Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Programme

Improving understanding of the circulation and fluxes of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre

The transport of heat and freshwater by the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre greatly affects the climate of the North Atlantic and Europe through its impact on air temperature, precipitation and wind strength. It is highly significant to the region's marine ecosystems, the formation of hurricanes, and rainfall in places like the Sahel, the Amazon and parts of USA. However the Subpolar Gyre is presently inadequately measured, and no ocean general circulation or climate model represents it accurately. UK-OSNAP will deliver enhanced understanding of processes critical to the improvement of physics in climate models through sustained observation of ocean circulation and fluxes together with modelling and analysis.

Led by NOC, UK-OSNAP is a partnership between NOC, SAMS, University of Oxford and University of Liverpool. It is part of international OSNAP that is led by USA and includes 10 further partner groups in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and China. The project involves fieldwork at sea and model studies. UK-OSNAP has been funded by a Large Grant (£3.7 million, 2013-2018), a costed extention to the Large grant (£1.6 million, 2018-2019), and a follow-on programme UK-OSNAP-Decade (£1.7 miilion, 2019-2024).  UK OSNAP is underpinned by National Capability funds from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) includiing CLASS (since 2018). 

People

People

UK-OSNAP is a collaboration across many centres in the UK.

Model studies

Model studies

Studying Subpolar Gyre circulation and fluxes using models, data assimilation / theoretical analysis.

Outreach and impact

Outreach and impact

Discover our physical science and technology through social media, blogs and press releases.

Observations

Observations

UK-OSNAP observations contribute to the array of measurements.

Project information

Project information

What is the Subpolar Gyre and why is it important?

Results and publications

Results and publications

Results and publications from the project.