Water, Heat, and Salt Transports through Nares Strait, Ellesmere Island

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Author: Sadler, H. Eric
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1976
• Subjects: Baffin Bay; Ellesmere Island; Nares; Baffin; Canadian Archipelago; Nares strait
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f76-275; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f76-275

Data obtained in Nares Strait are used to provide estimates of the transports of water, heat, and salt between the polar ocean and northern Baffin Bay. The annual volume export of water through Nares Strait is 2.1 × 10 4 km 3 ± 30%, which is equivalent to a mean flow of 0.67 × 10 6 m 3 ∙s −1 and which is about 15% of the total outflow of water from the polar ocean. The annual net heat input into the polar ocean due to the outflow of cold water and ice is found to be 15 × 10 19 J ± 50% assuming a reference temperature of −0.1 C. This volume is about 7% of the total advective heat transport into the polar ocean. The mean annual export of salt from the polar ocean is 6.7 × 10 14 kg ± 30% or about 6% of the total export. The total transports through the whole Canadian archipelago are estimated and it is shown that they are appreciable fractions of the total exchanges between the polar ocean and the world ocean.