Decadal Trends In Exchange Of Heat, Salt And Deep Water Between The Arctic Ocean And The Nordic Seas

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The exchange of deep water between the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas occurs mainly in slope currents on each side of the Fram Strait, southward flow on the western side and northward flow on the eastern side of the strait. Decadal summer means of temperature and salinity from the Joint U.S Russian Atlas of the Arctic Ocean, scattered CTD-stations from the Fram Strait and the Greenland Sea and the Fram Strait VEINS data are used to illustrate decadal variations important for the deep water in the region. The exchange through the Fram Strait is shown to have had a major impact on the evolution of the characteristics of the deep water in the Greenland Sea during the period 1980 up to present, a period which is believed to have had weak deep water convection in the Greenland Sea compared to the 1960s. The decadal summer mean data indicates that the 1960’s were exceptional in providing favorable conditions for deep water convection in the Greenland Sea. An increase in temperature in the deep water in the central part of the Fram Strait is observed over the last two decades. The magnitude of the change is almost the same as in the deep water in the Greenland basin. This can be a combined effect of advection of the signal from the Greenland Sea and retreatment southwards of Greenland Sea Deep Water in the Fram Strait.