To: TigerPaw who wrote (65045 ) 1/22/2015 1:05:16 PM From: Brumar89 Read Replies (1) | Respond to BTW this shows that warm water DOES enter the arctic ocean mostly through from the north Atlantic. Which makes sense just from looking at a map and knowing about the Gulf Stream.This image shows the movement of water in the Arctic Ocean. Blue arrows show cold, relatively fresh water and red arrows show warm, salty water that has entered the system from the North Atlantic. The image also shows the prominent Beaufort gyre which has been an area of great scientific research in the last decade. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute ) Cold, relatively fresh water comes into the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. [ What? The water entering through the Bering strait is COLD? Not bully heat water? ] This water meets more fresh water from rivers and is swept into the Beaufort gyre where winds force the water into clockwise rotation. When winds slack off and the gyre weakens, fresh water leaks out of the gyre and into the North Atlantic Ocean (follow the blue lines on the illustration toward the bottom of the map). Of course, water can go both ways, and water does come into the Arctic Ocean from the North Atlantic (red lines on the map). This water is warmer and relatively salty. Because of its increased salinity , it is denser and sinks below Arctic waters. windows2universe.org The paths of ocean currents in the Arctic. The Gulf Stream, carrying warm Atlantic water, moves northwards along the coast of Norway. It divides into two main branches and continues northwards with one branch on either side of Svalbard. In the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic water is cooled, becomes heavier and sinks. After circulating in the North Polar Basin, the now cold, Arctic water leaves the Arctic Ocean, mainly through the Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland. arcticsystem.no
