much of the southward flow of cold water from the Labrador Sea moves not along the deep western boundary current, but along a previously unknown path in the interior of the North Atlantic.
This new path is not constrained by the continental shelf. It’s more diffuse
And since this cold southward-flowing water is thought to influence and perhaps moderate human-caused climate change, this finding may impact the work of global warming forecasters.
This finding means it is going to be more difficult to measure climate signals in the deep ocean
We thought we could just measure them in the Deep Western Boundary Current, but we really can’t.
In 1987, oceanographer Wallace (Wally) Broecker of Columbia University developed the concept of the Great Ocean Conveyor to describe the large-scale movement of ocean currents and heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere.
(Wallace Broecker, Columbia University )
clipped from: www.whoi.edu 