On Aug 15, 3:25*pm, Graham P Davis wrote:
Graham Easterling wrote:
I think recent 'cold pool' is simply down to the relatively stormy
conditions in mid Atlantic during late July in particular. It seems to
be shrinking now. The SST of west Cornwall is close to 18C, marginally
above normal, and the temperature at the buoys off the north Cornwall
coast are around 2C higher than at the same time last year. (Which
isn't saying much). .

As the cold pool predated the July storms I think you might have the chicken
and egg the wrong way about. ;-) *

It's more likely that the July storms were caused by the SST pattern - the
warm water south of 40N 40W providing the energy and the contrast with the
cold water to the north directing the storms towards the UK.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. *E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."

Mention of 1972 reminded me of the Great Salinity Anomaly of the
1970s. This was a pool of cold fresh water which floated around in the
GIN (Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian) Seas. That originated in the
Fram Strait to the east of Greenland, but according to Belkin et al
1998
[See: http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2390088 ]
there were others in the 1980s & 90s originating to the west of
Greenland.

My explanation for these features is that the fresh water from the
summer sea ice melt gets trapped as a shallow layer floating under the
ice. When the ice dam at the edge of the ice sheet breaks, this fresh
water then flows out. IMHO, the dam in the Fram Strait broke in the
1970s and in the Nares Strait early this year.

Does anyone know if the current cold anomaly is also fresh?

Cheers, Alastair.