ON THE POSSIBLE FORMATION OF BOTTOM WATER IN THE NORWEGIAN SEA

A total of 33 hydrographic stations were occupied in March and April of 1951 during field observations in the area north of the 60th parallel and between Greenland and the Greenwich meridian. In January and February of 1952, 68 stations were occupied in the same area. At 44 m, the shallowest subsurf...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: METCALF, WILLIAM G.
Other Authors: WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION MA
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1953
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0012802
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0012802
Description
Summary:A total of 33 hydrographic stations were occupied in March and April of 1951 during field observations in the area north of the 60th parallel and between Greenland and the Greenwich meridian. In January and February of 1952, 68 stations were occupied in the same area. At 44 m, the shallowest subsurface observation, the temperature was -0.47 deg C, the salinity 34.88 salinity, and the sigma-t (density) 28.05. The temperature below the 44-m level decreased and the salinity increased until bottom water conditions were attained at 1420 m. High surface salinity was in important factor in the surface density inversion and low surface temparature. Twenty-three stations showed unstable high densities; 15 showed surface densities equal to or exceeding the density of the deepest water observed at the station. Homogeneity was rarely found between the surface observation and the shallowest subsurface observation. The data substantiated each point of Nansen's theory of bottom water production except for the argument for the formation of a homogeneous water column during the process.