Ocean circulation within the North Water polynya of Baffin Bay

Melling, Humfrey; Gratton, Yves; Ingram, Grant

doi:10.1080/07055900.2001.9649683

Cited by 194 publications

(211 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

196

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…One possible origin of Atlantic water with warm and salty characteristics in Nares Strait is from the south via an extension of the West Greenland Current in the northward flowing current on the Greenland shelf. Most of the West Greenland Current turns cyclonically west across Baffin Bay while following the 500 m isobath but a fraction continues north along the Greenland coast [Bourke et al, 1989;Melling et al, 2001;Bacle et al, 2002]. Another possibility is that Atlantic water is advected from the north through the Arctic Ocean.…”

Section: Freshwater Incursionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nares Strait hydrography and salinity field from a 3‐year moored array

Rabe¹,

Münchow²,

Johnson³

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] Nares Strait to the west of Greenland facilitates the exchange of heat and freshwater between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. This study focuses on salinity, temperature, and density measurements from Nares Strait from a mooring array deployed from 2003 to 2006. Innovative moorings requiring novel analysis methods measured seawater properties near 80.5°N, at spacing sufficient to resolve the internal Rossby deformation radius. The 3-year mean geostrophic velocity has a surface-intensified southward flow of 0.20 m s −1 against the western side of the strait and a secondary core flowing southward at 0.14 m s −1 in the middle of the strait. Data show warm salty water on the Greenland side and cold fresher water on the Ellesmere Island side, especially in the top layers. There was a clear difference in hydrographic structure between times when sea ice was drifting and when it was land fast. Ice was drifting in late summer, fall, and early winter with a strong surface-intensified geostrophic flow in the middle of the strait. Ice was land fast in late winter, spring, and early summer, when there was a subsurface core of strong geostrophic flow adjacent to the western side of the strait. Salinity variations of about 2 psu in time and space reflect a variable freshwater outflow from the Arctic Ocean. One particularly strong pulse occurred at the end of July 2005. For several days, steeply sloping isohalines indicated strong geostrophic flow down the middle of the strait coinciding with an amplified ice export from the Arctic due to strong southward winds.Citation: Rabe, B., A. Münchow, H. L. Johnson, and H. Melling (2010), Nares Strait hydrography and salinity field from a 3-year moored array,

show abstract

Section: Freshwater Incursionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nares Strait hydrography and salinity field from a 3‐year moored array

Rabe¹,

Münchow²,

Johnson³

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On Greenland's northeast coast, the Northeast Water Polynya forms each spring and hosts numerous marine mammals (Born et al, 1997;Wiig et al, 2003). Both the North Water Polynya and the Northeast Water Polynya owe their existence, at least in part, to currents and winds that force the movement of ice to form ice barriers, which then block additional ice drift (Schneider and Budéus, 1994;Minnett et al, 1997;Melling et al, 2001).…”

Section: Polynyas As Seabird and Marine Mammal Habitatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

Hunt

Drinkwater

Arrigo

et al. 2016

Progress in Oceanography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tWe compare and contrast the ecological impacts of atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns on polar and sub-polar marine ecosystems. Circulation patterns differ strikingly between the north and south. Meridional circulation in the north provides connections between the sub-Arctic and Arctic despite the presence of encircling continental landmasses, whereas annular circulation patterns in the south tend to isolate Antarctic surface waters from those in the north. These differences influence fundamental aspects of the polar ecosystems from the amount, thickness and duration of sea ice, to the types of organisms, and the ecology of zooplankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Meridional flows in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans transport heat, nutrients, and plankton northward into the Chukchi Sea, the Barents Sea, and the seas off the west coast of Greenland. In the North Atlantic, the advected heat warms the waters of the southern Barents Sea and, with advected nutrients and plankton, supports immense biomasses of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. On the Pacific side of the Arctic, cold waters flowing northward across the northern Bering and Chukchi seas during winter and spring limit the ability of boreal fish species to take advantage of high seasonal production there. Southward flow of cold Arctic waters into sub-Arctic regions of the North Atlantic occurs mainly through Fram Strait with less through the Barents Sea and the Canadian Archipelago. In the Pacific, the transport of Arctic waters and plankton southward through Bering Strait is minimal.In the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts are barriers to the southward dispersal of plankton and pelagic fishes from sub-Antarctic waters, with the consequent evolution of Antarctic zooplankton and fish species largely occurring in isolation from those to the north. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current also disperses biota throughout the Southern Ocean, and as a result, the biota tends to be similar within a given broad latitudinal band. South of the Southern Boundary of the ACC, there is a large-scale divergence that brings nutrient-rich water to the surface. This divergence, along with more localized upwelling regions and deep vertical convection in winter, generates elevated nutrient levels throughout the Antarctic at the end of austral winter. However, such elevated nutrient levels do not support elevated phytoplankton productivity through the entire Southern Ocean, as iron concentrations are rapidly removed to limiting levels by spring blooms in deep waters. However, coastal http://dx

show abstract

“…The section missed the northward current of Atlantic water near Greenland (Zweng and Münchow 2006), but did sample its re-circulating branch ( Fig. 2: 9000 km), beneath the cold Canadian Arctic through-flow (CAT) in western Baffin Bay (Melling et al 2001;Lobb et al 2003;Münchow et al 2006;Melling et al 2008). South of Davis Strait, the C3O section passed into the warmer, weakly stratified cyclonic gyre of the Labrador Sea ( Fig.…”

Section: Ipy Ocean Observatoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Arctic Ocean—a Canadian perspective from IPY

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Canada's IPY program funded seven marine projects spanning the North American Arctic. Work embraced oceanography, air-sea interactions, storm response, paleoclimate and trace-element chemistry. Notable findings are emerging. Conditions in the Beaufort were unusual in 2007, with very high air pressure bringing strong winds, rapid ice drift, thin winter ice, enhanced shelf-break upwelling and a maximum in freshwater retention in the Beaufort Gyre. A mapping of trace chemicals suggests that Arctic mid-depth circulation may also have reversed. Study of Canadian Arctic through-flow revealed a net annual seawater export of 44,000 cubic kilometres from the Arctic to Baffin Bay. Observations of sea ice, sustained through the IPY, affirmed that ice cover is the key attribute of Arctic seas, with wind as a potent agent in its variation. Surveys have shown that the anthropogenic decline in seawater alkalinity is aggravated in the Arctic by low temperature and low salinity resulting from ice melt. Careful experiments have revealed that Arctic phytoplankton growth is constrained by scarcity of dissolved iron where light levels are low. A manganese fingerprint in sediments has tracked changing sea level during the Ice Age.Climatic Change

show abstract

Ocean circulation within the North Water polynya of Baffin Bay

Cited by 194 publications

References 25 publications

Nares Strait hydrography and salinity field from a 3‐year moored array

Nares Strait hydrography and salinity field from a 3‐year moored array

Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

The Arctic Ocean—a Canadian perspective from IPY

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About