North Atlantic Deep Water

The North Atlantic Deep Water is a water mass, buit in the Atlantic Ocean. It is largely formed in the Labrador Sea and in the Greenland Sea, where the North Atlantic drift ends in the northeast Atlantic (northeast of Iceland) by the sinking of dense overflow water from the Greenland Sea. It runs around the southern end of Greenland and then follows the coast of Canada down to the coast of the United States where it turns a bit east, out from the coast and then continues southeast, past the eastern tip of South America. An oceanographic water mass is an identifiable body of water which has physical properties distinct from surrounding water. ... Labrador Sea is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between Labrador and Greenland. ... The Greenland Sea is an area of the Arctic Ocean between Greenland, Jan Mayen and Iceland. ... The North Atlantic drift is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. ... The Greenland Sea is an area of the Arctic Ocean between Greenland, Jan Mayen and Iceland. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

The North Atlantic Deep Water forms a cold stream that runs about 2-4 kilometers below the surface along the western continental shelf (Deep Western Boundary Current). The motion of it pulls the waters of the North Atlantic drift northward. From this current it spreads over wide areas of North and South Atlantic. NADW is the biggest Water Mass in the World Ocean, one can identify it in the Indian Ocean and still in the Southern Pacific. The North Atlantic drift is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. ...

It has been shown that the North Atlantic Deep Water has shut down in the past (such as during the Younger Dryas), and that this decreases the strength of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic drift, in turn cooling the climate of northwestern Europe. There is concern that global warming might cause this to happen again. The Younger Dryas stadial, named after the alpine / tundra wildflower Dryas octopetala, and also referred to as the Big Freeze [1], was a brief cold climate period following the Bölling/Allerød interstadial at the end of the Pleistocene, and preceding the Preboreal of the early Holocene. ... For the album by Ocean Colour Scene, see North Atlantic Drift (album) The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. ... The North Atlantic drift is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. ... World map showing location of Europe When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2004 Mean temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is a term used to describe the increase over time of the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans. ...

Its formation more in detail

The NADW is distinguishable into three different subtypes of water masses.

The upper one is Labrador Sea Water, formed due to preconditioning in the labrador sea. This water partwise recirculates in the Labrador Sea while sinking. (Other parts of Labrador Sea Water spreads over the whole northern atlantic.) After recirculation it enters the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) between 1600 and 2500 m depth. The Formation of LSW is seasonal and occurs not every year. There seems to be a correlation to the state of the NAO. Categories: Stub | Ship types ...

The lower is the INADW (Inner NADW) or DSOW (Denmark Strait Overflow Water). This water overflows the Denmark Strait, entraining water from its surrounding. Leaving the Greenland Sea with 2,5 sv its flow increases to 10 sv south of Greenland. It is cold and relatively fresh, flowing below 3500 m in the DWBC.

The third water origins from the Greenland Sea, too, but it leaves the basin between Iceland and Scotland. While flowing southward it entrains Mediterranean and (upper) Labrador Sea Water, thus it gets more warm but salty. It passes the Gibbs Fracture Zone to the Irminger sea, therefore it is called Gibbs Fracture Zone Water GFZW, and arranges in the DWBC between 2500 and 3500 m.