Irminger Current

Also found in: Wikipedia.

Irminger Current

[′ər·miŋ·ər ′kə·rənt]

(oceanography)

An ocean current that is one of the terminal branches of the Gulf Stream system, flowing west off the southern coast of Iceland.

Irminger Current

a warm current of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Iceland; western branch of the North Atlantic Current. The Irminger Current moves at a rate of about 1 km/hr. The water temperature ranges from 5° to 7°C in winter and 10° to 12°C in summer. The salinity is 34.8–35 parts per thousand. The current was named after the Danish navigator C. Irminger, who was the first to detect and describe it in 1853–54.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

In the North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream diverges: The Norwegian Atlantic Current bends east to warm the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, and the smaller North Icelandic Irminger Current veers around the west of Iceland.

A newfound cog in the ocean conveyor

One loops back, skirts the southern shore of Iceland and then sweeps southward along the southeast coast of Greenland as the Irminger Current.

A glacier's pace

Bower and Valdes knew (from prior satellite measurements of sea surface heights, which indicate currents) that eddies pinch off every two months or so from the Irminger Current, a warm current that hugs the west side of Greenland and encircles the northern part of the Labrador Sea.