Atlantic Water in the Nordic Seas: Properties, Variability, Climatic Importance PDF
Preview Atlantic Water in the Nordic Seas: Properties, Variability, Climatic Importance
GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences Waldemar Walczowski Atlantic Water in the Nordic Seas Properties, Variability, Climatic Importance GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences Editor-in-Chief Paweł Rowin´ski Series Editors Marek Banaszkiewicz Janusz Pempkowiak Marek Lewandowski For furthervolumes: http://www.springer.com/series/8821 Waldemar Walczowski Atlantic Water in the Nordic Seas Properties, Variability, Climatic Importance 123 Waldemar Walczowski Instituteof Oceanology, Physical Oceanography PolishAcademy ofSciences Sopot,Pomorskie Poland The GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences Book Series is in part a continuation of Monographic Volumes of Publications of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, the journal publishedsince1962(http://pub.igf.edu.pl/index.php). ISSN 2190-5193 ISSN 2190-5207 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-01278-0 ISBN 978-3-319-01279-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01279-7 SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013944781 (cid:2)SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2014 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purposeofbeingenteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthe work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of theCopyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the CopyrightClearanceCenter.ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityfor anyerrorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,with respecttothematerialcontainedherein. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Series Editors Geophysics: Paweł Rowin´ski Editor-in-Chief Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences ul. Ks. Janusza 64 01-452 Warszawa, Poland [email protected] Space Sciences: Marek Banaszkiewicz Space Research Centre Polish Academy of Sciences ul. Bartycka 18A 00-716 Warszawa, Poland Oceanology: Janusz Pempkowiak Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences Powstan´ców Warszawy 55 81-712 Sopot, Poland Geology: Marek Lewandowski Institute of Geological Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences ul. Twarda 51/55 00-818 Warszawa, Poland Managing Editor Anna Dziembowska Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences Advisory Editor Robert Anczkiewicz Bertrand Fritz Research Centre in Kraków Ecole et Observatoire des Institute of Geological Sciences Sciences de la Terre, Kraków, Poland Laboratoire d’Hydrologie et de Géochimie de Strasbourg Aleksander Brzezin´ski Université de Strasbourg et CNRS Space Research Centre Strasbourg, France Polish Academy of Sciences Warszawa, Poland Truls Johannessen Geophysical Institute Javier Cuadros University of Bergen Department of Mineralogy Bergen, Norway Natural History Museum London, UK Michael A. Kaminski Department of Earth Sciences Jerzy Dera University College London Institute of Oceanology London, UK Polish Academy of Sciences Sopot, Poland Andrzej Kijko Aon Benfield Evgeni Fedorovich Natural Hazards Research Centre School of Meteorology University of Pretoria University of Oklahoma Pretoria, South Africa Norman, USA Wolfgang Franke Francois Leblanc Geologisch-Paläntologisches Institut Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Observations Spatiales – CNRS/IPSL Frankfurt/Main, Germany Paris, France Kon-Kee Liu Tilman Spohn Institute of Hydrological Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- and Oceanic Sciences und Raumfahrt National Central University Jhongli in der Helmholtz Gemeinschaft Jhongli, Taiwan Institut für Planetenforschung Berlin, Germany Teresa Madeyska Research Centre in Warsaw Krzysztof Stasiewicz Institute of Geological Sciences Swedish Institute of Space Physics Warszawa, Poland Uppsala, Sweden Stanisław Massel Roman Teisseyre Institute of Oceanology Earth’s Interior Dynamics Lab Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Geophysics Sopot, Polska Polish Academy of Sciences Warszawa, Poland Antonio Meloni Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica Jacek Tronczynski Rome, Italy Laboratory of Biogeochemistry Evangelos Papathanassiou of Organic Contaminants Hellenic Centre for Marine Research IFREMER DCN_BE Anavissos, Greece Nantes, France Kaja Pietsch Steve Wallis AGH University of Science and School of the Built Environment Technology Heriot-Watt University Kraków, Poland Riccarton, Edinburgh Scotland, UK Dušan Plašienka Prírodovedecká fakulta, UK Wacław M. Zuberek Univerzita Komenského Department of Applied Geology Bratislava, Slovakia University of Silesia Sosnowiec, Poland Barbara Popielawska Space Research Centre Polish Academy of Sciences Warszawa, Poland It is evident that oceanographic conditions of the North Polar Basin have much influence on climate, and it is equally evident that changes in the conditions of circulation would greatly change the climatic conditions. Fridtjof Nansen (1902) (Polar Research, 2001, 20(2), p. 127) Preface Climatic changes observed in recent years are worrying. A few years ago it was not completely obvious whether the climate was actually getting warmer, or was just a temporary fluctuation. Today, we know that these are not just typical weather anomalies, as since 2001 each subsequent year has been almost the warmest year in the history of world meteorological measurements. We have evidence that it is getting warmer in the global scale and we—humans—are responsibleforthat.TheFourthAssessmentReportoftheIntergovernmentalPanel onClimateChange(IPCC)leavesverysmallmarginoferror.Theprobabilitythat the changes result from the greenhouse gas emission exceeds 90 % (IPCC AR4, 2007). While the direct causes of climate warming have been recognized, the mechanisms and long-term effects of the processes remain unknown or not com- pletely clear. The Earth’s climate turned out to be an extraordinarily complex phenomenon, affected by a great deal offactors and processes. One of the basic climate control factors,yetunderestimateduntilrecently,istheocean.Thesignificanceofthesea for mitigating climate has been always recognized—at the seaside winters are warmerandsummerscooler.TheroleoftheGulfStreaminwarmingtheAtlantic part of Europe was known. However, the ocean had not been treated as a primary global-scale climate control factor, affecting our planet in a very wide range of processes and various timescales. Only the recent decades, particularly the recent years of increased interest in the climate, has ignited a revolution, an upheaval in thinking about the ocean’srole,thequantityofheatitreceives,storesandtransports,andthepotential consequencesofhypotheticalchangeintheoceancirculationpattern.Itwasfound that the ocean affects climate notonly as an important ingredient of the planetary hydrographic and energy cycle, but also participates in the biogeochemical cycle, exchangeofgaswiththeatmospherewhich,inturn,affectsthegreenhouseeffect. Itis,forinstance,agreatreservoir,abufferwhichstoresthemostcommonandthe most dangerous greenhouse gas released by human civilization—carbon dioxide. In spite of the increasing recognition of the ocean’s role, even today, the most renownedreportconcerningtheclimate(AR4,IPCC,2007)containsthefollowing sentence:‘‘Althoughscientistsnowbetterappreciatethestrengthandvariabilityof theglobal-scaleoceancirculation,itsrolesinclimatearestillhotlydebated.Isita passive recipient of atmospheric forcing and so merely a diagnostic consequence xi xii Preface of climate change, or is it an active contributor?’’ Ocean researchers have no doubts: it is an extremely important and active climate control factor. The observedchangesinfluencetheoceanandtheoceanactivelyrespondstothemand modifies them. The Atlantic Arctic has a special role in the processes. Sopot, July 2008 Waldemar Walczowski
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