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Contribution of the Greenland and Barents Seas to the deep water of the Arctic Ocean

Journal Article · · J. Geophys. Res.; (United States)
The deep waters of the Artic Ocean are traditionally held to be fed by a influx of Norwegian Sea Deep Water (NSDW) via the northward flowing West Spitsbergen Current. Discrete sample and CTD observations obtained from the Greenland-Spitsbergen Passage in August 1981 during the Transient Tracers in the Ocean (TTO) North Atlantic expedition showed a roughly-equal100-m-thick layer of modified Greenland Sea Deep Water (GSDW: colder and fresher than NSDW) at 2500 m, spreading northward along the bottom of a deep, unimpeded channel, underneath the NSDW. Since the available data indicate that Arctic Ocean Deep Water (AODW) has a higher salinity than NSDW, mixing of NSDW and GSDW can not produce AODW. Therefore, other sources, such as the peripheral arctic shelf seas, must contribute dense saline water to the Arctic Ocean. Concentrations of /sup 137/Cs and /sup 90/Sr observed in AODW are greater than those observed in GSDW and NSDW. The concentrations of these radionuclides on the Barents Sea shelf are sufficiently high and in the correct relative proportions to support this proposition.
Research Organization:
Marine Life Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California 92093
OSTI ID:
5738444
Journal Information:
J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States) Vol. 88:C10; ISSN JGREA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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