大象传媒

Main objectives:聽The overturning that takes place within the Nordic Seas impacts the world ocean and is of key importance for the North Atlantic climate system. Warm Gulf Stream-origin waters flow northward across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge into the Nordic Seas, release heat to the atmosphere, and are transformed into cold, dense waters. These waters return southward at depth by flowing through gaps in the ridge as overflow plumes.聽In a warming climate with reduced sea-ice extent, this overturning is projected to weaken.聽Contrary to this established view, the main hypothesis of the ROVER project is that聽an overlooked, climate-change induced mechanism may impart resilience to the overturning:聽As the sea ice recedes, increasing stretches of the boundary current system around the Nordic Seas and Arctic聽Ocean become exposed to the atmosphere. The resulting increased ocean heat loss in winter further densifies聽the water in the boundary current, which is a direct pathway supplying the lower limb of the overturning circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. Enhanced聽dense-water formation is counter-intuitive in a warming climate, but聽has the potential to safeguard the northern overturning and maintain a steady supply of dense water.聽In the ROVER project we explore this concept through an extensive field campaign combined with high-resolution realistic and idealized modeling.聽In particular, we aim to document the occurrence of water mass transformation in the boundary current system, understand its dynamics, quantify its extent, and assess its climatic importance.聽

Funding:聽Consolidator Grant from the

Project period: 2024 - 2028

Project coordinator: Kjetil V氓ge

Relevant publications:
- Moore et al (2022):

- V氓ge et al. (2018):

ROVER in the media:
Will explore the resilience of ocean currents

Open positions:
Please contact Kjetil V氓ge if you are interested in joining the group as a post doc or a graduate student.