<p>The present thesis deals with the ocean circulation from two viewpoints: <i>Pro primo</i>, the dependence of the global thermohaline ocean circulation (THC) on the parameterization of the small-scale vertical mixing processes in the interior of the ocean, and, <i>pro secundo</i>, the dynamics of the circulation in the Nordic Seas. The THC is found be crucially dependent on the parameterization of the small-scale vertical mixing, two types of which have been compared: The commonly used constant diffusivity and a, physically more plausible, stability-dependent parameterization. For constant diffusivity the circulation weakens when the equator-to-pole surface density difference is decreased, consonant with commonly held prejudices. However, for stability-dependent diffusivity the circulation is enhanced. This conclusion has been reached using two investigative techniques, viz. a scale analysis as well as a numerical zonally-averaged and equatorially symmetric THC model. However, if asymmetric flows are considered, the dynamics become more complex to interpret. It has, nevertheless, been concluded that when the degree of asymmetry of the surface-density distribution is taken to be fixed, the response of the circulation to changes of the surface-density distribution corresponds to that from the symmetric investigation.</p><p>The studies of the Nordic Seas are mainly based on satellite-altimetric data providing Sea-Level Anomalies (SLAs). These are utilized to estimate the seasonal cycle as well as the inter-annual variability of the depth-integrated flows. The seasonal cycle is examined using the winter-to-summer difference of the barotropic flow, with focus on the entire region as well as on two sections extending from a common point in the central Norwegian Sea to Svinøy on the Norwegian coast and to the Faroe Islands, respectively. The total barotropic transport is estimated to be around 10 Sv larger during winter than in summer, of which 8 Sv are associated with the barotropic re-circulation gyre in the interior of the Norwegian Sea, the remainder being linked to the Atlantic inflow across the Iceland-Scotland Ridge. The inter-annual variability of the circulation in the Nordic Seas is investigated on the basis of a theoretical analysis permitting independent calculation of the barotropic flow along closed isobaths using SLA data as well as wind data. The barotropic flow based on SLA data is found to co-vary with the flow estimated using wind data.</p>

The present thesis deals with the ocean circulation from two viewpoints: Pro primo, the dependence of the global thermohaline ocean circulation (THC) on the parameterization of the small-scale vertical mixing processes in the interior of the ocean, and, pro secundo, the dynamics of the circulation in the Nordic Seas. The THC is found be crucially dependent on the parameterization of the small-scale vertical mixing, two types of which have been compared: The commonly used constant diffusivity and a, physically more plausible, stability-dependent parameterization. For constant diffusivity the circulation weakens when the equator-to-pole surface density difference is decreased, consonant with commonly held prejudices. However, for stability-dependent diffusivity the circulation is enhanced. This conclusion has been reached using two investigative techniques, viz. a scale analysis as well as a numerical zonally-averaged and equatorially symmetric THC model. However, if asymmetric flows are considered, the dynamics become more complex to interpret. It has, nevertheless, been concluded that when the degree of asymmetry of the surface-density distribution is taken to be fixed, the response of the circulation to changes of the surface-density distribution corresponds to that from the symmetric investigation. The studies of the Nordic Seas are mainly based on satellite-altimetric data providing Sea-Level Anomalies (SLAs). These are utilized to estimate the seasonal cycle as well as the inter-annual variability of the depth-integrated flows. The seasonal cycle is examined using the winter-to-summer difference of the barotropic flow, with focus on the entire region as well as on two sections extending from a common point in the central Norwegian Sea to Svinøy on the Norwegian coast and to the Faroe Islands, respectively. The total barotropic transport is estimated to be around 10 Sv larger during winter than in summer, of which 8 Sv are associated with the barotropic re-circulation gyre in the interior of the Norwegian Sea, the remainder being linked to the Atlantic inflow across the Iceland-Scotland Ridge. The inter-annual variability of the circulation in the Nordic Seas is investigated on the basis of a theoretical analysis permitting independent calculation of the barotropic flow along closed isobaths using SLA data as well as wind data. The barotropic flow based on SLA data is found to co-vary with the flow estimated using wind data.

