Abstract
Freshwater input from Greenland ice sheet melt has been increasing in
the past decades from warming temperatures. To identify the impacts from
enhanced meltwater input into the subpolar North Atlantic from
1997–2021, we use output from two nearly identical simulations in the
eddy-rich model VIKING20X (1/20°) only differing in the freshwater input
from Greenland: one with realistic interannually varying runoff
increasing in the early 2000s and the other with climatologically
(1961–2000) continued runoff. The majority of the additional freshwater
remains within the boundary current enhancing the density gradient
towards the warm and salty interior waters yielding increased current
velocities. The accelerated boundary current shows a tendency towards
eddy shedding into the Labrador Sea interior. Further, the experiments
allow to attribute higher stratification and shallower mixed layers
southwest of Greenland and deeper mixed layers in the Irminger Sea,
particularly in 2015–2018, to the runoff increase in the early 2000s.