The Yermak Pass Branch: a major pathway for the Atlantic water north of Svalbard?

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
• Main Authors: Koenig, Zoé, Provost, Christine, Sennéchael, Nathalie, Garric, Gilles, Gascard, Jean-Claude
• Other Authors: Austral, Boréal et Carbone (ABC), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU), Mercator Océan, Société Civile CNRS Ifremer IRD Météo-France SHOM, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2017JC013271/abstract, Pass are publicly available in the SEANOE database : http://doi.org/10.17882/51023, data are available online (http://bulletin.mercator-ocean.fr/en/PSY4#2/75.5/-51.3), European Project: 32567,DAMOCLES
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: Atlantic Water inflow; ADCP data; Arctic Ocean; Tides and residual currents; Model/observations comparison; Yermak Plateau; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Arctic; Svalbard; Sea ice; Yermak plateau; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01644657; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01644657/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01644657/file/JGR%20Oceans%20-%202017%20-%20Koenig%20-%20The%20Yermak%20Pass%20Branch%20A%20Major%20Pathway%20for%20the%20Atlantic%20Water%20North%20of%20Svalbard.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC013271

International audience An upward-looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler deployed from July 2007 to September 2008 in the Yermak Pass, north of Svalbard, gathered velocity data from 570 m up to 90 m at a location covered by sea-ice 10 months out of 12. Barotropic diurnal and semi-diurnal tides are the dominant signals in the velocity (more than 70% of the velocity variance). In winter, baroclinic eddies at periods between 5 and 15 days and pulses of one-to-two month periodicity are observed in the Atlantic Water layer and are associated with a shoaling of the pycnocline. Mercator-Ocean global operational model with daily and 1/12 degree spatial resolution is shown to have skills in representing low frequency velocity variations (>1 month) in the West Spitsbergen Current and in the Yermak Pass. Model outputs suggest that the Yermak Pass Branch has had a robust winter pattern over the last 10 years, carrying on average 31% of the Atlantic Water volume transport of the West Spitsbergen Current (36% in autumn/winter). However those figures have to be considered with caution as the model neither simulates tides nor fully resolves eddies and ignores residual mean currents that could be significant.