The outflow of polar water through the Arctic Archipelago and the oceanographic conditions in Baffin Bay

Abstract

Rudels, B. 1986: The outflow of polar water through the Arctic Archipelago and the oceanographic conditions in Baffin Bay. Polar Research 4 n.s., 161-180. The transports of mass, heat, and salt through the Arctic Archipelago are estimated by two different approaches. First: A baroclinic, rotationally controlled flow is assumed through the Arctic Archipelago and the Davis Strait, with all passages transporting at maximum capacity. Second: Mass. salt, and energy balances are considered for the upper 'cold core' in Baffin Bay. The mass transport in the first case decreases and in the second case increases with increasing salinity in the Beaufort Sea. It is thus possible to determine a salinity at which both approaches give the same mass transport. The outflow in the upper layers is estimated at 0.7. lo9 kg s-' with a salinity of 32.9. The amount of water from the Polar Ocean entering the deeper (Atlantic) layer in Baffin Bay is more difficult to assess. A tentative value of 0.3. lo9 kg s-I with a salinity cf 34.3 is proposed.