The Nordic Seas region marks a transitional zone between the temperate North Atlantic Ocean and the polar Arctic Ocean. The influence of contrasting fluxes of organic matter on benthic community structure and function within the deep waters of the region were investigated. Samples of the macrofaunal community were collated throughout the region employing a standardised method. In the summer of 2002, during the RRS James Clark Ross 75 cruise, replicated samples were obtained with the SMBA multiple corer and the USNEL boxcorer from four stations located at similar sampling depths along a latitudinal transect at the Norwegian Sea continental margin. Additional replicated samples were obtained with a megacorer at six stations located along two bathymetric transects across the Norwegian Sea continental margin in the summer of 2005 during the RRS James Clark Ross 127 cruise. Contrasting fluxes of organic matter influenced benthic community structure, functional ecology and bioturbation potential. Species known to adopt the feeding strategy of the sub-surface storage of organic matter occurred in areas characterised by a seasonal input of organic matter. Species richness and diversity was highest at the Svalbard Margin, located within the marginal ice zone. Bathymetric patterns of macrofaunal biomass were comparable with previously reported global patterns. However, bathymetric patterns of macrofaunal abundance were higher than global patterns. The previously reported rapid subduction of organic matter by the sipunculan Nephasoma sp. and associated deep burrow networks on the Voring Plateau was linked to the species Nephasoma lilljeborgi. It is proposed that N. lilljeborgi is an ecosystem engineer.

No description available.

The circulation and gradual transformation in properties of oceanic water masses is a matter of great interest for short-term weather and biological forecasting, as well as long-term climate change. It is usually agreed that the Nordic Seas between Greenland and Norway are key to these transformations since they are an important producer of dense water, a process central to the theory of the global thermohaline circulation. In this study, one component of this deep water is examined – that formed in the Nordic Seas themselves from the inflowing North Atlantic Current. Using Lagrangian particle tracking applied to a 50-year global ocean hindcast simulation, it is concluded that only about 6% of the inflowing North Atlantic Current is thus transformed, and that most of these transformations occur in boundary currents. Furthermore, it is found that the densified North Atlantic water attains only medium depths instead of joining the deep overflows. The model’s poor representation of vertical mixing, however, limits the applicability of this study to deep water formation.

La variabilité de l’intensité du flux d’eaux atlantiques et de la nature des masses d’eau de surface le long des marges occidentales de la Norvège, de la mer de Barents et du Svalbard a été reconstituée sur la base des assemblages de coccolithes et dinokystes présents dans cinq carottes sédimentaires marines représentatives de l’Holocène terminal. Les résultats sont présentés sous la forme de reconstructions qualitatives et quantitatives (fonctions de transfert MAT) à haute résolution temporelle (échelle décennale à sub-séculaire). Un travail visantà valider les traceurs micropaléontologiques utilisés a été réalisé en parallèle à l’objectif principal, et s’est en particulier nourri de la collecte et de l’examen de populations vivantes distribuées le long de plusieurs transectszonaux en mer de Norvège, mer d’Islande et à travers le détroit de Fram.Nos résultats indiquent que la partie orientale des mers Nordiques (66 à 77°N) a été sujette à une tendance globale à l’augmentation du flux d’eaux atlantiques (AW) au cours des derniers 3000 ans. La dynamique récente de ce flux méridien est supposée répondre à la modulation long-terme de la force et de la localisation de la ceinture des vents d’ouest qui est essentiellement pilotée par l’Oscillation Nord Atlantique. Ce même mécanisme atmosphérique réconcilie le déplacement zonal et contradictoire du front arctique entre le domaine ouest-norvégien, et les façades occidentales de la mer de Barents et du détroit de Fram. La variabilité rapide du flux d’AW reproduit la succession des phases climatiques historiques classiques chaudes (Période Chaude Romaine, Période Chaude Médiévale, Période Moderne : flux accentué d’AW) et froides (Période Sombre, Petit Age Glaciaire : flux réduit d’AW) des derniers 2500 ans. Un événènement rapide de renforcement du flux d’AW en mers Nordiques a été identifié pendant le Petit Age Glaciaire entre 330 et 410 ans BP (cal.). Nos résultats indiquent que les variations d’intensité du flux d’AW vers l’Océan Arctique ont eu un impact majeur sur la distribution de la glace de mer arctique au cours du dernier millier d’années, les variations reconstruites de l’extension du couvert de glace à l’echelle de l’océan arctique étant parfaitement corrélées (échelle subséculaire) avec nos reconstructions qualitatives de la dynamique de l’AW au large du Svalbard et de la mer de Barents. La diminution importante de l’extension de la banquise durant le 20ème siècle est synchrone d’un flux record d’AW à travers le détroit de Fram, flux qui, d’après nos données, est sans précédent pour les derniers 3000 ans. / Five marine sediment cores distributed along the Norwegian, western Barents Sea, and Svalbard continental margins have been investigated in order to reconstruct late Holocene changes in the poleward flow of the Norwegian Atlantic Current (NwAC) and West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) and the nature of the upper surface water masses within the eastern Nordic Seas. This research project is based on the use of dinocyst and coccolith assemblages for qualitative and quantitative reconstructions of surface water conditions from high resolution sediment cores, and involve upstream investigations on proxy reliabilities. The investigated area (66 to 77°N) was affected by an overall increase in the strength of the AW flow from 3000 cal. yrs BP to the Present. The long-term modulation of westerlies strength and location which are essentially driven by the dominant mode of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), is thought to explain the observed dynamics of the AW flow. The same mechanism also reconciles the recorded opposite zonal shifts in the location of the Arctic Front between the area off western Norway and the western Barents Sea-eastern Fram Strait region. Submillenial changes in AW flow are organised according to known pre-Anthropocene warm (RWP, MCA and the Modern period: strong poleward flow) and cold (LIA, DA: weak poleward flow) climatic spells. A sudden short pulse of resumed high WSC flow interrupted the LIA in the eastern Nordic Seas from 330 to 410 cal. yrs BP. Our results are indicative of a major impact of AW flow dynamics on the Arctic sea ice distribution during the last millenium, when changes in reconstructed sea-ice extent are negatively correlated with the strength of the WSC flow off western Barents Sea and western Svalbard. The extensive decrease in sea ice extent during the last century is synchronous with an exceptional increase in AW flow. The previously reconstructed high amplitude warming of surface waters in eastern Fram Strait at the turn of the 19th century was therefore primarily induced by an excess flow of AW which stands as unprecedented over the last 3000 years.

