Abstract
The Nordic Seas play significant roles in the Thermo-Haline Circulation of the coupled Atlantic Ocean-Arctic Ocean System. Heat exchange, deep convection and deep-water formation take place there. Barotropic and topographically steered, northward flow on the eastern side of the Nordic Seas carries warm and, salt Atlantic Water to the Arctic Ocean through the Barents Sea and the Fram Strait. On the other side, along the Greenland shelf, cold and fresh water from the Arctic Ocean flows southwards into the Atlantic Ocean. Cold and dense deep-water formed in the Arctic Mediterranean leaves through the deep trenches of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge as overflow to the Atlantic Ocean. Based on publications and the recent data collected during the VEINS project and by IOPAS a general description of the water circulation is given.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Boyd TJ and AD Asaro 1994. Cooling of the West Spitsbergen Current: Wintertime observation west of Svalbard. Journal of Geophysical Research 99 (C6), 22591–22618.
Dickson RR and J Brown 1994. The production of North Atlantic Deep Water-sources, rates, and pathways. Journal of Geophysysical Research 99 (C6), 12319 – 12341.
Hansen B and S Østerhus 2000. North Atlantic-Nordic Seas exchanges. Progress in Oceanography 45, 109–208.
Hansen B, KMH Larsen, S Østerhus, WR Turrell, and S Jónson 1999. The Atlantic Water inflow to the Nordic seas. International WOCE Newsletter 35, 33–35.
Hansen B, S Østerhus, H Hátún, R Kristiansen, and KMH Larsen 2003. The Iceland—Faroe inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas. Progress in Oceanography 59 (4), 443–474.
Jones EP, LG Anderson, and JH Swift 1998. Distribution of Atlantic and Pacific waters in the upper Arctic Ocean: implications for circulation. Geophysical Research Letters 25, 765–768.
Kristmannsson SS 1998. Flow of Atlantic Water into the northern Icelandic shelf area, 1985 – 1989. ICES Cooperative Research. Report 225, 124–135.
Orvik KA and M Mork 1996. Atlantic water transport from long term current measurements in the Svin y section. ICES Annual Science Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, CM 1996/O:8.
Østerhus S, WR Turrell, B Hansen, P Lundberg and E Buch 2001. Observed transport estimates in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Mediterranean in the Iceland-Scotland region, Polar Research 20 (1), 169–175.
Roach AT, K Aagaard, CH Pease, SA Salo, T Weingartner, V Pavlov, and YM Kulako 1995. Direct measurements oftransport and water properties through the Bering Strait. Journal of Geophysical Resesearch 100 (C9), 18443–18457.
Turrell WR, B Hansen, S Hughes, and S Østerhus 2003. Hydrographic variability during the decade of the 1990s in the Northeast Atlantic and Southern Norwegian Sea. ICES Marine Science Symposia 219, 111–120.
Turrell WR, B Hansen, S Østerhus, S Hughes, K Ewart, and J Hamilton 1999. Direct observations of inflow to the Nordie Seas through the Faroe Shetland Channel 19941997. ICES CM I999/WL:01. VEINS Final Scientific Report 2000, Contract MAS3CT96–0070. University of Hamburg.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this paper
Cite this paper
Piechura, J. (2004). The Circulation of the Nordic Seas. In: Skreslet, S. (eds) Jan Mayen Island in Scientific Focus. NATO Science Series, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2957-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2957-8_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-2956-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2957-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive