Abstract:

A substantial fraction of the deep ocean is ventilated in the high latitude North Atlantic. As a result, the region plays a crucial role in global biogeochemical cycles and transient climate change through the uptake of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and heat. However, owing to the Lagrangian nature of the process, many aspects of deep Atlantic Ocean ventilation and its representation in climate simulations remain obscure. We investigate the nature of ventilation in the high latitude North Atlantic in an eddy-permitting numerical ocean circulation model using a comprehensive set of Lagrangian trajectory experiments. Backwards-in-time trajectories from a model-defined ‘North Atlantic Deep Water’ (NADW) reveal the times and locations of subduction from the surface mixed layer at high temporal and spatial resolution. While subduction directly into the Labrador Sea boundary current dominates NADW ventilation, processes in the open ocean set the variability, with notable impacts on the subsurface density distribution and export pathways.