Abstract
The transport of Upper Labrador Sea Water (ULSW) at Flemish Cap (47°N/45°W) is investigated in the period 1960–2009 using the output from an 8 km resolution numerical ocean model. The average model transport of ULSW decreases southward from 6.7 Sv at 53°N to 4.5 Sv at 45°N due to interior pathways. The largest fraction of the total ULSW volume transport goes around Flemish Cap within the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC, 72%) but a significant part goes through Flemish Pass (20%). At interannual timescales, the variability at Flemish Pass shows a distinct behavior when compared to the variability in the DWBC and to the upstream fluctuations. A running correlation method is applied to obtain the connection of the transport variability at Flemish Pass with several quantities, representative for different physical mechanisms: (1) the North Atlantic Oscillation index, (2) the Ekman transport, (3) the rate of ULSW formation in the Labrador Sea, (4) the position of the North Atlantic Current (NAC) relative to the slope and (5) the averaged transport in the subpolar gyre. Weakened or strengthened transport of ULSW through Flemish Pass coincides with changes of the atmospheric forcing or with changes of the NAC‘s position. Strong meandering of the NAC close to the DWBC reduces the transport off Flemish Cap, and the ULSW flow is “redirected” into the Flemish Pass, enhancing the transport there. In contrast, the transport variability in the DWBC is mainly caused by upstream fluctuations and changes according to the rate of ULSW formation.
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