Scientists Identify New Ocean Current

Recently scientists have discovered a new ocean current. The previously unknown current is located off the coast of Iceland and was verified by a Woods Hole Oceanographic team lead by oceanographer Bob Pickart, The current is called the North Icelandic Jet current and has proven to be an important aspect in oceanic currents that transport equatorial heat to the North Atlantic therefore tempering the climate. During an expedition cruise on board the WHOI vessel Knorr, Prickart, along with colleagues from MRI and the University of Bergen in Norway took detailed water measurements confirming the existence of the current. The international teams findings were published in Nature Geoscience.

Michael Spall a colleague of Pickart specializes in the use of numerical models to shed light on ocean circulation. Spall’s model showed that the newly identified current was a tail end tributary of a great river of water in the ocean, the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream moves large amounts of warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic. The North Atlantics colder air and water is met by the warmer saltier Gulf water, causing a warming of the region. When the waters temperature drops it becomes denser and sinks to the ocean bottom flowing back to the south. This drives the lower limb of a large loop called the global ocean conveyor. Water in this global conveyor flow through out the planet, rising then circling back to the Gulf Stream. Scientists hope to predict how the rise in global temperature could disrupt the oceanic system and the impacts of this on climate.