Oceanographic conditions at Ocean Weather ShipBravo, 1964–1974

Abstract

Monthly averages of water temperature, salinity, and density anomaly at 11 depths between 10 and 1500 m, at Ocean Weather Ship Bravo (56°30'N, 51°00'W), between 1964 and 1974 are presented. Near‐surface salinity values between 1967 and 1971 were significantly lower than those between 1964–1967. Coincident with the lower salinity values, the winter‐time heat losses were less than normal. The combination of increased stratification with the low heat losses tended to limit the convectively mixed upper layer in winter to unusually shallow depths. It is suggested that the low salinity condition was indirectly due to an anomalously high atmospheric pressure cell over Greenland. This cell increased the anticylonic air flow around Greenland causing an increase in the proportion of low‐salinity polar water in the east Greenland and Labrador Currents and subsequently in the interior of the Labrador Sea.