Overturning of the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP): RAFOS Float Data Report June 2014 - January 2019

Abstract

The Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) is an international effort started in 2014 dedicated to achieving a better understanding of the link between dense-water formation and the meridional overturning circulation in the high-latitude North Atlantic. Moorings, gliders, and subsurface acoustically-tracked RAFOS floats have been used to collect temperature, salinity, and current data across the Labrador Sea, Irminger Sea, Reykjanes Ridge, Iceland Basin, Rockall-Hatton Plateau, and Rockall Trough. The specific objective of the OSNAP float program is to gather information on the pathways of the dense overflow waters transported by the deep limb of the overturning circulation and assess the connection of those pathways with currents observed crossing the OSNAP mooring line. This data report details the observations collected by 148 floats that were deployed for OSNAP during the summers of 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Deployment locations were in the Iceland Basin, Irminger Sea, and in the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. Mission lengths ranged from 540-730 days, and the floats were ballasted to passively drift at a fixed pressure of either 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500, or 2800 dbar to tag the deep overflow water masses of the subpolar North Atlantic (Iceland-Scotland and Denmark Strait Overflow Waters).