What can be seen though is that year-to year variations in ocean surface salinities have increased dramatically since the year , i. Northwest of Greenland very low surface salinities occurred during September and see Figure 6, left panel , while southeast of Greenland very low surface salinities occurred during September and see Figure 6, right panel.
Greenland lost a considerable amount of ice over the period m with the largest losses occurring between — and — Sasgen, I.
As stated, the outflows of melt water lead to lower salinities of ocean surface waters that, in turn, could trigger a slowdown, or even a shutdown, of the Atlantic Gulf Stream. Such types of shutdowns are not uncommon and, for example, already happened in the Labrador Sea in the s Rahmstorf et al.
The ocean salinity profiles of the last 10 years confirm the strong decrease in salinities that manifests from the ocean surface down to more than m see Figure 7. Due to the lack of salty water at the ocean surface, further cooling prevents this water from becoming heavier than the layers of water underneath, stopping it from sinking to great depths and, in effect, slowdown, or even shutdown, deep convection.
Although major uncertainties remain about the evolution of the Atlantic Gulf Stream for lack of direct measurement, indirect evidence from multiple sources provides a consistent picture, linking together the time evolution of sea surface temperatures, ocean salinities and Greenland ice melt volumes.
If the interconnections between these components continue, as we believe, the ongoing melting of the Greenland ice sheet may lead to further freshening of the North Atlantic in the decades to come. This might lead to further weakening of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, and, possibly, even more permanent shutdown of Labrador Sea convection, as has been predicted by some climate models Rahmstorf et al. The recent IPCC Annual Report 6 and the special report on the ocean and cryosphere, state that it is likely the AMOC will weaken over the 21st century, however, distinction between observed weakening, decadal variability, and long term trends in the AMOC is currently challenging due to lack of observations.
The combined use of sea surface temperature and ocean surface salinity data records can help to increase our understanding of the underlying processes governing the past evolution and present state of the AMOC.
Zhai, A. Pirani, S. Connors, C. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J. Matthews, T. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yu, and B. Zhou eds. Cambridge University Press. In Press. Wood, M. Ocean forcing drives glacier retreat in Greenland. Science advances , 7 1 , p. Sasgen, I. Commun Earth Environ 1, 8 Roberts, V.
Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, M. Tignor, E. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Nicolai, A. Okem, J. Petzold, B. Rama, N. Weyer eds. In press. Pedersen, R. Blue arrows represent cold currents from the polar region and red arrows warm currents from the Subtropical Gyre Gonzalez-Pola et al. Fisheries targeting widely-distributed fish stocks e. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server.
Please enable scripts and reload this page. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Toggle navigation. Ecosystem overviews. About Ecosystem Overviews Interactive diagrams. Medieval Greenland Sea maps show it to be populated by giant octopuses, flying turtles and a horse-fish hybrid.
Though the truth is a little less fantastical, this body of water is home to some very interesting, real animals. Fish, birds, mammals and invertebrates all call it home. These waters are one of their main breeding grounds, but seal hunting in the area and changes in climate has sadly left them an endangered species.
Other endangered animals that rely on the Greenland Sea include a large number of whales. The blue, fin and sperm whales are all found here and they're all on the endangered species list, as are the narwhal and beluga. With sea ice melting at its fastest rate in 1, years, sea levels are rising fairly rapidly in Greenland, which is having a direct impact on marine life. Meltwater from icebergs releases large amounts of fresh water into the sea which results in the volume of salt in the water being diluted.
This means there are fewer nutrients in the water for the plankton and algae to eat.
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