Although the Nordic Seas (Iceland, Greenland and Norwegian Sea) cover only 0.75 % of the area of the World Ocean they play a key role in the global thermohaline circulation, being the main connection between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. The dense overflow over the Greenland Scotland ridge feeds the North Atlantic with deep bottom water whereas the inflow of Atlantic water is a major reason for the mild climate in northern Europe. Beside estuarine and buoyancy forcing the interaction of the ocean and the atmosphere through wind forcing is a major factor influencing the variability of the circulation in the Nordic Seas.
In my PhD I will combine available observations and model results to investigate the variability in inflowing strength and water properties on interannual to decadal time scales. I will study baroclinic adjustment processes in the Nordic Seas related to atmospheric forcing and try to assess how the inflow may respond to climate change.