Transient Tracers in the Davis Strait
ETH Zurich
Lay summary
Oceans are in constant movement driven by differences in the water temperature and salinity as well as by strong winds. Oceans thereby act much like a conveyor belt transporting heat, nutrients, and CO2 across the World oceans. As oceans are warming, the Arctic and subpolar North Atlantic are changing at unprecedented rates, and it is now crucial to understand the circulation pathways of water entering and exiting the Arctic Ocean to comprehend the nature of changes. One outflow of the Arctic to the subpolar North Atlantic is the Davis Strait between Canada and Greenland. Waters exiting the Arctic Ocean through the Davis Strait ultimately reach the Labrador Sea, a well-known area for the formation of intermediate water that feeds into the North Atlantic. The Davis Strait is also streamed with waters entering from the Labrador Sea, which may mix with the outflowing Arctic water, changing its initial properties. The project “Transient Tracers in the Davis Strait” aims to better understand circulation patterns and mixing of waters outflowing the Arctic and recirculating from the Labrador Sea. To understand the transient nature of waters in the Davis Strait we will use anthropogenic formed isotopes of iodine and uranium, which are released to the North Sea from Nuclear Reprocessing Plants in France and UK. To this purpose, seawater samples will be collected during a research cruise onboard the RV Neil Armstrong in September 2022, and results will complement other tracer studies in the Arctic Ocean and Subpolar North Atlantic.
Details
| Regional focus | Arctic |
| Location | Davis Strait, transect(s) between Greenland and Baffin Island |
| Funded amount | 11,240 CHF |
| Project dates | 1st July 2022 – 1st May 2023 |
| Category | Polar Access Fund |