Two Modes of Appearance of the Odden Ice Tongue in the Greenland Sea

The Odden Ice tongue of the Greenland Sea normally forms locally In winter as frazfl-pancake ice, allowing high positive salt fluxes during freezing that leads to open ocean convection. We report observations from satellites, aircraft, ships and submarines which show that in two recent years (1987 and 1996) a late-season Odden developed composed of old ice advected by the East Greenland Current. The Impact of such Odden is different in that it is in a state of melt and serves to stabilize the surface water in the region. The history of Oddens since 1978 is reviewed to examine the frequency of both modes.