East Greenland Current - Current Research

Current Research

Current research for the EGC is focused on freshwater fluxes. Because the EGC runs through the Greenland Sea and eventually through the Labrador Sea (as the West Greenland Current) it can have strong implications for the strengthening and or weakening of deep water formations in the Greenland and Labrador Seas. The Meridional Overturning Circulation is a density driven circulation in which a small perturbation in the density field could easily slow down or speed up the deep water formation in the Nordic Seas. Jones et al. note that there are three different freshwater sources for the EGC: Pacific water, river runoff, and sea-ice meltwater. They find that the biggest contributor to the freshening of the EGC is due to river runoff, followed by Pacific water, and a distant last is sea-ice meltwater (nearly negligible). They find that even though these sources freshen the EGC, these specific sources do not penetrate very well into the central Greenland Sea where the deep convection takes place. They then decide that there must be some other freshwater influence in the central Greenland Sea. They believe it may be from solid sea ice being transported to the central Greenland Sea and then melting. Solid sea ice is very mobile, and winds can easily direct its flow along with ocean currents. Previous thoughts were that the recirculation of the EGC in the Greenland Sea via the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone helps lead to a freshening of the central Greenland Sea, however, Rudels et al. disproved this theory and said it must be due to solid sea ice melt and precipitation in the central Greenland Sea.