On the Variability in the Onset of the Norwegian Coastal Current

A high-resolution reanalysis of the circulation in the Kattegat and Skagerrak is used to investigate the mechanisms that control the variability in the onset of the Norwegian Coastal Current. In the reanalysis, the authors have used all available in situ and remote sensing observations of salinity and temperature and use surface current observations from two coastal high-frequency radars that were ideally placed to monitor the exchange between the two basins. This study finds a strong correlation between the variability in the wind forcing in the Skagerrak and the transport in the Norwegian Coastal Current through the Torungen-Hirtshals section. Two cases with winds into and out of the Skagerrak are studied in more detail, and the results suggest asymmetries in the forcing mechanisms. For winds out of the Skagerrak, strong outflows of Baltic Sea Water associated with a deflection of the Kattegat-Skagerrak Front may disrupt local processes in the Skagerrak, which is not accounted for in previously published conceptual models for the variability of the coastal currents in this region.