Discussions Accompanying Presentation of Transparencies

• Main Author: Johnson, Donald R.
• Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB STENNIS SPACE CENTER MS MESO- AND FINESCALE OCEAN PHYSICS SECTION
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *OCEANOGRAPHY; OCEAN CURRENTS; FRESH WATER; BASINS(GEOGRAPHIC); ARCTIC OCEAN; KARA SEA; INERTIAL CURRENTS; YAMAL PLATEAU; NOVAYA ZEMLYA; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Kara Sea; Norway; Arctic pollution; Novaya Zemlya
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA351108; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA351108

The Kara Sea contributes about 1/2 the fresh water inflow to the Arctic. This makes it extremely important from physical dynamics as well as from Arctic pollution concerns, especially since the drainage basins of the contributing rivers are industrialized. Vigorous mixing from tides inertial currents and winds spread the river outflow toward the west as well as toward the east as expected from fluid dynamics on a rotational earth. This westward spreading was confined in 1994 due to a relatively strong current along the slope of the Yamal Plateau. Flow along the eastern side of Novaya Zemlya was northward, instead of southward as expected. Flow around the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya appeared to be northwestward, instead of southeastward, into the Sea, as expected. However, without longer time series, this cannot be justified as characteristic, even over the short summer time. We need to better understand the pathways for spreading of Kara Sea fresh water into the rest of the Arctic. Presented at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE) Workshop on Modeling Requirements for Water Mass Dynamics, Ice and River Transports in the Kara Sea, Tjome, Norway, 26-30 Jun 95.