Two long-lived halogen radionuclides (36Cl, T1/2 = 301 kyr, and 129I, T1/2 = 15.7 Myr) have been studied by means of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) at the Uppsala Tandem Laboratory. The 36Cl measurements in natural samples using a medium-sized tandem accelerator (~1 MeV/amu) have been considered. A gas-filled magnetic spectrometer (GFM) was proposed for the separation of 36Cl from its isobar, 36S. Semi-empirical Monte-Carlo ion optical calculations were conducted to define optimal conditions for separating 36Cl and 36S. A 180° GFM was constructed and installed at the dedicated AMS beam line. 129I has been measured in waters from the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. Most of the 129I currently present in the Earth's surface environment can be traced back to liquid and gaseous releases from the nuclear reprocessing facilities at Sellafield (UK) and La Hague (France). The anthropogenic 129I inventory in the central Arctic Ocean was found to increase proportionally to the integrated 129I releases from these reprocessing facilities. The interaction and origin of water masses in the region have been clearly distinguished with the help of 129I labeling. Predictions based on a compartment model calculation showed that the Atlantic Ocean and deep Arctic Ocean are the major sinks for the reprocessed 129I. The variability in 129I concentration measured in seawater along a transect from the Baltic Sea to the North Atlantic suggests strong enrichment in the Skagerrak–Kattegat basin. The 129I inventory in the Baltic and Bothnian Seas is equal to ~0.3% of the total liquid releases from the reprocessing facilities. A lake sediment core sampled in northeastern Ireland was analyzed for 129I to study the history of the Sellafield releases, in particular the nuclear accident of 1957. High 129I concentration was observed corresponding to 1990 and later, while no indication of the accident was found. The results of this thesis research clearly demonstrate the uniqueness and future potential of 129I as a tracer of processes in both marine and continental archives.

