High resolution modelling of the North Icelandic Irminger Current (NIIC)

International audienceThe northward inflow of Atlantic Water through Denmark Strait ? the North Icelandic Irminger Current (NIIC) ? is simulated with a numerical model of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. The model uses the technique of adaptive grid refinement which allows a high spatial resolution (1 km horizontal, 10 m vertical) around Iceland. The model is used to assess time and space variability of volume and heat fluxes for the years 1997?2003. Passive tracers are applied to study origin and composition of NIIC water masses. The NIIC originates from two sources: the Irminger Current, flowing as part of the sub-polar gyre in 100?500 m depth along the Reykjanes Ridge and the shallow Icelandic coastal current, flowing eastward on the south Icelandic shelf. The ratio between the deep and shallow branch is 0.7/0.2 Sv. The NIIC continues as a warm and saline branch northward through Denmark Strait where it entrains large amounts of polar water due to the collision with the southward flowing East Greenland Current. Tracer model results indicate that north of Denmark Strait at Hornbanki section (at 21°30' W from 66°40' N to 67°30' N), the NIIC is composed of 43% water masses of Atlantic origin (AW) originating from the south and 57% entrained polar or Arctic water masses (PW) coming from the north. After passing Denmark Strait, the NIIC follows the coast line north-eastward where it influences the hydrography of north Icelandic waters. Volume and heat transport is highly variable and depends strongly on the wind field north of Denmark Strait. Highest monthly mean transport rates at Hornbanki occur in summer (0.75 Sv) when northerly winds are weak, lowest transport is observed in winter (0.35 Sv). Summer heat flux rates (14 TW) can be even three times higher than in winter (4 TW). Strong variability can also be observed on the interannual scale. In particular the winter 2002/2003 showed anomalous high transport and heat flux rates. During the period 1997 to 2003 decreasing northerly winds caused an increase of the NIIC volume and heat transport by 30%, leading to a warming of North Icelandic shelf by around 0.5K

Polynyas in a dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model

The representation of polynyas in viscous-plastic dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice models is studied in a simplified test domain, in order to give recommendations about parametrisation choices. Bjornsson et al. (2001) validated their dynamic-thermodynamic model against a polynya flux model in a similar setup and we expand on that work here, testing more sea-ice rheologies and new-ice thickness formulations. The two additional rheologies tested give nearly identical results whereas the two new-ice thickness parametrisations tested give widely different results. Based on our results we argue for using the new-ice thickness parametrisation of Hibler (1979). We also implement a new parametrisation for the parameter <i>h</i><sup>0</sup> from Hibler's scheme, based on ideas from a collection depth parametrisation for flux polynya models

High resolution modelling of the North Icelandic Irminger Current (NIIC)

The northward inflow of Atlantic Water through Denmark Strait &ndash; the North Icelandic Irminger Current (NIIC) &ndash; is simulated with a numerical model of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. The model uses the technique of adaptive grid refinement which allows a high spatial resolution (1 km horizontal, 10 m vertical) around Iceland. The model is used to assess time and space variability of volume and heat fluxes for the years 1997&ndash;2003. Passive tracers are applied to study origin and composition of NIIC water masses. <br><br> The NIIC originates from two sources: the Irminger Current, flowing as part of the sub-polar gyre in 100&ndash;500 m depth along the Reykjanes Ridge and the shallow Icelandic coastal current, flowing north-westward on the south-west Icelandic shelf. The ratio of volume flux between the deep and shallow branch is around 2:1. The NIIC continues as a warm and saline branch northward through Denmark Strait where it entrains large amounts of polar water due to the collision with the southward flowing East Greenland Current. After passing Denmark Strait, the NIIC follows the coast line eastward being an important heat source for north Icelandic waters. <br><br> At least 60% of the temporal temperature variability of north Icelandic waters is caused by the NIIC. The NIIC volume and heat transport is highly variable and depends strongly on the wind field north-east of Denmark Strait. Daily means can change from 1 Sv eastward to 2 Sv westward within a few days. Highest monthly mean transport rates occur in summer when winds from north are weak, whereas the volume flux is reduced by around 50% in winter. Summer heat flux rates can be even three times higher than in winter. The simulation also shows variability on the interannual scale. In particular weak winds from north during winter 2002/2003 combined with mild weather conditions south of Iceland led to anomalous high NIIC volume (+40%) and heat flux (+60%) rates. In this period, simulated north Icelandic water temperatures are at least 0.5 K warmer than average

