Circulation Of Atlantic Water In The Northern North Atlantic And Nordic Seas

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Pathways of the surface water in the northern North Atlantic to the Nordic Seas are presented using 999 near-surface Lagrangian drifters. Based on the drifter data in the northern North Atlantic, the inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas over the Scotland-Greenland ridge and the establishment of the two-branch Norwegian Atlantic Current are discussed. This two-branch current appears to have a topographic trapped eastern branch and a western branch as a frontal jet, also topographically guided. The origin of the drifters that pass through the Svinøy Section which cuts through the Atlantic inflow just to the north of the Faroe-Shetland channel, is presented. Downstream from the Svinøy Section, the eastern branch is stable and extends to the Arctic. The western branch follows the western slope of the Vøring Plateau toward Jan Mayen where it turns northeastward along the eastern slope of the Mohn Ridge. Farther northward into the Fram Strait the drifters and hydrography still reveal the maintenance of a two-branch Norwegian Atlantic Current