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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L16603, doi:10.1029/2007GL030126, 2007

Changes in freshwater content in the North Atlantic Ocean 1955–2006

Tim Boyer

National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA


Syd Levitus

National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA


John Antonov

National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA


Ricardo Locarnini

National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA


Alexey Mishonov

National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA


Hernan Garcia

National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA


Simon A. Josey

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Southampton, UK


Abstract

Freshwater content changes (FW) for the North Atlantic Ocean (NA) are calculated from in situ salinity profiles for the period 1955–2006 from the surface to 2,000 meters. Heat content (HC) is also calculated from in situ temperature profiles for comparison. A decrease in FW between 1955 and 2006 of ∼30,000 km3 is found for the NA, despite an increase in FW of ∼16,000 km3 in the subpolar North Atlantic (SNA) and Nordic Seas between the late 1960s and the early 1990s. Over the last two decades there is a pattern of decreasing FW in the upper 400 meters and increasing FW below 1,300 meters for the NA. FW and HC are strongly negatively correlated for both the SNA (r = −0.93) and the NA (r = −0.79). Net precipitation, from NCEP/NCAR, is found to have a strong influence on FW changes in the SNA but this relation is weaker elsewhere.

Received 23 March 2007; accepted 19 July 2007; published 21 August 2007.

Keywords: freshwater; Atlantic; salinity.

Index Terms: 4215 Oceanography: General: Climate and interannual variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 3309, 4513); 4513 Oceanography: Physical: Decadal ocean variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 4215); 4504 Oceanography: Physical: Air/sea interactions (0312, 3339).

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Citation: Boyer, T., S. Levitus, J. Antonov, R. Locarnini, A. Mishonov, H. Garcia, and S. A. Josey (2007), Changes in freshwater content in the North Atlantic Ocean 1955–2006, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16603, doi:10.1029/2007GL030126.