- Industry: Education
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Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University is a U.S. public and comprehensive university offering a wide variety of academic programs far beyond its original label of agricultural and mechanical trainings. It is one of the few institutions holding triple federal designations as a land-, sea- and ...
A water mass found in the Japan Sea. It is found in the depth range 25-200 m and characterized by a rapid drop in temperature from 17 to 2° C as well as an oxygen maximum of 8 ml/l near 200 m depth. The warmer layers are advected in by the Kuroshio and the colder layers formed by sinking at the Polar Front and on the shelf to the north.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass found in the polar domain in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. It is identified as a distinct temperature minimum layer underneath the East Greenland Current and has salinities in the range 34.4 to 34.7 and is colder than 0° C. Since there is no sharp interface between this and the upper Arctic Intermediate Water, it is distinguished chiefly by geographic location.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass found in the Southern Ocean between the Subtropical Front (STF) and the Subantarctic Front (SAF) and above the salinity minimum of the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). At the surface the SSW is fresher than the surface waters of the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) in the Drake Passage, although by the time it reaches the Greenwich Meridian surface salinities are 0.3–0.4 higher than in the Drake Passage and more saline than those in the PFZ. Below the surface the SSW shows monotonically decreasing temperature as well as a maximum in salinity and a minimum in oxygen, both of the latter induced by the underlying AAIW.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass identified and named by Stef´ansson (1968). It is homogenized in winter north of Iceland from a mixture of Modified North Atlantic Water (MNAW) from the North Icelandic Irminger Current and water from the near–surface layers of the Iceland Sea plus some coastal water influenced by runoff. The typical properties of NIWW are a temperature from 2–3°C and a salinity of 34.85–34.90.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass in the Japan Sea that comprises all the water below 200 m (and thus the overlying Japan Sea Middle Water). It is characterized by uniform temperature (1- 2° C) and salinity (34.1) which result from its isolation from other basins by shallow sills. It is formed via winter convection facilitated by the salt imported by the Tsushima Current, with the instabilities in the Polar Front serving to transport this salt into the northern formation regions. Some authors differentiate Japan Sea Deep Water (JSDW) (200 - 2000 m) and Japan Sea Bottom Water (JSBW) (2000 m - bottom), and occasionally the entire water mass is referred to as Japan Sea Deep Water.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass that forms between the Gulf Stream and the continental shelf in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. It is isolated by the Stream from contact with oceanic water masses in its depth range and therefore forms via interactions among shelf water, water from the Labrador Current, and water from the Gulf Stream. The Slope Water thus formed extends over the upper 1000 m of the water column north of Cape Hatteras along the continental rise and has a nearly linear T-S curve similar to that evinced by North Atlantic Central Water (NACW). The T-S curve typically extends from 21° C-36.0 to 15° C-35.1. Slope Water is intermittently transported by cyclonic rings across the Gulf Stream and into the Sargasso Sea.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass that originates as Atlantic Water (AW) entering the Mediterranean Sea via the Gibraltar Straits. It spreads via the Sicily Straits into the eastern Mediterranean as MAW in a layer confined to the upper 200 m. The Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) flowing westward beneath it exits into the northern Atlantic where it constitutes the salty Mediterranean outflow water. MAW becomes progressively saltier along its route from the Sicily Straits to the Levantine basin, but exhibits little seasonality.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass that originates from flow through the Denmark Strait, i.e. the Denmark Strait Overflow.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass that originates from flow through through passages between Iceland and Scotland. This includes about 1.7 Sv through the Faroe Bank Channel and about 1 Sv over the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. The latter component is about evenly split between the main channel immediately east of Iceland and four lesser channels further east.
Industry:Earth science
A water mass transported by the Continental Slope Current from the North Atlantic into the Nordic Seas. It has typical property values in the Rockall Channel region of the Greenland–Scotland Ridge of 9.5–10.5°C and 35.35–35.45. This makes it the saltiest and warmest of the waters exchanged over the Ridge. The origins of the high salinity are to date a matter of debate, with some postulating a Mediterranean source, and others conjecturing that the high salinity is acquired by a combination of winter cooling at constant temperature (i.e. sea ice formation and the resultant brine release) for intermediate depths and evaporation and advection from southern areas for near–surface layers.
Industry:Earth science
