Abstract
As part of the VACLAN (Climate Variability in the North Atlantic) project, a section covering the Bay of Biscay was sampled in September 2005. This work estimates the distribution of the different water masses in the region using an extended optimum multiparametric method and analyzes water mass distribution of anthropogenic carbon as calculated using two different approaches. The Eastern North Atlantic Central Water layer is mainly constituted by its subpolar component and Mediterranean Water appears very diluted, its dilution increasing northeastward. In relation to the anthropogenic carbon inventory, small differences were found between the two different methods used, 95 vs 87 mol C m–2, though both show the same distribution pattern, the concentration decreasing with depth. Eastern North Atlantic Central Water presents the highest anthropogenic carbon inventory, supporting more than 50% of the total column (52%). This work confirms the relevant role of the Bay of Biscay as a sink zone in the oceanic circulation.
Highlights
The Bay of Biscay is located in the north coast of the Iberian Peninsula and covers a region limited to the west by the line connecting Galicia with the western limit of the Celtic Sea shelf and by the French coast to the east (Fig. 1)
This study aims at estimating the Cant distribution within the water column, in particular the contributions by the main water masses present in the Bay of Biscay, together with the characterization of the physical and chemical properties of each of these water masses
The concentrations of Cant estimated with TrOCA are higher than those computed by from the surface layer down to 2000 dbar (Table 3, Fig 3g, h), while the estimates higher Cant values compared to TrOCA in waters below 2000 dbar
Summary
The Bay of Biscay is located in the north coast of the Iberian Peninsula and covers a region limited to the west by the line connecting Galicia (northwest limit of the Iberian Peninsula) with the western limit of the Celtic Sea shelf (south coast of Ireland) and by the French coast to the east (Fig. 1). The oceanography of the Bay of Biscay is to some extent peculiar This region is located in the limit of two North Atlantic gyres, the subtropical anticyclonic gyre associated to the Azores Current and the subpolar cyclonic gyre associated to the North Atlantic Current (Lavín et al 2006). The interaction between them and a variety of coastal features determines the hydrodynamic characteristics of the Bay of Biscay. These characteristics are important in order to understand the distribution of variables such as the carbon cycle in the water column
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