Modelling the Northeast Atlantic circulation : implications for the spring invasion of shelf regions by Calanus finmarchicus

The appearance in spring of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus in continental shelf waters of the northeastern Atlantic has been hypothesized to be mainly attributable to invasion from across the continental slope rather than in situ overwintering. This paper describes the application of a hydrodynamic circulation model and a particle-tracking model to Northeast Atlantic waters in order to assess the influence of the flow field and ascent migration parameters on the spring invasion of C. finmarchicus. For hydrodynamic modelling, the Hamburg Shelf-Ocean Model (HAMSOM) was applied to the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas and forced with daily mean atmospheric data. Simulated flow fields from HAMSOM serve as forcing functions for a particle-tracking model of the same region. The robustness of the simulated shelf invasion in three target boxes of the Northeast Atlantic Shelf was assessed by means of a sensitivity analysis with respect to variations in four key migration parameters: overwintering depth, ascent rate, ascent timing, and depth during residence in upper layers. The invasion of the northern North Sea and Norwegian Shelf waters is more sensitive to ascent migration parameters than invasion of the Faroese Shelf. The main reason for enhanced sensitivity of the North Sea invasion is the time and space-dependent flow structure in the Faroe-Shetland Channel. Dense aggregations of overwintering C. finmarchicus are found in the Channel, but because of the complex flow field only a proportion of the overwintering stock has the capacity to reach the North Sea

A comprehensive view of Kara Sea polynya dynamics, sea-ice compactness and export from model and remote sensing data

The Shelf Seas of the Arctic are known for their large sea-ice production. This paper presents a comprehensive view of the Kara Sea sea-ice cover from high-resolution numerical modeling and space-borne microwave radiometry. As given by the latter the average polynya area in the Kara Sea takes a value of 21.2 x 10³ km² ± 9.1 x 10³ km² for winters (Jan.–Apr.) 1996/97 to 2000/01, being as high as 32.0 x 10³km² in 1999/2000 and below 12 x 10³ km² in 1998/99. Day-to-day variations of the Kara Sea polynya area can be as high as 50 x 10³ km². For the seasons 1996/ 97 to 2000/01 the modeled cumulative winter ice-volume flux out of the Kara Sea varied between 100 km³a¹ and 350 km³a¹. Modeled high (low) ice export coincides with a high (low) average and cumulative polynya area, and with a low (high) sea-ice compactness in the Kara Sea from remote sensing data, and with a high (low) sea-ice drift speed across its northern boundary derived from independent model data for the winters 1996/97 to 2000/0

Theoretical survey of tidal-charged black holes at the LHC

We analyse a family of brane-world black holes which solve the effective four-dimensional Einstein equations for a wide range of parameters related to the unknown bulk/brane physics. We first constrain the parameters using known experimental bounds and, for the allowed cases, perform a numerical analysis of their time evolution, which includes accretion through the Earth. The study is aimed at predicting the typical behavior one can expect if such black holes were produced at the LHC. Most notably, we find that, under no circumstances, would the black holes reach the (hazardous) regime of Bondi accretion. Nonetheless, the possibility remains that black holes live long enough to escape from the accelerator (and even from the Earth's gravitational field) and result in missing energy from the detectors.Comment: RevTeX4, 12 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables, minor changes to match the accepted version in JHE

The Poincare' coset models ISO(d-1,1)/R^n and T-duality

We generalize a family of Lagrangians with values in the Poincar\'e group ISO(d-1,1), which contain the description of spinning strings in flat (d-1)+1 dimensions, by including symmetric terms in the world-sheet coordinates. Then, by promoting a subgroup H=R^n, n less than or equal to d, which acts invariantly from the left on the element of ISO(d-1,1), to a gauge symmetry of the action, we obtain a family of sigma-models. They describe bosonic strings moving in (generally) curved, and in some cases degenerate, space-times with an axion field. Further, the space-times of the effective theory admit in general T-dual geometries. We give explicit results for two non degenerate cases.Comment: LaTeX, 24 pages, no figure