Changes in stength of the West Greenland Current over the past 400 years - evidence of natural climate change and anthropogenic warming during the 20^th Century

There is increasing evidence of recent major changes taking place in high latitude environments, for example thinning of the Arctic pack ice and break-up and retreat of significant tidewater glaciers in Greenland such as Jakobshavn Isbrae. It has been suggested that these changes are linked to recent anthropogenic global warming. However longer time series datasets are needed to investigate natural variability and to assess whether recent changes are indeed a response to global warming.

This study reports changes in the temperature (or relative strength) of the West Greenland Current (WGC) over the last 400 years from a deep water trough (Egedesminde Dyb, ∼900m) at the western margin of Disko Bugt, west Greenland. The west coast of Greenland is strongly influenced by the relatively warm and saline WGC. The WGC is produced as the relatively cold and low salinity East Greenland Current (from the Arctic Ocean) and the relatively warm and saline Irminger Current (extension of the North Atlantic Current) mix on rounding the southern tip of Greenland. The relatively high salinity of the WGC produces a dense water mass that fills the deep water trough of Egedesminde Dyb and tends to form the bottom water mass along the Greenland
continental margin