW) and the overturning circulation in the Labrador Sea are estimated using observational data and output from a high-resolution ocean model and then compared to proxies used to represent those variables. The comparisons reveal the limitations of proxies, highlighting the desirability of robust estimates derived from direct monitoring in the region [i.e., from Argo and Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP)]. A linkage among LSW formation, overturning circulation in the Labrador Sea, and the export of LSW from the basin on interannual time scales is found in the model.