This workshop brought together groups from 9 European institutions and 6 European countries to promote closer collaboration between the groups making moored and other observations along the eastern boundary of the subpolar North Atlantic.

The workshop was a collaboration of three EU-funded projects, Blue-Action and ATLAS, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 727852 (Blue-Action) and No 678760 (ATLAS) and the A4 project (Aigéin, Aeráid, Agus athrú Atlantaigh—Oceans, Climate, and Atlantic Change), funded by the Irish Marine Institute and the European Regional Development fund (grant: PBA/CC/18/01).

The workshop was held on 14 October 2019 in Edinburgh (UK), at the Hudson Beare Building, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh University.

The eastern boundary of the subpolar North Atlantic has shown some striking changes in recent years, with the freshest ever salinities recorded and cooler than average temperatures. Whether these changes are part of a cycle of Atlantic oscillations or the first indications of a long-term change in the supply of heat and salt to the subpolar gyre is hotly debated. The eastern subpolar gyre is a region where ocean circulation is better observed now than ever before, with the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (GSR), OSNAP, and NOAC mooring arrays, the latter soon to be extended onto the Irish shelf as part of the EirOOS project.

Presentations

Collection of the workshop's presentations available in Zenodo 

Introduction to the observing arrays:

  • NOAC (Martin Moritz, BSH)
  • Greenland-Scotland Ridge (Berit Rabe, MSS)

Observing the Slope Current:

  • The European Slope Current (Martin White, NUIG),
  • Observing and Understanding the Slope Current (Marie Porter and Neil Fraser, SAMS),
  • Decadal predictions (Andre Duesterhus, NUIM)

Modelling in the Eastern Subpolar Gyre:

  • Modelling the Slope Current (Bob Marsh, Univ. Southampton),
  • Nested models on the shelf (Tomasz Dubrowski, Irish Marine Institute)

Workshop report

Full version of the workshop report (D6.3) available in Zenodo

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