STABILITY OF WATER MASSES - IMPACT ON COD RECRUITMENT OFF WEST GREENLAND

Based upon the hypothesis of Meyer (1968: Hansa, 16:2-4) that periods of low stability of the water column in autumn should parallel good co d year-classes in the following year, the paper analyzes available tim e series of cod recruitment, subsurface oceanographic stability data a nd wind stress data off West Greenland. No significant correlations we re found between stability, wind stress and recruitment when consideri ng the entire length of available time series. However, splitting the autumn-based oceanographic data set into a pre-1970s part (when warm c limatic conditions and high recruitment prevailed), and a recent part (for the past 20 years of cooling climate) yields significant coherenc e of recruitment and environmental conditions for the cold climate per iod. For the warm climate period, only occasional consistency is shown . The possible influence of the Great Salinity Anomaly on recruitment of cod is discussed. It is suggested that during the past 20 years a n ew correlation mechanism, an advective coupling instead of low stabili ty coupling, may explain the variability of recruitment.