SIMULATIONS OF THE MESOSCALE CIRCULATION OF THE GREENLAND-ICELAND-NORWEGIAN SEAS

The Greenland, Iceland, and Norwegian Seas provide the only link betwe en the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans. This is a very dynamic re gion, rich in mesoscale variability. A two-layer, hydrodynamic version of the Navy layered ocean model is used to simulate the mesoscale fro ntal features and associated current systems. The model is wind-driven using monthly mean wind stresses and inflow/outflow mass flux from th e Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. The current transports from the mo del results compare favorably with transport measurements from a numbe r of observational experiments.