Interannual variations of volume transport in the western Labrador Sea based on TOPEX/Poseidon and WOCE data

The interannual variations of volume transport in the western Labrador Sea are estimated using six years of TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data and hydrogra phic data from a WOCE repeat section and a method based on the linear momen tum equation in which the sea surface is the level of known motion. The int erannual variation of the total transport in spring/summer has a range of 6 .2 Sv (Sv = 10(6) m(3) s(-1)) and is positively correlated with the fall/wi nter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and wind patterns in the northw est North Atlantic. The total transport anomaly is decomposed into a barotr opic and a baroclinic component. The interannual change of the barotropic t ransport is similar to that of the total transport, and is positively corre lated with the fall/winter NAO index. The baroclinic transport anomaly, in comparison, has a smaller magnitude and the opposite sign. The authors conj ecture that the deepened Icelandic low in high index years generates a stro ng cyclonic wind stress curl, which in turn creates a strong divergence and a large upward sea surface slope toward the Greenland coast, resulting in an intensified Labrador Sea circulation.