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Exchanges of Freshwater through the Shallow Straits of the North American Arctic

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The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean

Part of the book series: NATO Science Series ((ASEN2,volume 70))

Abstract

The shallow straits of the North American Arctic include Bering Strait, which connects the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic Ocean, and the myriad channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, which connect the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. A net flux of freshwater passes from the North Pacific into the North Atlantic via these straits (plus Fram Strait), and thereby stabilizes a global imbalance in precipitation less evaporation between the two major ocean basins [0, 2]. At the same time, the fluctuating outflows of fresh Arctic waters into the Greenland Sea, via Fram Strait, and into the Labrador Sea, via the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, may control the occurrence of deep ocean convection in these areas [3, 4, 5, 6]. For these reasons, the freshwater fluxes through the shallow straits of the North American Arctic are important within the global climate system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries and Oceans Canada Institute of Ocean Sciences, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, BC, V8L 4B2, Canada

    Humfrey Melling

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, B.C., Canada

    Edward Lyn Lewis (Emeritus) (Emeritus)

  2. Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Darthmouth, N.S., Canada

    E. Peter Jones

  3. Institute of Marine Research, Kiel, Germany

    Peter Lemke (Professor of Meteorology) (Professor of Meteorology)

  4. National Water Research Institute, Saskatoon, Sk., Canada

    Terry D. Prowse

  5. Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, UK

    Peter Wadhams (Reader in Polar Studies) (Reader in Polar Studies)

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Melling, H. (2000). Exchanges of Freshwater through the Shallow Straits of the North American Arctic. In: Lewis, E.L., Jones, E.P., Lemke, P., Prowse, T.D., Wadhams, P. (eds) The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean. NATO Science Series, vol 70. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4132-1_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4132-1_20

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