An Updated View of the Water Masses on the Northeast Greenland Shelf and Their Link to the Laptev Sea and Lena River

The Northeast Greenland shelf is a broad Arctic shelf located between Greenland and Fram Strait. It is the principal gateway for sea ice export and sea ice-associated freshwater from the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice thickness has decreased by 15% per decade since the early 1990s and meteoric freshwater dis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Main Authors: Willcox, E. W., Bendtsen, J., Mortensen, J., Mohn, C., Lemes, M., Pedersen, T. J., Holding, J., Møller, E. F., Sejr, M. K., Seidenkrantz, M. S., Rysgaard, S.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Arctic ocean
Greenland
Northeast Greenland
shelf
Transpolar drift
water masses
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Fram Strait
laptev
Laptev Sea
lena river
Sea ice
Online Access:https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/049e6efb-6f7b-4f2f-bb55-c9dc9dc24eed
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC019052
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153847747&partnerID=8YFLogxK
Description
Summary:The Northeast Greenland shelf is a broad Arctic shelf located between Greenland and Fram Strait. It is the principal gateway for sea ice export and sea ice-associated freshwater from the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice thickness has decreased by 15% per decade since the early 1990s and meteoric freshwater discharge has increased. The consequence of changing sea-ice and freshwater conditions in the region on ocean dynamics and the biological system remains unknown. Determining the source(s) of freshwater is important to be able to understand how the area will react to future upstream change. Here we present a synoptic survey of the Northeast Greenland shelf and slope with observations of hydrography, the nutrients nitrate, phosphate and silicate, and conservative tracers δ 18 O, δ 2 H, and total alkalinity during late summer 2017. We compare these to previously published values, including those which identify Pacific and Atlantic water, the Siberian shelf seas, and the six largest Arctic rivers. We show that a major source of freshwater on the Northeast Greenland shelf during late summer 2017 is the Laptev Sea and find no conclusive evidence of Pacific Water. Our observations indicate a direct link between Northeast Greenland hydrology and processes occurring on Eurasian shelves.

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