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Halocline water formation in the Barents SeaHydrographic data from the first phase of the Coordinated Eastern Arctic Experiment (CEAREX) are analyzed. The data consist of temperature and salinity measurements made by a ship-based conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) instrument and by a drifting SALARGOS buoy. These data were collected in the autumn and early winter of 1988-1989 in the northern Barents Sea, mostly in ice-covered conditions and then across the marginal ice zone (MIZ). The data show that relatively warm, salty water of Atlantic origin is modified by air cooling and ice melting to produce lighter water that has properties identical to (lower) halocline water found in the Arctic Ocean. This occurs mostly at the MIZ and to a lesser degree within the ice pack itself. At the MIZ the halocline water subjects underneath the lighter meltwater that resides directly under the ice pack; geostrophic velocity calculations indicate that it then turns eastward and flows toward the Kara Sea, in keeping with previous chemical tracer analyses. A rough calculation reveals that the amount of halocline water formed in this way in the Barents Sea and Fram Strait is 30-50% of that formed by ice growth in eastern Arctic polynyas.
Document ID
19950040932
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Steele, Michael
(Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA United States)
Morison, James H.
(Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA United States)
Curtin, Thomas B.
(Office of Naval Research, Arlington, VA United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 15, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 100
Issue: C1
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Oceanography
Accession Number
95A72531
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-2407
CONTRACT_GRANT: NOOO14-90-J-1077
CONTRACT_GRANT: NOOO14-90-J-1227
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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