The global ocean - Fundamentals of the Physical Environment - page 242

(a) (b)

LONGITUDE

0

60° 120° 180° 120° 60° 0°

25°C

80° 80°

Warm current

1

Cold current

60° 60°

AAIW

2

40° 40°

20° 20°

AABW

3

N

0° 0°

20° 20°

AABW 4

40° 40°

5

60°

60°

80° 60° 40° 20° 0°

Latitude

20° 40° 60° 80°S

60° 120° 180° 120° 60° 0°

Figure 11.12 Thermohaline deep-water circulation or Global Ocean Conveyor: (a) principal global circulation, (b) vertical section
north-south through the Atlantic Ocean. See text for initials of stratified flows.
Source: In part after Gross (1990)

Svalbard

Greenland
Sea

Greenland
Ice
Cap

Baffin
Bay

Norwegian
Sea

Hudson
Bay

Iceland

North
Sea

Labrador
Sea

Newfoundland

New
York

Lisbon

0 1000

km

Mean limit of sea ice (winter) Arctic Circle

Mean limit of sea ice (summer) Surface, wind-driven warm currents

Sea ice and glaciers North Atlantic Deep Water (cold currents)

Figure 11.13 The source areas and pathways of North Atlantic Deep Water and North Atlantic Drift (Gulf Stream) and their
impact on European climate. During the depths of the last global cold stage, 18 kyr ago, combined atmospheric and oceanic
currents positioned the 'Polar Front' well to the south of north-west Europe. Catastrophic melting of the Greenland Ice Cap could
re-create this condition.