Freshwater fluxes through the Western Fram Strait

Two hydrographic and d18O transects across Fram Strait (Aug-Sept 1997, 1998) are used to examine freshwater contributions to the East Greenland Current (EGC). The EGC featured up to ?~ 16% meteoric water in both years, but was made comparatively more saline through the formation of up to ?~11 m of s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Meredith, Michael, Heywood, Karen J., Dennis, Paul, Goldson, Laura, White, Rowan, Fahrbach, Eberhard, Schauer, Ursula, Østerhus, Svein
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2001
Subjects:
Greenland
East Greenland
east greenland current
Fram Strait
Sea ice
Online Access:https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/31472/
https://doi.org/10.1029/2000GL011992
Description
Summary:Two hydrographic and d18O transects across Fram Strait (Aug-Sept 1997, 1998) are used to examine freshwater contributions to the East Greenland Current (EGC). The EGC featured up to ?~ 16% meteoric water in both years, but was made comparatively more saline through the formation of up to ?~11 m of sea ice. We derive meteoric water fluxes of ?~3680 km3yr-1 in Aug-Sept 1997, and ?~2000 km3yr-1 in Aug-Sept 1998. The 1997 and 1998 data show a long-term me~m sea ice flux through Fram Strait around half the long-term mean meteoric water flux. A 1991 d18O section [Bauch et al., 1995] yielded a very similar ratio. Our 1998 section reveals fresh, 1ow-6180 water on the East Greenland shelf whose comparatively large volume constitutes a potentially significant contribution to the total freshwater flux through Fram Strait. Such fluxes are important to the regional and global thermohaline circulation; we suggest that efforts towards monitoring both the EGC and East Greenland shelf waters are thus required.

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