Spreading of Polar Water Masses into the Nordic Seas – Analyses of hydrographic measurements from Seagliders and Argo floats

Hydrographic measurements from Seagliders and Argo-floats were analyzed with regard to the variation of freshwater in the western Nordic Seas. Fresh polar water masses and sea ice leave the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait with the East Greenland Current. But it is still not clear how much of this water continues across the Greenland-Scotland-Ridge into the subpolar North Atlantic versus leakages into the deep western basins of the Nordic Seas. The amount of liquid freshwater is additionally rising on the way through the Nordic Seas due to ice melt. If it reaches the western basins (Greenland Sea Basin and Icelandic Plateau) the convection during winter will be damped by a surface layer of extremely light waters. This may also affect the overturning circulation.

Seaglider sections with high spatial resolution are used to quantify the eddy exchange between the East Greenland Current and the Greenland Sea. Measurements from Argo floats provide information about the large-scale and long-term hydrographic development in the deep basins.