Thursday, November 27, 2025

Upstream pathways of the Faroe Overflow




If you want to understand climate change you need to follow the waters .. especially the currents of the far north where Greenland. Iceland. and the Faroe Islands are big players 
Dallas Murphy has been there.  This year on a Woods Hole research vessel.

CONTENTS

1. A BEGINNING

2. SOMEWHERE OUT THERE

3. SHIPS IN PURSUIT OF WATER

4. THE PIONEERS. PART ONE.

5. WEATHER

6. THE PIONEERS.  PART TWO.

7. LIFE ABOARD

8. A GAMBLE, ALWAYS A GAMBLE

9. IN HARM'S WAY

10. DISCOVERING WATER

11. WHY

The overflow of dense water across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge, and its subsequent entrainment, is a fundamental component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) which helps maintain Earth’s climate. It is critically important to determine the mechanisms, forcing, and variability of the AMOC. The project entitled “Upstream Pathways of the Faroe Overflow” (UFO) is multi-institutional, interdisciplinary effort to study the origin and pathways of the dense water that feeds the Faroe Bank Channel overflow. This overflow is the densest component of the AMOC and accounts for a significant portion of the composite overflow across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. The UFO program includes a mooring array, gliders, hydrographic surveys, and modeling. Together, this will help determine where the densest water is formed in the Nordic Seas, how this water progresses to the Greenland-Scotland Ridge, and how it is modified along the way including the role of atmospheric forcing. This in turn will provide a better understanding of the means by which the warming climate may impact the AMOC.

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