Long-term changes in the Nordic Seas' hydrographic structure and overflow waters
MetadataShow full item record
- Master theses 
A collection of historical hydrographic data was used to examine the hydrographic properties of the water masses in the Nordic Seas from 1950 to 2018, with particular focus on the dense overflows from the Nordic Seas. Around 1980 a warming trend commenced in the Greenland Sea. The main reason for this warming trend was most likely due to the cessation of deep convection there in the 1980s. From the Greenland Sea this warming trend spread to the other basins in the Nordic Seas, which started warming at a later time. The other basins started to warm because of inflowing water masses originated from the Greenland Sea. As a consequence widespread structural change in the hydrography of the Nordic Seas has taken place, in particular a deepening of isopycnals and an increase in the volume of lighter water masses. The currents supplying the densest overflow waters to the Greenland-Scotland Ridge, the North Icelandic Jet to Denmark Strait and the Iceland-Faroe Slope Jet to the Faroe Bank Channel, have become warmer and more saline since the middle of the 1990s.