edu.ucar.opensky::articles:20882 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-26T02:31:01.271539 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d74m96z1 https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA/MODIS/L3M/CHL/2014 https Related Dataset #1 MODIS-Terra Level 3 Mapped Chlorophyll Data Version 2014 Interannual surface salinity on Northwest Atlantic shelf 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d74m96z1 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012580 Grodsky, S. A. author Reul, N. author Chapron, B. author Carton, J. A. author Bryan, Frank O. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher Sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Aquarius and SMOS satellite missions displays a steady increase of approximate to 1 psu over the entire northwestern Atlantic shelf south of Nova Scotia during 2011-2015. Put in the context of longer ocean profile data, the results suggest that mixed layer salinity and temperature north of the Gulf Stream experience positively correlated shelf-wide interannual oscillations (1 psu/2 degrees C). Salty and warm events occur coincident with anomalous easterly-southeasterly winds and Ekman transport counteracting the mean southwestward shelf currents. They are coincident with weakening of both branches of the Scotian Shelf Current (SSC), but only moderately correlate with shifts of the Gulf Stream North Wall. This suggests that salt advection by anomalous SSC acting on the mean salinity gradient is the primary driver regulating the transport of fresh/cold water from high latitudes. The advection mechanism imposes a connectedness of the larger-scale interannual variability in this region and its tie to atmospheric oscillations. In the second part, an analysis of 15 year-long numerical simulations is presented which show eight interannual salinity oscillations (positive and negative). Six of these are driven by horizontal advection by slow varying currents (>2 months), while two events are driven by horizontal eddy advection (<2 months). In line with observations, salt/warm model events correspond to anomalously weak SSC, correlate with southeasterly wind anomaly, and confirm that interannual horizontal salt advection drives interannual salinity. Indeed, vertical exchanges provide negative feedback, while interannual horizontal diffusion and the net surface salt flux anomalies are small. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. None eng geoscientificInformation