La dernière période glaciaire a été ponctuée d’évènements climatiques abrupts connus sous le nom d’évènements d’Heinrich et évènements de Dansgaard-Oeschger. Cette variabilité millénaire a fait l’objet de nombreuses études, mais plusieurs incertitudes demeurent. Ce travail de doctorat vise à étendre et compléter les connaissances existantes sur cette variabilité climatique rapide en ciblant l’étude des variations hydrographiques telles qu’enregistrées au sein de deux archives sédimentaires prélevées au niveau des îles Féroé. Nos principaux résultats, basés sur une approche intégrée multiproxies, mettent en évidence un schéma atypique en Mer de Norvège, où les épisodes froids (stadiaires, évènements d’Heinrich inclus) sont marqués par des températures océaniques de surface relativement élevées (notamment en été) et un couvert de glace de mer réduit à quelques mois par an, et inversement pour les périodes chaudes (interstadiaires) qui enregistrent des conditions océaniques de surface froides et une expansion du couvert de glace de mer. Le caractère atypique des stadiaires paraît lié à une advection accrue d’eaux chaudes atlantiques dans les Mers Nordiques, couplée à un réchauffement de subsurface généralisé au bassin subpolaire Nord-Atlantique et ses mers bordières. Ces deux processus semblent jouer un rôle majeur dans la déstabilisation des ice-shelves et glaciers boréaux, et in fine dans leur effondrement final et les débâcles d’icebergs qui en résultent. Nos travaux nous permettent également de dégager les principaux mécanismes à l’origine des changements de circulation océanique en Atlantique Nord et des variations de température atmosphérique associées. Sur la base de l’ensemble de nos résultats et de ceux émanant de précédentes études, nous proposons ainsi un nouveau scénario de fonctionnement couplé océan-glace-atmosphère permettant d’expliquer les évènements climatiques abrupts de la dernière période glaciaire. / The last glacial period was punctuated by abrupt climatic events known as Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events. Many studies have focused on this millennial climatic variability, but several uncertainties remain. The present work aims at improving our knowledge on this topic through the study of the hydrographical changes recorded in two marine archives retrieved off Faeroes. Our main results, based on a multiproxy approach, reveal a paradoxical scheme in the Norwegian Sea where cold episodes (stadials, including Heinrich events) are characterized by relatively warm sea-surface temperatures (especially during summer) and a reduced sea-ice cover, and warm periods (interstadials) are marked by a reverse pattern with cold sea surface conditions and extended sea ice cover. The atypical stadial features seem to be related to enhanced advection of warm Atlantic waters in the Nordic Seas, combined to a subpolar North-Atlantic and adjacent seas basin-wide subsurface warming. These two processes seem to play a key role in the destabilization of boreal ice-shelves and ice-sheets, and in fine to their final collapse and subsequent iceberg discharges. Our work also allows us to identify the main mechanisms responsible for Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation changes and associated atmospheric temperature variations. On the basis of our results and of those coming from previous studies, we thus propose a new hydrographical scenario which could explain the abrupt climate events of the last glacial period

