General info | |
Project title | OVIDE |
Project acronym | OVIDE |
Project website | http://www.ifremer.fr/lpo/ovide/index.html |
Begin date | 2002-01-01 |
End date | 2010-12-31 |
Location | |
Sea area (C19) | North Atlantic Ocean |
Description | |
Data-themes (P08) | Chemical oceanography,Physical oceanography |
Abstract | The Ovide project aims at documenting and understanding the variability of the circulation and water mass properties in the northern North Atlantic within the context of global change. The North Atlantic subpolar gyre is a key region for the European climate. The winter heat release from the ocean to the atmosphere contributes to temperate Western Europe winters and the northward heat transport associated to the meridional overturning circulation is characteristic of the present interglacial climate. The North Atlantic Current carries the warm subtropical waters northward. They are progressively cooled and transformed into subpolar waters and eventually reach the formation regions of the North Atlantic Deep Waters in the Labrador and Greenland Seas.
At quasi-decadal time scales, different studies show convincing correlations of the ocean circulation and water masses variability with NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). The NAO index, which is defined as the difference in sea level pressure between Azores and Iceland, exhibits a rich variability spectrum.
However, because the data base is inadequate, the ocean variability on seasonal to interannual time scales is not well documented or understood. It is why, since 2002, the Ovide project contributes to the observation of both the circulation and the water mass properties along a section from Greenland to Portugal. Additional measurements are also conducted in the Irminger Sea and Iceland Sea (current meter mooring array, Argo float deployments, and surface measurements on voluntary observing ships). |
Coordinator | |
Coordinating organisation | Laboratory of Phyical Oceanography, CNRS-IFREMER-IRD-UBO
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Country of Coordinator | France |
Contact name | MERCIER Herle |
Contact organisation | Laboratory of Phyical Oceanography, CNRS-IFREMER-IRD-UBO
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Phone | +33(0)2 98.22.42.86 |
Fax | +33(0)2 98.22.44.96 |
Email | Herle.Mercier@ifremer.fr |
Project partners | |
Other partners | CNRS, National Institute of Sciences of the Universe Ifremer Head Office University of Western Brittany
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Edmerp metadata | |
Edmerp id | 11828 |
Collating centre | Ifremer, Scientific Information Systems for the sea
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Latest update | 2012-01-17 |