[1] Hydrographic and stable isotope (d 18 O) data from four summer surveys in the Laptev Sea are used to derive fractions of sea-ice meltwater and river water. Sea-ice meltwater fractions are found to be correlated to river water fractions. While initial heat of river discharge is too small to melt the observed 0-158 km 3 of sea-ice meltwater, arctic rivers contain suspended particles and colored dissolved organic material that preferentially absorb solar radiation. Accordingly, heat content in surface waters is correlated to river water fractions. But in years when river water is largely absent within the surface layer, absolute heat content values increase to considerably higher values with extended exposure time to solar radiation and sensible heat. Nevertheless, no net sea-ice melting is observed on the shelf in years when river water is largely absent within the surface layer. The total freshwater volume of the central-eastern Laptev Sea (72-76 N, 122-140 E) varies betweeñ 1000 and 1500 km 3 (34.92 reference salinity). It is dominated by varying river water volumes (~1300-1800 km 3 ) reduced by an about constant freshwater deficit (~350-400 km 3 ) related to sea-ice formation. Net sea-ice melt (~109-158 km 3 ) is only present in years with high river water budgets. Intermediate to bottom layer (>25 salinities) contaiñ 60% and 30% of the river budget in years with low and high river budgets, respectively. The average mean residence time of shelf waters was~2-3 years during

Abstract. Living benthic foraminifera of Flensburg Fjord were surveyed in June 2006. The muddy and organic-rich sediments of the inner fjord were dominated by Elphidium incertum. E. incertum and E. excavatum were frequent in muds and sandy muds of the fjord loop around Holnis Peninsula and in the outer part. Gelting Bay yielded a different biofacies, indicating a brackish and sandy habitat, poor in food supply and with microfauna dominated by Ammonia beccarii and E. albiumbilicatum. The central fjord and nearshore zones of the loop were characterized by sandy muds, relatively poor in food and occupied by A. beccarii, E. incertum and E. excavatum subspecies. High abundances of E. excavatum were encountered in the innermost fjord, with fine-grained and organic-rich muddy sediments.A comparison with previous studies revealed the profound changes in species composition in the outer Flensburg Fjord since the 1970s. A decline in numbers of Ammotium cassis and flourishing of Ammonia beccarii in Gelting Bay were recognized. These changes are most likely associated with decreased intensity and frequency of salt-water inflows into the Baltic Sea since the 1960s. It is inferred that the decline of A. cassis is similar to that of Eggerelloides scaber, which currently is found only in depressions of Kiel Bight with higher salinity.

[1] Combined salinity and d18 O data from summer 2007 reveal a significant change in brine production in the Laptev Sea relative to summer 1994. The distribution of river water and brine-enriched waters on the Laptev Sea shelf is derived based on mass balance calculations using salinity and d 18O data. While in 1994 maximal influence of brines is seen within bottom waters, in 2007 the influence of brines is highest within the surface layer and only a moderate influence of brines is observed in the bottom layer. In contrast to 2007, salinity and d18 O data from summer 1994 clearly identify a locally formed brine-enriched bottom water mass as mixing end-member between surface layer and inner shelf waters on one side and with higher salinity water from the outer Laptev Sea on the other side. In 2007, the brine-enriched waters are predominantly part of the surface regime, and the mixing endmember between surface layer and outer shelf waters is replaced by a relatively salty bottom water mass. This relatively salty bottom water probably originates from the western Laptev Sea. The inverted distribution of brines in the water column in 2007 relative to 1994 suggests a less effective winter sea ice formation in winter 2006-2007 combined with advection of more saline waters from the western Laptev Sea or the outer shelf precedent to the climatically extreme summer 2007. The observed changes result in an altered export of waters from the Laptev Sea to the Arctic Ocean halocline.

Ammonia and Elphidium collected in the Kiel Fjord for the present study were first identified on morphological bases as Ammonia beccarii (Linné, 1758) and Elphidium excavatum (Terquem, 1876). Phylogenetic analyses based on partial SSU rDNA and LSU rDNA sequences show that Ammonia specimens sampled in the Kiel Fjord belong to the phylotype T6, which has a disjunct distribution (Wadden and Baltic Seas/China and Japan) and has been identified as Ammonia aomoriensis (Asano, 1951). Partial SSU rDNA sequence analyses indicate that Elphidium specimens from the Kiel Fjord belong to the clade E. excavatum, confirming the morphological identification. This clade can be further divided in three subclades. Kiel Fjord Elphidium belong to two of these subclades and were identified morphologically as the subspecies E. excavatum excavatum (Terquem, 1876) and E. e. clavatum Cushman, 1930.

18 O correlation showed well-defined mixing lines for bottom and surface layers. In March-April 2009, surface waters were strongly influenced by Lena River water, and local polynya activity with elevated brine signals reached to intermediate depth but did not penetrate the bottom layer in the highly stratified water column. Inventory values of sea ice formation were comparable in both years, but freshwater distributions from the preceding summers were different. Therefore, the observed difference in the impact of polynya activity on the water column is not primarily controlled by the amount of sea ice formed during winter but by preconditioning from the preceding summer. Only in years when the river plume is mostly absent in the polynya region is stratification weak and allows winter sea ice formation to reach the bottom layer. Thus summer stratification controls the influence of local polynya water on the shelf's bottom hydrography and, as bottom water is exported, impacts on the source water of shelf-derived halocline waters.