The Kongsfjorden Transect: Seasonal and Inter-annual Variability in Hydrography

Inflow of Warm Water to the Inner Hornsund Fjord, Svalbard: Exchange Mechanisms and Influence on Local Sea Ice Cover and Glacier Front Melting

“…The most energetic constituents and their corresponding amplitudes are similar for the 2 years, with M2 (0.5 m) the highest followed by S2 (0.2 m), N2 (0.1 m), K1 (0.05 m), and O1 (0.04 m). This is in accordance with other studies of tidal energy in the area (Gjevik & Straume, ; Inall et al, ; Kasajima & Svendsen, ; Padman & Erofeeva, ; Tverberg et al, ).…”

“…Fjords on the west coast of Spitsbergen can undergo rapid changes from warm (Atlantic water influence) to cold (Arctic water dominance) states (Cottier et al, ; Nilsen et al, ). More attention has been drawn to these changes in recent years, as many Arctic fjords have experienced a general warming, and longer periods of Atlantic water dominance have been observed also in winter in Svalbard fjords (Cottier et al, ; Nilsen et al, ; Pavlov et al, ; Tverberg et al, ). In addition, anomalously high wintertime air temperatures on western Svalbard in the last decades have been documented (Førland et al, ; Gjelten et al, ; Nordli et al, ), a warming trend that recently has been associated with sea ice decline east and north of Spitsbergen (Isaksen et al, ).…”

“…Recent studies showed strong correlation between cross shelf Ekman‐Transport and temperature and salinities on the shelf outside Hornsund and in the Hornsund interior during the same periods (Goszczko et al, ). Local forcing inside the fjords from sea ice production and cooling of the water column affects the properties of the local water masses, which in turn can be a controlling factor for inflowing water (Nilsen et al, , ; Tverberg et al, ). Exchange rates between fjord and shelf and the temperature of the water available outside has implications for the local environment inside the fjord, including the sea ice cover (Muckenhuber et al, ; Nilsen et al, ) and for the many ocean terminating glaciers, which is a prominent feature of Svalbard fjords.…”

Pelagic Ecosystem Characteristics Across the Atlantic Water Boundary Current From Rijpfjorden, Svalbard, to the Arctic Ocean During Summer (2010–2014)

“…Future warming and reduced ice cover may lead to conditions that are more favorable with regard to survival of Atlantic expatriates in the Arctic Ocean. Rijpfjorden will likely change with climate warming in a direction to resemble Kongsfjorden, as it appeared during the cold years prior to 2006 (Hop et al, 2019;Tverberg et al, 2019). If climate warming continues with temperatures in the range predicted by models (Slagstad et al, 2011(Slagstad et al, , 2015, then Rijpfjorden will continue to develop into a warmer system with higher contribution of boreal species.…”

Deep Flow Variability Offshore South-West Svalbard (Fram Strait)

“…On the contrary, it is not completely clear which processes are responsible for the inter-annual and seasonal deep flow variability in the western offshore Spitsbergen region [11,12]. Several studies, using both experimental and numerical modelling approaches, have addressed the role of interactions between Atlantic Water (AW) carried by the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC, [10,11,[13][14][15][16]), and shelf and fjord waters [2,[17][18][19][20] in the observed variability. Some of the processes that may be relevant for deep water circulation and variability in the western Spitsbergen region have been summarized in Figure 1.…”