Deep and intermediate water properties based on Argo floats data in the eastern Nordic Seas

The Nordic Seas play an important role in global climate change. Compared with other areas, this region has the largest ocean surface and air positive temperature anomalies in the world. It is particularly important for the water masses formation and modification and for interactions between the ocean and atmosphere. This region is also the main route for freshwater and heat exchange between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.

Because the ship-borne measurements are performed usually during the spring to the autumn season, there is no data to analyze seasonal changes in the intermediate and deep water. The Argo floats, operating throughout the whole year, allow observation of seasonal changes that occur in particular regions. This is especially important in the Nordic Seas, where conditions of the oceanographic observations are very difficult even during the summer.

In this study we analyze hydrographic data collected by the Argo floats in the eastern part of the Nordic Seas region in 2008-2017. Based on the data, both the temporal and spatial variability of the basic physical parameters of the intermediate and deep water were analyzed. It allowed determining how the properties of these waters changed both seasonally and spatially.

The study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland under grant agreement No. DIR/WK/2016/12 for the research infrastructure EURO-ARGO ERIC and the National Science Centre, Poland within the DWINS Project (2016/21/N/ST10/02920).