Distribution, variability and burial of organic carbon at Northern Fram Strait and Yermak Plateau ...

• Main Authors: Birgel, Daniel, Stein, Ruediger
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2004
• Subjects: Giant box corer; Kasten corer; Gravity corer Kiel type; MultiCorer; Multiple investigations; ARK-XV/2; ARK-XVI/1; ARK-XVI/2; ARK-VIII/2; ARK-XIII/2; Polarstern; Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions from Marine Sediments @ AWI AWI_Paleo; Arctic Ocean; East Greenland; east greenland current; Fram Strait; Greenland; North Atlantic; Sea ice; Svalbard; Yermak plateau; ice covered areas; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.728140; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.728140

The environment of the Fram Strait, the only deepwater connection of the Arctic Ocean to the world oceans via the North Atlantic (Fig.7.8.1; see Fig.7.1.9), is influenced by the distribution of sea-ice and two opposing current systems. The northward flowing West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) transports warm, near-surface water (Manley 1995; Rudels et al. 2000) to the Northern Fram Strait. About 22% of the northward flowing Atlantic waters are re-circulated within the RAC (Return Atlantic Current) between 78 and 80°N, west of Svalbard. At 80°N the WSC splits into the Svalbard (ca. 33% of the WSC waters) and the Yermak Branch (ca. 45% of the WSC waters). On the western side of the Fram Strait, the East Greenland Current (EGC) transports cold and low-salinity water southwards along the eastern continental margin of Greenland. (Fig.7.8.1).Primary production in ice-covered areas of western Fram Strait is limited by sea-ice cover, and influenced by the predominant water mass. Productivity in the interior Arctic Ocean ... : Supplement to: Birgel, Daniel; Stein, Ruediger (2004): Northern Fram Strait and Yermak Plateau: distribution, variability and burial of organic carbon and paleoenvironmental implications. In: Stein, R & Macdonald, R W (eds.), The Organic Carbon Cycle in the Arctic Ocean, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 279-294 ...