Le but de cette thèse est d’analyser les impacts de la variabilité atmosphérique grande échelle sur la circulation océanique. Ceci a déjà fait l’objet de nombreuses publications, dans lesquelles la variabilité atmosphérique est analysée en termes de modes de variabilité, déterminés par analyse en composantes principales (EOF en anglais) des anomalies de pression de surface. Ces modes sont l’Oscillation Nord-Atlantic (NAO), le Pattern Est-Atlantique (EAP) et le Pattern Scandinave (SCAN). La décomposition en EOF implique que les modes sont orthogonaux et symétriques. Cette dernière hypothèse a été montrée comme étant invalide pour la NAO. Par conséquent, un nouveau concept est proposé dans cette étude pour estimer la variabilité atmosphérique, celui des régimes de temps. Ces derniers sont des structures spatiales de grande échelle, récurrents et quasi-Stationnaires qui permettent de capturer la variabilité des forçages atmosphériques. De plus, ils permettent de séparer les patterns spatiaux des deux phases de la NAO. Ces régimes de temps sont donc une alternative prometteuse pour l’analyse de la variabilité océanique forcée par l’atmosphère. A partir d’observation et de modèles numériques (réalistes ou idéalisés), nous avons montré que les régimes Atlantic Ridge (AR), NAO− et NAO+ induisent une réponse rapide (échelles mensuelles à interannuelles) des gyres subtropical et subpolaire (via un mécanisme de Sverdrup topographique) et de la cellule de retournement (MOC, ajustement aux anomalies de transport d’Ekman). Aux échelles décennales, le gyre subpolaire s’intensifie lors de conditions NAO+ et BLK persistantes via un ajustement barocline aux flux de flottabilité et s’affaiblit pour AR via un ajustement barocline aux anomalies de rotationnel de vent. Ce dernier mécanisme explique aussi l’augmentation du gyre subtropical pour une NAO+ persistante et son affaiblissement pour un AR persistant. La réponse des gyres pour des conditions de NAO− persistantes est un déplacement vers le sud des gyres (l’intergyre gyre). L’intensité de la MOC est augmentée pour des conditions de NAO+ et BLK persistantes, dû à l’augmentation de la formation d’eau dense en mer du Labrador, et inversement pour NAO− et AR. Finalement, des bilans de contenu de chaleur dans la gyre subpolaire et les mers nordiques ont été effectués dans quatre modèles océaniques globaux. Les moyennes d’hiver de convergence océanique de chaleur dans la partie ouest de la gyre subpolaire sont positivement corrélées aux occurrences d’hiver de NAO−, ce qui est dû à la présence de l’intergyre, tandis que cette convergence est négativement corrélée aux occurrences d’AR, ce qui est dû à la réduction des deux gyres qui lui est associée. Les flux de chaleur vers l’océan dans la gyre subpolaire sont négativement corrélés aux occurrences d’hiver de la NAO+ et inversement pour la NAO−. Dans les mers Nordiques, ils sont positivement corrélés aux occurrences de BLK et, dans une moindre mesure, aux occurrences de AR. De plus, nous suggérons que la variabilité du contenu de chaleur dans la partie ouest du gyre subpolaire est la réponse décalée (lag de 6 ans) à l’intégration temporelle du forçage lié au régime NAO+, due à la combinaison de la réponse en phase (0-Lag) des flux de chaleur et à la réponse décalée (lag de 3 ans) de la convergence de chaleur. / The aim of the PhD is to investigate the impacts of the large-Scale atmospheric variability on the North- Atlantic ocean circulation. This question has already been addressed in a large number of studies, in which the atmospheric variability is decomposed into modes of variability, determined by decomposing sea-Level pressure anomalies into Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOFs). These modes of variability are the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the East-Atlantic Pattern (EAP) and the Scandinavian Pattern (SCAN). EOF decomposition assumes that the modes are orthogonal and symmetric. The latter assumption, however, has been shown to be inadequate for the NAO. Hence, a different framework is used in this study to assess the atmospheric variability, the so-Called weather regimes. These are large-Scale, recurrent and quasi-Stationary atmospheric patterns that have been shown to capture well the interannual and decadal variability of atmospheric forcing to the ocean. Furthermore, they allow to separate the spatial patterns of the positive and negative NAO phases. Hence, these weather regimes are a promising alternative to modes of variability in the study of the ocean response to atmospheric variability. Using observations and numerical models (realistic or in idealised settings), we have shown that the Atlantic Ridge (AR), NAO− and NAO+ regimes drive a fast (monthly to interannual) wind-Driven response of the subtropical and subpolar gyres (topographic Sverdrup balance) and of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC, driven by Ekman transport anomalies). At decadal timescales, the subpolar gyre strengthens for persistent NAO+ and Scandinavian Blocking (BLK) conditions via baroclinic adjustment to buoyancy fluxes and slackens for persistent AR conditions via baroclinic adjustment to wind-Stress curl anomalies. The latter mechanism also accounts for the strengthening of the subtropical gyre for persistent NAO+ conditions and its weakening for persistent AR conditions. The gyres response to persistent NAO− conditions reflects the southward shift of the gyre system (the intergyre gyre). The MOC spins-Up for persistent NAO+ and BLK conditions via increased deep water formation in the Labrador Sea, and conversely for the NAO− and AR regimes. Last, heat budget calculations in the subpolar gyre and the Nordic Seas have been performed using four global ocean hindcasts. The winter averaged heat convergence in the western subpolar gyre is positively correlated with the NAO− winter occurrences, which is due to the intergyregyre circulation, while it is negatively correlated with AR winter occurrences, because of the wind-Driven reduction of both gyres. Downward surface heat flux anomalies are negatively correlated with NAO+ occurrences, and conversely for the NAO−. In the Nordic Seas, they are positively correlated with BLK and to a lesser extent AR occurrences. Furthermore, we suggest that the heat content variability in the western subpolar gyre is the signature of the delayed response (6-Year lag) to the time-Integrated NAO+ forcing, due to the combination of the immediate (0-Lag) response of surface heat flux and the lagged (3 year lag) response of ocean heat convergence.

No description available.