@article {goldsworth_destratifying_2024,
	title = {Destratifying and Restratifying Instabilities During Down-Front Wind Events: A Case Study in the Irminger Sea},
	journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans},
	volume = {129},
	number = {2},
	year = {2024},
	note = {_eprint: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2023JC020365},
	pages = {e2023JC020365},
	abstract = {Observations indicate that symmetric instability is active in the East Greenland Current during strong northerly wind events. Theoretical considerations suggest that mesoscale baroclinic instability may also be enhanced during these events. An ensemble of idealized numerical ocean models forced with northerly winds shows that the short time-scale response (from 10 days to 3 weeks) to the increased baroclinicity of the flow is the excitation of symmetric instability, which sets the potential vorticity of the flow to zero. The high latitude of the current means that the zero potential vorticity state has low stratification, and symmetric instability destratifies the water column. On longer time scales (greater than 4 weeks), baroclinic instability is excited and the associated slumping of isopycnals restratifies the water column. Eddy-resolving models that fail to resolve the submesoscale should consider using submesoscale parameterizations to prevent the formation of overly stratified frontal systems following down-front wind events. The mixed layer in the current deepens at a rate proportional to the square root of the time-integrated wind stress. Peak water mass transformation rates vary linearly with the time-integrated wind stress. Mixing rates saturate at high wind stresses during wind events of a fixed duration which means increasing the peak wind stress in an event leads to no extra mixing. Using ERA5 reanalysis data we estimate that between 0.9 Sv and 1.0 Sv of East Greenland Coastal Current Waters are produced by mixing with lighter surface waters during wintertime due to down-front wind events. Similar amounts of East Greenland-Irminger Current water are produced.},
	keywords = {Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, East Greenland Current, mixing, sub-polar North Atlantic, symmetric instability, water mass transformation},
	issn = {2169-9291},
	doi = {10.1029/2023JC020365},
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2023JC020365},
	author = {Goldsworth, F. W. and Johnson, H. L. and Marshall, D. P. and Le Bras, I. A.}
}
@article {le_bras_slantwise_2022,
	title = {Slantwise Convection in the Irminger Sea},
	journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans},
	volume = {127},
	number = {10},
	year = {2022},
	note = {_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2022JC019071},
	pages = {e2022JC019071},
	abstract = {The subpolar North Atlantic is a site of significant carbon dioxide, oxygen, and heat exchange with the atmosphere. This exchange, which regulates transient climate change and prevents large-scale hypoxia throughout the North Atlantic, is thought to be mediated by vertical mixing in the ocean{\textquoteright}s surface mixed layer. Here we present observational evidence that waters deeper than the conventionally defined mixed layer are affected directly by atmospheric forcing in this region. When northerly winds blow along the Irminger Sea{\textquoteright}s western boundary current, the Ekman response pushes denser water over lighter water, potentially triggering slantwise convection. We estimate that this down-front wind forcing is four times stronger than air{\textendash}sea heat flux buoyancy forcing and can mix waters to several times the conventionally defined mixed layer depth. Slantwise convection is not included in most large-scale ocean models, which likely limits their ability to accurately represent subpolar water mass transformations and deep ocean ventilation.},
	keywords = {13 Climate Action},
	issn = {2169-9291},
	doi = {10.1029/2022JC019071},
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2022JC019071},
	author = {Le Bras, I. A.-A. and Callies, J. and Straneo, F. and Bil{\'o}, T. C. and Holte, J. and Johnson, H. L.}
}
@article {RN71,
	title = {A sea change in our view of overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic},
	journal = {Science},
	volume = {363},
	number = {6426},
	year = {2019},
	pages = {516},
	type = {Journal Article},
	abstract = {To provide an observational basis for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections of a slowing Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the 21st century, the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) observing system was launched in the summer of 2014. The first 21-month record reveals a highly variable overturning circulation responsible for the majority of the heat and freshwater transport across the OSNAP line. In a departure from the prevailing view that changes in deep water formation in the Labrador Sea dominate MOC variability, these results suggest that the conversion of warm, salty, shallow Atlantic waters into colder, fresher, deep waters that move southward in the Irminger and Iceland basins is largely responsible for overturning and its variability in the subpolar basin.},
	doi = {10.1126/science.aau6592},
	url = {http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6426/516.abstract},
	author = {Lozier, M. S. and Li, F. and Bacon, S. and Bahr, F. and Bower, A. S. and Cunningham, S. A. and de Jong, M. F. and de Steur, L. and deYoung, B. and Fischer, J. and Gary, S. F. and Greenan, B. J. W. and Holliday, N. P. and Houk, A. and Houpert, L. and Inall, M. E. and Johns, W. E. and Johnson, H. L. and Johnson, C. and Karstensen, J. and Koman, G. and Le Bras, I. A. and Lin, X. and Mackay, N. and Marshall, D. P. and Mercier, H. and Oltmanns, M. and Pickart, R. S. and Ramsey, A. L. and Rayner, D. and Straneo, F. and Thierry, V. and Torres, D. J. and Williams, R. G. and Wilson, C. and Yang, J. and Yashayaev, I. and Zhao, J.}
}
