Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program : a new international ocean observing system

A new ocean observing system has been launched in the North Atlantic in order to understand the linkage between the meridional overturning circulation and deep water formation.For decades oceanographers have understood the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to be primarily driven by changes in the production of deep water formation in the subpolar and subarctic North Atlantic. Indeed, current IPCC projections of an AMOC slowdown in the 21st century based on climate models are attributed to the inhibition of deep convection in the North Atlantic. However, observational evidence for this linkage has been elusive: there has been no clear demonstration of AMOC variability in response to changes in deep water formation. The motivation for understanding this linkage is compelling since the overturning circulation has been shown to sequester heat and anthropogenic carbon in the deep ocean. Furthermore, AMOC variability is expected to impact this sequestration as well as have consequences for regional and global climates through its effect on the poleward transport of warm water. Motivated by the need for a mechanistic understanding of the AMOC, an international community has assembled an observing system, Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic (OSNAP), to provide a continuous record of the trans-basin fluxes of heat, mass and freshwater and to link that record to convective activity and water mass transformation at high latitudes. OSNAP, in conjunction with the RAPID/MOCHA array at 26°N and other observational elements, will provide a comprehensive measure of the three-dimensional AMOC and an understanding of what drives its variability. The OSNAP observing system was fully deployed in the summer of 2014 and the first OSNAP data products are expected in the fall of 2017

Meridional overturning circulation observed by the OSNAP (Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) array from August 2014 to May 2018

An international effort, Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP), is a partnership among oceanographers from the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and China whose goal is to measure and understand what drives the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) and its variability. OSNAP is consisted of more than 53 moorings that stretch from Labrador to Greenland to Scotland, providing a continuous record of the full water column, trans-basin volume transports in the subpolar North Atlantic. The first 4 years of data (August 2014 - May 2018) from the full OSNAP array has been used to produce the 30-day mean estimates of the MOC at OSNAP. All data are freely available from www.o-snap.org

Institutional adaptation: Demands for management reform and university administration

Higher education organizations around the world have always faced environmental changes. However, in the past decade altered societal expectations, new public policies, and technological innovations have created an unprecedented set of challenges for universities. Although the borders of universities have opened in new ways for thei