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Volume 2
Environment Pollution and Climate Change
ISSN: 2573-458X
Climate Change 2018 &
Global ENVITOX 2018
October 04-06, 2018
October 04-06, 2018
London, UK
16
th
Annual Meeting on
Environmental Toxicology and Biological Systems
&
5
th
World Conference on
Climate Change
JOINT EVENT
Recent shifts in continental shelf/slope oceanographic processes in the Northeastern United States
Glen Gawarkiewicz
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
Statement of the Problem:
The continental shelf and slope region of the Northeastern United States is rapidly warming (.
Record warming of the continental shelf occurred in 2012 due to a northward shift in the atmospheric jet stream during winter
and a corresponding reduction in heat loss from the ocean in winter. Warming of the continental shelf occurs from both
atmospheric effects as well as ocean advection. How have oceanographic processes changed over the past ten years?
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation:
A recent ocean observatory, the Ocean Observatories Initiative, Pioneer Array, is
providing new data and insights into continental shelf and slope processes of New England. It has been in operation since 2014.
In addition, a cooperative research program, the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation/Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, Shelf Research Fleet is providing vertical profiles of temperature and salinity across the continental shelf south of
New England since November 2014.
Findings:
Data from both the Pioneer Array and Shelf Research Fleet show that there have been significant exchange events at
the shelfbreak (edge of continental shelf) in which waters of Gulf Stream origin are carried considerable distances across the
continental shelf. A particularly dramatic event in December 2016/January 2017 resulted in a warm temperature anomaly of
over 5°C, lasting over a month across most of the continental shelf. Several other significant ring intrusion events have been
observed since 2014.
Conclusion & Significance:
The ring intrusion event led to significant ecological effects, including the presence of warm water
species over the continental shelf in January 2017. Further work is necessary to understand Gulf Stream motions and their
impact on the continental shelf south of New England (Andres 2016).
Recent Publications
1. Gawarkiewicz G, R Todd, W Zhang, J Partida, A Gangopadhyay, et al. (2018) Recent changes in shelf break exchange
processes as revealed by the OOI pioneer array. Oceanography 31:60–70.
2. Andres M (2016) On the recent destabilization of the Gulf Streampath downstreamof Cape Hatteras. Geophysical Research
Letters 43:9836–9842.
Glen Gawarkiewicz, Environ Pollut Climate Change 2018, Volume 2
DOI: 10.4172/2573-458X-C1-002
Figure 1:
Amap of sea surface temperature from January 2017 (upper left panel). Along slope setions of temperature from a glider of the Pioneer Array appear in the
three panels to the right from January, February, and March 2017. The lower left panel shows temperature and salinity profiles from January and February 2017. The
temperature of over 10 Degrees C was a 5 degree C warm anomaly compared to a recent climatology.