Interior Pathways of Labrador Sea Water in the North Atlantic From the Argo Perspective

The pathways and transports of Labrador Sea Water (LSW) within the southward-flowing lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation are studied using 12years of Argo profiles and subsurface Argo drift data. Consistent with previous studies, the results show clear evidence for interior pathways of LSW that separate from the western boundary near the Grand Banks and flow eastward and then southward around a large-scale deep anticyclonic gyre in the northern subtropical Atlantic. Most of the LSW exported into the interior recirculates in the Newfoundland Basin (9.3 +/- 3.5 Sv). However, approximately 3.2 +/- 0.4 Sv cross the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and flow southward east of the Azores. This branch feeds a westward quasi-zonal pathway that recrosses the Ridge and returns to the western boundary around 30 degrees N.